Where are the registry entries for Windows search?

[Jerry]

 

[Jerry]

....

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

The message where all of the details shold be is blank?

 

[Jerry]

I need to get the search to use the MODI iFilter to index TIF and MDI files.
I am therefore trying to find the Registry settings that regulate indexing
behavior in Vista.

 

[Andrew McLaren]

I need to get the search to use the MODI iFilter to index TIF and MDI
files. I am therefore trying to find the Registry settings that regulate
indexing behavior in Vista.

Are you using the Microsoft-supplied MODI iFilter? ie, from Office or
Sharepoint? If so then, as I understand it, this filter does not work at all
on Vista. End of story. No amount of registry hacking will bring it back to
life. We need to wait for an updated Vista-compatible MODI iFilter from
Microsoft. Until then, MDI files are unindexed.

Yes, this was extremely poor planning by Microsoft!! It sucks. Something to
do with security, apaprently.

The registry locations used by iFilters, are documented in MSDN. They are
different for WDS 2.x and WDS3.x. Vista uses WDS 3.x. But some legacy
iFilters can still run on Vista, so they would still refer to the older 2.6
loctions:
For 2.6:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965717.aspx
for 3.x:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb266533.aspx

There might be third-party TIFF iFilters which work on Vista, I dunno. Maybe
http://www.ifiltershop.com/xmpfilter.html ??

Hope it helps,

 

[Jerry]

Thanks a lot, Andrew.

The filter is MODI 12 that ships with Office 2007. Seems unbelievable
Microsoft would allow themselves such a gross error. I would also believe
that, once discovered, they would rush to solve it in no time. The MODI
filter actually stopped working even before Vista's official release - it
happened with WDS 3.0. Why we are where we are, after so much time, beats
me.

I am desperate, because I have many years worth of scanned and OCRed tif
documents in my archive. That's why I am thinking desperate thoughts like
fiddling with Registry.

For Sharepoint, there has been a workaround (see
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1417396&SiteID=1&mode=1),
perhaps I can follow the analogy and get it also in Vista

BTW I tried XMP iFilter, but no luck. Only it screwed up the settings, so
after uninstallation I now have TIF and MDI connected to the "plain text
filter". One more reason why I need to dive into Registry.

 

[Jerry]

I have just read the following on MSDN (from the link you supplied):

=============================
Indexing Service-Specific Implementation Information
The following information found in the Indexing Service IFilter
documentation is not applicable to writing filters for Windows Search or
Windows Vista:

Windows Search does not supply the same helper functions as Indexing
Service.
Filters for Indexing Service run in the protocol host process (cidaemon.exe)
under the Local System security context, while filters for Windows Search
run in a filter isolation process (SearchFilterHost.exe) under the Local
System security context with restricted rights.
In this filter isolation process, a number of rights are removed:

Restricted Code
Everyone
Local
Interactive
Authenticated Users
Built-in Users
Users' security identifier (SID)

The removal of these rights means the filter does not have access to the
disk system or network or to any user interface or clipboard functions.
Furthermore, the isolation process runs under a job object that prevents
child processes from being created and imposes a 100 MB limit on the working
set. The filter host isolation process increases the stability of the
indexing platform, due to the possibility of incorrectly implemented 3rd
party IFilters.
==================================

I will now try to give the indexing service super-duper rights and also
revert to the previous MODI (from Office 2003), and see if that helps.

Thanks again for putting me on the right track.

 

[Andrew McLaren]

I have just read the following on MSDN (from the link you supplied):
<snip>
I will now try to give the indexing service super-duper rights and also
revert to the previous MODI (from Office 2003), and see if that helps.

Thanks again for putting me on the right track.

No worries; good luck with it!!!

I really feel your pain. It's such a crazy, fundamental kind of mismatch,
from products which are supposed to be closely allied stable-mates (Windows
and Office). FWIW, at Microsoft the Office group are often regarded as
living in their own little solipsistic world, even by other Microsoft
product groups. Office continually go off and do their own thing. Don't like
the standard Win32 UI? No problem, just design a completely unique UI unlike
any other - but hey, we're Office, so why not? And we'll just go and create
this MSOCache, without asking "do you mind?". They are continually
re-inventing bits of the operating system, in their own image ... etc ...

Hopefully the real solution (an updated iFilter) will be available soon; but
not soon enough for many ...