Windows Desktop Search error: The path '- Windows Desktop Search'does not exist or is not a director

[ajkessel]

Whenever I try to do a search with WDS under XP SP3 now, I get a
"Windows Explorer" dialog box popping up with the error: "The path '-
Windows Desktop Search' does not exist or is not a directory." I've
searched around and found very few reports of this problem and no
proposed solutions. Any ideas how to troubleshoot?

 

[Kelly]

Err Msg: The Path <Web Address> Does Not Exist or Is Not a...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q190414/

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner

 

[ajkessel]

That knowledge base article is not related to the problem described
here. The problem I am having is Windows Desktop Search (under XP SP3)
doesn't allow any queries. The article linked relates to Windows
Update not working under Windows 98. I am pretty sure it is a totally
independent issue. In any case, the fixes suggested in the kb article
don't work (the registry setting discussed there is not set for me).

 

[ajkessel]

I figured it out. The problem was that I had disabled dde for Explorer
(I was having a separate issue that DDE calls to Explorer were
experiencing long delays). By restoring DDE in the registry, WDS could
be queried again.

The relevant keys were HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec
and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\ddeexec.