I accidentally found the answer to this problem while browsing at "Ramesh's Site":
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/greyfolderpane.htm
I applied the folderpane.reg fix and my Search pane is working normally now!
The full story is below.
Thank you, Ramesh!!!
Frank D
=======================
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/greyfolderpane.htm
Windows Explorer folder pane is blank or greyed out
"Symptom
When you open Windows Explorer, you may notice that the folder pane in the left side is completely greyed out.
Resolution
To resolve the problem, download folderpane.reg (
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/reg/folderpane.reg) file, and save it to Desktop. Right-click the file and then choose Merge.
More Information
This problem occurs if the following key is missing or contains incorrect entries:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{EFA24E64-B078-11d0-89E4-00C04FC9E26E}"
---- Original Message ----
From: Frank D
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 6:42 PM
Subject: WinXP "Search" window opens totally blank
| My Win XP Pro (SP2) "Search" window comes up totally blank. The Search
| pane at the left of the window is gray. I ran the system file checker and
| it found nothing wrong. The Search feature is basic to Windows and
| Explorer and IE. How come SFC finds nothing wrong?
|
| I have used Google and Kelly's Korner but nothing I've tried fixes the
| problem. I'm using Agent Ransack in the meantime.
|
| Any help or suggestions out there? Thanks.
|
| Frank D
| ========================
Note: I got some helpful replies, but none solved the problem:
| Ramesh, MS-MVP wrote:
|| Hi Frank,
||
|| The Search pane will be blank if the Jscript.dll registration is missing
|| also. Try this command:
||
|| regsvr32 jscript.dll
||
|| Press Enter.
||
||
|| || Bert Kinney wrote:
||| Hi Frank,
|||
||| This was previously posted by Ramesh - Microsoft MVP
||| Try this: Click Start | Run and type:
||| "regsvr32 /i C:\Windows\Srchasst\srchui.dll"
||| "regsvr32 /i URLMON.DLL"
|||
||| If this did not help,
||| 1. Log on to the computer by using an account with administrator
||| permissions.
||| 2. Click Start, click Run, type %systemroot%\inf, and then click OK.
||| 3. Locate the Srchasst.inf file.
||| 4. Right-click the Srchasst.inf file, and then click Install. This
||| reinstalls the files that Search Companion uses.
|||
||| NOTE: If you are prompted for the location of msgr3en.dll and your
||| computer
||| came with Windows XP preinstalled, it is likely to be at
||| C:\Windows\i386.
||| Type C:\Windows\i386 into the Copy Files From dialog and press OK.
||
|| Bert,
|| Thank you for your reply. I missed Ramesh's post, though I searched all
|| available posts on the server for the word "search," and his did not come
|| up.
||
|| This situation is very interesting, first because I've actually gone
|| through all the steps you (and Ramesh) have recommended, twice now, with
|| absolutely no change in the problem
||
|| The second interesting part is that the "Install" command is missing from
|| the context menu that appears when I right-click on the Srchasst.inf file.
|| While poking around, I found the Install command on the File (between Open
|| and menu, but every time I attempt to point to it, the menu snaps closed
|| (talk about Tantalus!). The Install command is completely unavailable to
|| me.
||
|| As I said in my previous post, I am using Agent Ransack (which is quirky
|| when you try to select a group of found files), so I am not in too much
|| trouble right now. However, this whole scenario is very mysterious,
|| considering the System File Checker doesn't find anything out of order
|| with Windows files, and no remedy seems to work.
||
|| Just to tidy up loose ends, I have run A-Squared, Spybot S&D, and
|| Ad-Aware, and am using Windows Defender, ZoneAlarm, and AVG, and have
|| gone to a couple of on-line spyware detector sites. Everything indicates
|| that I don't have any malware resident on the PC.
||
|| Anything else that can be done, short of reinstalling Windows? (which I
|| don't plan on doing).
||
|| Thank you.
||
|| Frank D
|
| Ramesh,
|
| I tried the regsvr32 jscript.dll command, and the message said it was
| successful, but the Search window still comes up blank.
|
| With Agent Ransack available, I guess it's more of an annoyance now than
| anything else.
|
| I appreciate your help.
|
| Frank D
