Still searching for way to get Vista search to work: Why doesn't FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions r

[Celegans]

From Comment #2 from this posting
http://www.pcmagvote.com/story.php?title=File_Search_in_Vista_Worse_than_Windows_95_98_2000_and_XP-1

2) I create three files in a directory with the word "special" in them:
test.txt, test.dat, test.R. These files are all identical copies of each
other but with different filenames. How can I find the test.R file with the
word "special"? In Windows Explorer, I right click on the directory
containing the files and select "Search.". I enter "special" in the Quick
Search Box. Windows Vista can only find the test.txt file, apparently since
it's the only one that was indexed. Next, I select Advanced Search. I check
the box "Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files (might be slow)".
Nothing changes. I cannot find the test.dat and test.R files that are copies
of the test.txt file. ... Vista cannot find files via search that Windows
95, 98, 2000 could find, and Windows XP could with an appropriate tweak.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;309173

Supposedly that link is only a fix for Windows XP's flawed search, but with
a broken Windows Vista Search, and no help coming from Microsoft, I thought
I'd try Method 2 from that link in Windows Vista

"Method 2. To configure Windows XP to search all files no matter what the
file type, obtain the latest service pack for Windows XP and then turn on
the Index file types with unknown extensions option. "

Vista's GUI doesn't seem to support the suggestion there, but one can always
modify a registry key:

" To do this, set the FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions DWORD value to 1 in
the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex"

But setting FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions in Windows Vista apparently
changes nothing. The Comment #2 test case above can still only find one of
the three identical files.

Microsoft: How can I run Windows Explorer from Windows 2000 so I can find
my files again in Windows Vista?

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Jon]

The .R extension is easier to deal with than the .dat extension

To search files with the .R extension

Control Panel (Classic View) > Indexing Options > Advanced > File Types

Now I'll admit the next step isn't immediately obvious. I missed it myself,
due to the greyed out 'Add new extension' box
You basically type 'R' in the box to the left of it, and then click to add
it.
Then set the extension to search file contents as well as file name in the
section above it.

 

[Celegans]

The .R extension is easier to deal with than the .dat extension

To search files with the .R extension

Control Panel (Classic View) > Indexing Options > Advanced > File Types

Now I'll admit the next step isn't immediately obvious. I missed it
myself, due to the greyed out 'Add new extension' box
You basically type 'R' in the box to the left of it, and then click to add
it.
Then set the extension to search file contents as well as file name in the
section above it.

Thank you for your response, but this isn't very practical when working with
a wide variety of files that originate under Linux. Some files won't even
have extensions.

Once I figure out a search has failed (that alone has caused a lot of extra
work on more than one occasion) because of an extension unknown to Vista,
I've got to add each one this way in Vista?

How can I run Windows Explorer from Windows 2000 so I can find my files
again in Windows Vista? If Vista can't easily do what Windows 2000 did, why
should I be using Vista? Why is this Windows 2000 (and earlier) feature not
even offered to Windows Vista Ultimate customers?

 

[Jon]

Thank you for your response, but this isn't very practical when working
with a wide variety of files that originate under Linux. Some files won't
even have extensions.

Once I figure out a search has failed (that alone has caused a lot of
extra work on more than one occasion) because of an extension unknown to
Vista, I've got to add each one this way in Vista?

I think what I would do, say with say a folder of files with atypical
extensions, would be to rename them en masse (eg using a batch file or
something similar) to all have the same extension eg .linux

So test.R >>> test.R.linux
test2.xy >>> test.R.linux
test3.efgh >> test.efh.linux
etc

Then you would only have the one extension .linux to deal with.

How can I run Windows Explorer from Windows 2000 so I can find my files
again in Windows Vista? If Vista can't easily do what Windows 2000 did,
why should I be using Vista? Why is this Windows 2000 (and earlier)
feature not even offered to Windows Vista Ultimate customers?

I don't know if / how you can do this, but I use another search tool, which
I use as a complement to Vista Search, for the purposes of quickly locating
files throughout the whole system

Locate32
http://locate32.webhop.org/

It doesn't search file content, but it locates files very quickly, whereever
they are located. Others will be able to recommend similar such tools I'm
sure.

 

[Jon]

Oops... it's been a long day ;-)

test.R >>> test.R.linux
test2.xy >>> test.xy.linux
test3.efgh >> test.efgh.linux

I'm sure you got the idea anyhow.

 

[Jon]

grrrr.....

test2.xy >>> test2.xy.linux
test3.efgh >> test3.efgh.linux

 

[Celegans]

I think what I would do, say with say a folder of files with atypical
extensions, would be to rename them en masse (eg using a batch file or
something similar) to all have the same extension eg .linux

So test.R >>> test.R.linux
test2.xy >>> test.R.linux
test3.efgh >> test.efh.linux
etc

Sorry, but that's not a very workable solution. The Linux file systems are
often shared resources and renaming files would break other things and be
confusing to people.

I don't know if / how you can do this, but I use another search tool,
which I use as a complement to Vista Search, for the purposes of quickly
locating files throughout the whole system

Locate32
http://locate32.webhop.org/

A 3rd party search tool may be the only way if Microsoft will not recognize
the design defect they've introduced into file search by Vista's Windows
Explorer.

Right now I run a Windows 2000 virtual machine under VMware and use a
virtual network to search Vista files using Windows 2000. There's a lot of
overhead, and it's slow, but when I'm looking for something that I know
exists, I want to find it whether or not Microsoft "likes" my file
extensions. That's why I keep asking for how to run Windows Explorer 2000
directly under Vista. Windows Explorer 2000 found ALL the files, not just
the files Microsoft said it would search.

 

[Jon]

Sorry, but that's not a very workable solution. The Linux file systems
are often shared resources and renaming files would break other things and
be confusing to people.


A 3rd party search tool may be the only way if Microsoft will not
recognize the design defect they've introduced into file search by Vista's
Windows Explorer.

Right now I run a Windows 2000 virtual machine under VMware and use a
virtual network to search Vista files using Windows 2000. There's a lot
of overhead, and it's slow, but when I'm looking for something that I know
exists, I want to find it whether or not Microsoft "likes" my file
extensions. That's why I keep asking for how to run Windows Explorer 2000
directly under Vista. Windows Explorer 2000 found ALL the files, not just
the files Microsoft said it would search.

Ok, well I'm sorry Vista Search doesn't work for you.

I type one word, and the song I want to play appears instantly.

I type one line from a text file that I remember I wrote years previously,
and it appears instantly

I type one portion of code in a similar program I've written, and I have it
instantly ready to paste into another.

I don't remember that in any earlier versions of Windows. Works for some and
not others I suppose.

 

[Celegans]

I type one word, and the song I want to play appears instantly.

I type one line from a text file that I remember I wrote years previously,
and it appears instantly

I type one portion of code in a similar program I've written, and I have
it instantly ready to paste into another.

I don't remember that in any earlier versions of Windows. Works for some
and not others I suppose.

Last week I tried to find the string "uname" in an old Linux Bourne shell
script (a .sh file) and Vista couldn't find it (some scripts like this have
no extension and will never be indexed by Vista?). Manually searching file
by file is a bit of a pain, but I finally found the example I was looking
for, which is how I knew for sure Vista's search had failed me. Windows
file search for this file worked fine as recently as Windows 2000, or with
Windows XP after the patch was applied.

We have many scientific instrument device controllers that we'll never want
to run an indexing service on since it could possibly interfere with the
operation of the device. We'll never be able to search the data we record
from those scientific instruments with Vista because the GB of scientific
data must be indexed before it can be searched? Maybe Microsoft should
just say Vista should not be used in scientific research?

Searching for files can be important in troubleshooting problems with
scientific instruments. If vendors upgrade to Vista on their devices (it
hasn't happened yet), troubleshooting problems will be more difficult
because of Vista's flawed search.

Can I get a version of Windows 2000 Windows Explorer to run on Vista and
I'll quit complaining about Vista's search?


C. elegans

 

[Dave Wood [MS]]

The only way I know of in Vista to blindly search the contents of all files
as if they were text is to use the "findstr" tool from the command line
which works rather like a Unix "grep". E.g. I frequently use 'findstr /I /S
/C:"xxx" *' to do a case-insensitive search for all instances of "xxx" in
all files recursively from the current directory.

Regardless of whether you use indexing or not {you can do either through the
Vista UI} I don't think there's a way to get this exact behavior through the
GUI out-of-the-box. And no, there's no way to get the Win2K explorer to run
on Vista!

I forwarded our discussion last night on this issue to a bunch of folks
internally to make sure that your feedback is being heard by the relevant
people. We don't talk about future plans or releases on these newsgroups so
I'm afraid that's about all I can say on this point.

Dave

 

[mjones]

Hello

This post may make everyone happy. I had this issue with XP before
when trying to search through the contents of thousands of EDI files
on a mapped network drive. The Microsoft KB article fixed the
problem. So... I just set up my new workstation this past week with
Windows Vista Ultimate and guess what? I have the same issue. When
XP first came out I got the hotfix from my MAPS support before service
pack 1. I called them yesterday to see if there was a fix for Vista,
nope. They told me to try the XP fix and low and behold... IT WORKS.
Here are the steps you need to take:

First go and open up this MS KB because you'll need it:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309173/EN-US/

1. In the search settings on Vista you NEED to turn on the setting to
"...always search file names and contents..." or whatever is says (I
am not going back there to look at the exact syntax) lol. Otherwise
it will only search the contents of indexed files.

2. You need to open up at least 1 of each of the "unknown" file types
with notepad and tell Vista to ALWAYS use notepad for this type of
file so that it will register the file type. I am searching through
files named *.TDF, *.ORD. *.BAK, etc.

3. BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY before doing any modifications...

4. You need to create the DWORD registry setting (or set it to 1 if it
is there) in the method 2 part of the KB article.

5. You then need to create the registry keys for "PersistentHandler"
for each of the newly registered file types AS SHOWN at the bottom of
method 1 in the KB article. Make sure you copy and paste the value
that is shown for the text filter into the default - don't go trying
to type it out each time.

6. REBOOT or log off and back on. If you don't do this IT WON'T WORK!

I hope that everyone will benefit from this post but I obvioulsy offer
NO WARRANTY and/or support if you destroy your registry lol...

Anyways, it works perfectly for me as I am now able to search through
thousands of files on a mapped netowrk drive and I am happy so you
should be as well once you get it all straightened out. Don't blame
Microsoft either - they are just doing what is best for the majority
of users by making the search fast and effective - most users are not
looking for text within a 1/2 million files that are wacky
unregistered extensions.

Have fun!

 

[mjones]

FYI

I should have mentioned that in step 2 - if the files are too big to
open in notepad then you will need to register the file types manually
in the registry then enter the key for each in step 5.