Windows 7 search is not finding files reliably on network shares, why?
Hi, I have a strange problem using Windows 7 when searching files on a network share that I access using a unc-path. Let's say I have a path called \\myserver\xyz, which I enter in explorer. This folder contains many subfolders and files, let's assume there is a file called example.avi somewhere below, i.e. \\myserver\somepath\somedir\example.avi.Now comes the strange part: if I type in expolrer search: *example* -> it will show no results, even after minutes, it simply stops searching. When I alter the search term, say *exam*, the file is finally found When then I search again for *example*, the file will also be found. Why will explorer's search engine not find the file right after the first time I enter a wildcard-expression? Searching used to be very accurate under Windows XP, but it has become totally unreliable and producing more or less random results in Win7. Can anybody please explain the strange behaviour described above, and what to do about it?
March 31st, 2012 2:47pm

Hi, Please refer to Windows Indexing Features and note that Windows 7 does not support indexing network shares locally, nor does it support the UNC Add-in for Microsoft Networks that shipped in earlier versions of Windows Search or Windows Desktop Search. In order for content to be searchable, it must reside in a local index or on a machine with a recognizable index. You can try to change the setting to Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes) under Folder Options -> Search tab and see how it works. Hope this helps. If a post solved your problem, click Mark as Answer on the post. If a post helped you, click "Vote As Helpful" on the left side of post.
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April 2nd, 2012 4:12am

I'm having the same problem. It doesn't make sense to use "Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes)" since we are simply searching for file names, not contents. All this option managed to do was make the search take much, much longer and return a bunch of results i'm not looking for because they had what I was looking for in the contents - but i was looking for it in the name of the file, not the contents. Now I have the opposite problem, instead of not enough results, I have to wade through a bunch of useless results to find what I was looking for. In most cases, our files are such that the name of the file is in the contents, so in those cases this appears to work. If that is not the case though, it still will not get me the file I'm looking for. And, of course, it typically can only search contents of Microsoft file types (and a few others), so it doesn't help with all file types. I have found that i definitely do not get reliable results when there's certain characters in my search string, such as a "-", however I have also had a few times where common letter strings did not find the proper files - as in the example posted above. Also, I've found that it usually does not have this problem finding folders with the search string in the name, just individual files - and it seems to not care what kind of file. Windows XP search did not have these issues. This really should be fixed - I work in an environment with large servers with many files and I need to be able to search them. I have one of the "new" computers at work with Windows 7. The users who still have XP do not have this issue. The "latest and greatest" product should not have reduced or less reliable functionality.
April 5th, 2012 12:35pm

Windows XP search did not have these issues. This really should be fixed - I work in an environment with large servers with many files and I need to be able to search them. I have one of the "new" computers at work with Windows 7. The users who still have XP do not have this issue. The "latest and greatest" product should not have reduced or less reliable functionality. Give FileSearchEX a try. It does what you want and offers a more classical search experience.
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April 8th, 2012 5:14pm

Hi Erik78 and IMADK, Based on my research, the issue can occur if locations on remote computers are not indexed. If the locations are not indexed, then Windows 7 falls back to a slower GREP search instead of Windows Search 4.0. For more detailed information, please refer to Windows Search 4.0 Administrators Guide. Also, please refer to Windows Search 4.0 Troubleshooting Guide and note: In order to query a remote machine, the folder you want to search must be shared even if you access it as admin. Sharing is a prerequisite for querying. First, share the folder to yourself, and then you can query it remotely. Meanwhile, I suggest to try the following steps: 1. If the shared files are on a Windows Server 2003, please install Windows Search 4.0 and install File Server role. 2. If the shared files are on a Windows Server 2008, please install Windows Search 4.0 and install File Service role with Windows Search Service. 3. Include all the shared locations into the index list and rebuild index. For detailed steps, please refer to How to Install Windows Search and Enable the File Services Role. Hope this helps. Jeremy Wu TechNet Community Support
April 12th, 2012 12:32am

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