Sometimes I make a typo in Windows Explorer address bar, when opening a folder. Instead of just complaining about it, Explorer unexpectedly launches IE and gives me a heart attack. Is there a way to tell Explorer to not do that? Actually, I have a 2nd question. It's basically the same thing. Sometimes I make a typo in the IE address bar. It sends it to my default search provider. No, that's not what I want. If I want to search, I'll tell IE to search. Is there any way to tell IE to not do that when I type a bad url?

I check this also when I tried to automate some vbs, but what I found was that you can open IE using parameters and also you can use IE by command line like : >>> Start > Run > iexplore.exe "yahoo22222.com" Also you can check the following link in order to check some parameters that you can use http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee330728%28v=vs.85%29.aspx Hope it helps you since I think you can do what you need since for that you need a search providers. You can find more federated search for lots of sites in this page http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/742-windows-7-federated-search-providers.htmlAntonio Rojas F., BQE Jalasoft MCP - MCTS - MCITP - MCT http://blog-antonio-rojas.blogspot.com/

Hi fish lips, This behavior is by design. The address bar is used to show the full path to the current location. You can use Search to search the file in the local computer. If you really want to disable that, I recommend you use the Process Monitor http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645 to capture the events. And find which related registry was involved. Regards, MiyaThis posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. | Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Thanks, but that's not what I was asking. I guess I should also mention, I'm aware of the AutoSearch values in the registry, both for IE and also in GP. It doesn't resolve my question with Explorer at all, and it blocks IE9 from searching with its combined Address+Search bar. So that's not the answer.. either.

The behavior is related to the search feature. I could not any other way to configure the search other than this one. There may another way. You are probably typing too much to find the target. Reduce the search search parameters. I was only able to get IE to launch when I typed a near complete url in the Windows Explorer search box. Also, why are you launching explorer? Just wondering... Start->type in search box->find what you need. (Do you have XP habits? ;-) ) One must be using Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise to do this: Try and edit the group policy for "Remove the Search the Internet "search again" link" for Windows Explorer Start->type gpedit.msc in the search box->select gpedit from the results Local Computer Policy\User Configuration\Windows Components\Windows Explorer\Remove the Search the Internet "search again" link It does this: If you enable this policy, the "Internet" "Search again" link will not be shown when the user performs a search in the Explorer window. If you disable this policy, there will be an "Internet" "Search again" link when the user performs a search in the Explorer window. This button launches a search in the default browser with the search terms. If you do not configure this policy (default), there will be an "Internet" link when the user performs a search in the Explorer window. Then open Windows Explorer and test. Did that help?

Hi Nano Warp. Thanks. I'll check that. But I must not be expressing myself well. I'm trying to not conduct a search. I'm trying to un-automate things. Here's an example. Right now, while this page is open in your IE9 tab, open Windows Explorer and type "Nano" in the Address Bar. You know, to erroneously go to a fictitious folder on your hard drive. Of course, that's an error in another way too. You need to type the full path. But what happens? What happens with me right now is, IE9 will then be invoked with http://Nano and this current IE9 page is replaced by an error page. How totally unexpected. And annoying. Who asked Windows Explorer to open IE? Not me. Another example, which I hadn't discussed here, is this. Type "C:\Windows\Notepad.exe" into Windows Explorer address bar. To me, that should open the "C:\Windows" folder and highlight the file "Notepad.exe". But it actually invokes Notepad instead. That's just too automated. And inconvenient. I just want to locate a file using Windows Explorer. Not invoke it. It would be a simple matter of double-clicking it, if Explorer would just highlight it. Besides. Usually when I make that mistake, I am just navigating to it to access its Security Properties, or make a shortcut. There doesn't seem to be any way to fully name a file in Windows Explorer, to just locate that file. It wants to invoke it. That's what Run is for. Within IE9, I'm trying to find a way to disable the automatic search from the Address Bar. When I make a typo, I just want IE9 to do nothing. Nothing is just fine in that case. An error message would be fine too. But sending my typo to my Search Provider is not fine. It's a nuisance.

Thank you Miya. I'll fire up ProcMon and see if I can spot it within one hour. Then I'll abandon that idea. All I'm asking for, is that Windows Explorer just say File Not Found when I make a typo in the Address box. I don't want Explorer to launch IE, try my typo as a URL, then failing that, pass my typo to a Search Provider. I'm in Windows Explorer. I just mistyped a local folder name. I do not want to scour the Internet to find it. That's what the Search box is for. Maybe. Am I being unreasonable?

I've already used the method of policy settings and it didn't work. Acturally, I run the Process Monitor to caputure the events, it requires a lot of registry keys, which I think is really hard to determine. Unlike Windows XP, in Windows 7, if you want to search a file or program, just click Start, and input the keywords in the search box could be a more convenient method. And if you want to search a file in current windows, use the Windows Search on the top right blank in the Windows Explorer. The Address Bar in Windows Explorer is used to show the location, not good for the search. Only work for some items like Control Panel, Desktop, Favorites etc for convenience. I hope this could help you understand this difference between Windows XP and Windows 7. Regards, MiyaThis posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. | Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Miya. I just stepped in it again. I typed ProgramData into Windows Explorer address bar, instead of c:\ProgramData. As punishment, it launched IE to http://ProgramData. grrrrr. There's got to be some way to change this behavior. Maybe this bothers me more than other people, because I actually use the address bar. Oh well. Thanks anyway. - btw, Windows Search doesn't find ProgramData.

@derosnec, It's just not that fast. Miya, thanks for your effort. I know you mean well. But I can't help but giggle. : ) Here's the search result from my current profile. VirtualStore? What is that all about? Whatever. But I know C:\ProgramData exists. I'm sure of it. Why can't Search find it? Maybe it can't be found due to how I have Search configured? Isn't this sufficiently aggressive? Maybe something's wrong with my user profile? To rule that out, I just now created a fresh new one. Then straight away did the search for ProgramData. It found nothing. Ok, let's click "Computer" and try agtain... It searched everything in the w h o l e computer, including my W: Vista partition. Very good. But still, it only found other stuff. Not the C:\ProgramData folder. Didn't find the one in the W: Vista partition either. Honest. None of those 37 items were the ProgramData folder. I promise. I checked a second Win7 computer. Search only finds ProgramData in the VirtualStore. I booted Vista too. Same thing. Search finds it only in the VirtualStore. Miya, how'd you get Search to find ProgramData in the C:\ root? Tell me your secret. Nevermind. That's not even the point of this thread. I don't want to Search for anything. I just want to use Windows Explorer's address bar to open folders and highlight files. You know. Just simple basic file management. Nothing fancy. Isn't that what it's for? And I want it to stop launching IE when I make a typo in the address bar. Like with ProgramData or Nano. It launches http://ProgramData or http://Nano. It's startling. It's a nuisance. This is hopeless.

@derosnec, It's just not that fast. Miya, thanks for your effort. I know you mean well. But I can't help but giggle. : ) Here's the search result from my current profile. VirtualStore? What is that all about? Whatever. But I know C:\ProgramData exists. I'm sure of it. Why can't Search find it? Maybe it can't be found due to how I have Search configured? Isn't this sufficiently aggressive? Maybe something's wrong with my user profile? To rule that out, I just now created a fresh new one. Then straight away did the search for ProgramData. It found nothing. Ok, let's click "Computer" and try agtain... It searched everything in the w h o l e computer, including my W: Vista partition. Very good. But still, it only found other stuff. Not the C:\ProgramData folder. Didn't find the one in the W: Vista partition either. Honest. None of those 37 items were the ProgramData folder. I promise. I checked a second Win7 computer. Search only finds ProgramData in the VirtualStore. I booted Vista too. Same thing. Search finds it only in the VirtualStore. Miya, how'd you get Search to find ProgramData in the C:\ root? Tell me your secret. Nevermind. That's not even the point of this thread. I don't want to Search for anything. I just want to use Windows Explorer's address bar to open folders and highlight files. You know. Just simple basic file management. Nothing fancy. And I want it to stop launching IE when I make a typo in the address bar. Like with ProgramData or Nano. It launches http://ProgramData or http://Nano. It's startling. It's a nuisance. This is hopeless.

@derosnec, It's just not that fast. Miya, thanks for your effort. I know you mean well. But I can't help but giggle. : ) Here's the search result from my current profile. VirtualStore? What is that all about? Whatever. But I know there's one at C:\ProgramData. Why can't Search find it? Maybe it can't be found due to how I have Search configured? Isn't this sufficiently aggressive? Maybe something's wrong with my user profile? To rule that out, I just now created a fresh new one. Then straight away did the search for ProgramData. It found nothing. Ok, let's click "Computer" and try agtain... It searched everything in the w h o l e computer, including my W: Vista partition. Very good. But still, it only found other stuff. Not the C:\ProgramData folder. Didn't find the one in the W: Vista partition either. Honest. None of those 37 items were the ProgramData folder. I promise. I checked a second Win7 computer. Search only finds ProgramData in the VirtualStore. I booted Vista too. Same thing. Search finds it only in the VirtualStore. Miya, how'd you get Search to find ProgramData in the C:\ root? Tell me your secret. Nevermind. That's not even the point of this thread. I don't want to Search for anything. I just want to use Windows Explorer's address bar to open folders and highlight files. You know. Just simple basic file management. Nothing fancy. And I want it to stop launching IE when I make a typo in the address bar. Like with ProgramData or Nano. It launches http://ProgramData or http://Nano. It's startling. It's a nuisance. This is hopeless.

Hi Miya. To complete this perfect digression, I finally got Windows Search to find ProgramData in the root C:\ I had forgotten to enable Hidden+System folder viewing for that new profile. (Second example above, blue-frame). That's why it wouldn't find it. But the first example above (gray-frame) is from my admin account. It does have Hidden+System folder viewing enabled. So, what was its problem? Here's why it wouldn't work. Like some discussions on the Answers site, I also have noticed many IE9 crashes when saving web pages as mht files. Through experimentation, I found it was related to the SaveAs Dialog and Libraries. Why that, I don't know. Removing all four default folders from Libraries seems to 100% resolve the crashes. Seems to fix it. That is, delete Documents Music Pictures Videos from Libraries, and those IE9 crashes stop happening. I don't use Libraries, so having it totally empty is fine. But now I just realized, Windows Explorer won't execute a search in Computer when Libraries is empty. Why, I don't know. Try it and see. Perfect digression. : )

@derosnec, It's just not that fast. Miya, thanks for your effort. I know you mean well. But I can't help but giggle. : ) Here's the search result from my current profile (**** deleted for privacy). VirtualStore. What the heck is that all about? Oh, I see. It finds some whacky thing nested inside a VirtualStore. But not the one plainly there in the root C:\ I know it exists. I was just there today. I typed C:\ProgramData in the address bar. Also at the Command Prompt. It's aliased by C:\Users\All Users. I was checking it earlier, when testing stuff for this other thread. That's yet another goofy thing. Isn't this sufficiently aggessive? So, just for you Miya, I created a fresh new user profile. Brand new. Then straight away did the search for ProgramData. It found nothing. Nada. Zero. The big goose egg. N-o-t-h-i-n-g. Ok, let's click "Computer" and try agtain... Oh. Now it searches everything in the w h o l e computer, including my W: Vista partition. Very good. But still, it only found other stuff. Not the ProgramData folder. None in my Vista partition either, huh? You'll have to trust me, Miya. None of those 37 items were the ProgramData folder. I promise. I can hear it now. No thanks. I am not going to do an in-place-repair, or reinstallation. I checked a second Win7 computer. It does the exact same thing. VirtualStore. I checked Vista too. Same thing. VirtualStore. I'll just take your word for it. Somehow, things can be configured so C:\ProgramData can be found. Anyway, Miya, that's not even the point of this thread. I'm not trying to Search for anything. I just want to use Windows Explorer's address bar to open folders and highlight files. You know. Just simple basic file management. Nothing fancy. The last thing I want Windows Explorer to do is launch IE. That's a figure of speech. I mean, I never want that to happen. Yes. That's what it does. Whenever I make a typo in the address bar. Like with ProgramData or Nano. It launches http://ProgramData or http://Nano. It's startling. It thinks it's being clever. But it's a nuisance. This is hopeless.

@derosnec, The address bar cannot search ProgramData folder. However, the Windows Search can. Check my screenshot here: It's just not that fast. If you search it in Start Menu, you need to select "See more results". Regards, MiyaThis posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. | Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Miya. To complete this perfect digression, I finally got Windows Search to find ProgramData in the root C:\. I had forgotten to enable Hidden+System folder viewing for that new profile. (Second example above, blue-frame). That's why it wouldn't find it. But the first example above (gray-frame) is from my admin account. It does have Hidden+System folder viewing enabled. So, what was its problem? Here's why it wouldn't work. Like many discussions on the Answers site, I also have noticed many IE9 crashes when saving web pages as mht files. Through experimentation, I found it was related to the SaveAs Dialog and Libraries. Removing all four default folders from Libraries seems to 100% resolve the crashes. Seems to fix it. That is, delete Documents Music Pictures Videos from Libraries and those IE9 crashes stop happening. I don't use Libraries, so having it totally empty is fine. But now I just realized, Windows Explorer won't execute a search in Computer when Libraries is empty. Try it and see. Perfect digression. : )

@derosnec, It's just not that fast. Miya, thanks for your effort. I know you mean well. But I can't help but giggle. : ) Here's the search result from my current profile (**** deleted for privacy). VirtualStore. What the heck is that all about? Oh, I see. It finds some whacky thing nested inside a VirtualStore. But not the one plainly there in the root C:\. I know C:\ProgramData exists. I was just there today. It's aliased by C:\Users\All Users\ I was checking it earlier, when testing stuff for this other thread. That's yet another goofy thing. So, just for you Miya, I created a fresh new user profile. Brand new. Then did the search for ProgramData. It found nothing. Nada. Zero. The big goose egg. N-o-t-h-i-n-g. Ok, let's click "Computer" and try agtain... Oh. Now it searches everything in the w h o l e computer, including my W: Vista partition. Very good. But still, it only found other stuff. Not the ProgramData folder. None in my Vista partition either, huh? You'll have to trust me, Miya. None of those 37 items were the ProgramData folder. I promise. Anyway, Miya, that's not even the point of this thread. I'm not trying to Search for anything. I just want to use Windows Explorer's address bar to open folders and highlight files. You know. Just simple basic file management. Nothing fancy. The last thing I want is Windows Explorer to do is launch IE. Yes. That's what it does. Whenever I make a typo in the address bar. Like with ProgramData or Nano. It launches http://ProgramData or http://Nano. It's startling. It thinks it's being clever. But it's a nuisance.

OMG. Now I see why you guys think the Address Bar is a Search Bar. See here? I have AutoComplete disabled. I've done this for years. Here's my Address Bar. The only thing that goes in there is what I type. No predicted keystrokes. No hints. No dropdowns. No surprises. Look how uncomplicated. How nice. I'm the boss. Me. Here's yours. It does whatever it wants. It says Search for. Then what's that Search Bar for, over there on the right? Does that make any sense? You need two? How can you stand it? No wonder.

OMG. Now I see why you guys think the Address Bar is a Search Bar. See here? I have AutoComplete disabled. I've done this for years. Here's my Address Bar. The only thing that goes in there is what I type. No predictions. No dropdowns. Nothing but what I type. I type. It responds. How nice. Here's yours. It says Search for. Then what's that Search Bar for, over there on the right? Does that make any sense? No wonder.