Program files (.exe) not found by Windows Search

AVeYo: so what do you think of this result:
I have Easeus PCTrans Pro installed.

Its folder, like Sysinternals' folder, is indexed.
It contains a file PCTrans.exe.

I search ('My Stuff') for PCTrans.exe.
The result is (interestingly enough) PCTrans.exe.manifest (which does exist in the same folder)

PCTrans.exe is not listed.

Working as intended?

AveYo said:

And I'm telling you that's not how it works.
Programs must be registered as programs, else won't show.
This is a (security?!) "feature".

So if you want those to show, make sure you have shortcuts to them added to the Start Menu,
or
their folders are added to the PATH environment variable - that's why search finds ping and other cmd tools

[This PC->Properties->Advanced system settings->Environment Variables...->System variables: Path->Edit: add ;yourpath]

Ok, I'll be more specific. Easeus PC TransPro is installed. When I installed it, I allowed it to create a subfolder in my start menu. I moved that folder under 'Utilities' in the start menu. It is still there. Thus an installed program .exe file with a corresponding start menu shortcut entry created when the program was installed is not found by using the Cortana search bar.

AveYo said:

Working as intended?
So if you want those to show, make sure you have shortcuts to them added to the Start Menu,
or
their folders are added to the PATH environment variable - that's why search finds ping and other cmd tools

[This PC->Properties->Advanced system settings->Environment Variables...->System variables: Path->Edit: add ;yourpath]

Adding locations to the path made no difference for me - .exe are still not shown in Cortana search but they are in the old search fly-out.

I know you can add shortcuts to the start menu. As I said before I've already done this as a workaround but it is not a good solution at all.

It may be working as intended (who knows) but it didn't work like this in earlier versions and there are lots of complaints on the feedback app (with no solution).

Another workaround is to put a shortcut of C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs into the Quick Access sidebar or Windows Explorer and just use that to launch stuff.

It's a shame we have to resort to that though haha.

Mirkwood said:

Another workaround is to put a shortcut of C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs into the Quick Access sidebar or Windows Explorer and just use that to launch stuff.

It's a shame we have to resort to that though haha.

Yup - another workaround.

I do wonder why. There is some new filtering; .exe and .cmd are always excluded, .ps1 are excluded unless you enter the full name...

If I have a .exe in My Downloads, or wherever I've put it, I'd like to see it in the search rather than Windows pretending it doesn't exist.

Another clue: I recently downloaded and updated an old program that gave a new icon. The new one shows up in the following directory along with the old one. The OLD (now invalid) one still shows up in "All apps" and in Win10 search, while the NEW one does not show up in either.

C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Games\<GAME NAME DIRECTORY>

Note that the above directory is different than the one mentioned before.

(C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs)

AveYo said:

I hope you did not just drop .exe files inside %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\.. folder and expect them to work. That should only be used for links, not actual files.

Clue to what? I already linked the correct directory above.