Windows search doesn't always work

I also use Classic Shell.

Don't know if you have already done this or not. If so, I apologize for not reading the thread, yet if you haven't then try this:
1) Search for, and open, Indexing Options
2) Press the Advanced button
3) Press the Rebuild button
4) Press the OK button

Wait for the Indexer to rebuild itself, give it a few hours or so, then check up on it. (Open Indexing Options again, and look at the top where it will say: "# items indexed" (where # is the number of files on your computer). As long as it says "items indexed", that means it's complete. Try searching for any file on your computer. Does it show your results?

How is your Indexing Options configured?
(E.g. Settings, search Indexing Options)

Have you got every drive/partition indexed- if your aim is to be able to find anything everywhere using Windows search (which file explorer, Cortana, Classic Shell all use)?

Searching the Windows start menu does seem to be sensitive to changing the default Indexing Options (Users) from something I noticed a long time back, so be careful.

And when you say it doesn't always work does that include content search, files, or just start menu items?

I didn't say it is a mess... but it is not straightforward, and requires a level of awareness even at a basic level.
It is however very useful in searching Settings, for example.
It is more capable than you might give it credit for, but because some features are not easily accessible via a simple GUI, they are unlikely to be used by many.

More advanced features, such as searching for music of a particular range of duration, are possible using file explorer-- but I've only just discovered that.

1. You have to choose what you want indexed.
2. File explorer search differs from Cortana search as regards what can be found and what syntax is supported.
3. File explorer only searches below where its currently open in the file hierarchy
4. Content search requires you have the appropriate ifilters. (E.g. for docx, pdf...)
5. Advanced Query Syntax applies, esp. to file explorer, but the document is a bit old. However, file explorer's ribbon allows a lot of its features to be used from the GUI.
6. File search is slow, if the path searched includes non-indexed items or folders
7. It is sometimes subject to problems related to file corruption.

There is mythology around Windows search from XP days when people turned it off. That mythology is obsolete.

Free 3rd party tools are hugely more convenient, more intuitive and usually faster, but don't support indexed content search as far as I know

when they made the change to add indexing

- indexing has been in Windows since at least XP...

dalchina said:

.... Free 3rd party tools are hugely more convenient, more intuitive and usually faster, but don't support content search....

UltraSearch now supports content search since Version 2.1.0 : (20 Jun 2016)
It is quite easy to organize the folders and filters for the search and I suggest you do this first because it will start searching the moment you start typing the word or phrase and that can be distracting.
Unfortunately I haven't found any way to Pause or Stop the search except to exit UltraSearch, I might have just missed the obvious though (it's happened before )

Is that indexed content search- or a search of the content of the found file?


(aar is the character string to be found)

That drive is fully indexed by Windows search, including content indexing... so it seems Ultrasearch doesn't use that, hence the warning it's slow. An important difference. (I've added 'indexed' to my previous post- thanks).

Repeating the same search once the text has been found takes just as long - green progress bar.

A direct comparison between Ultrasearch and my preferred tool, Locate32, finding text content in a couple of files in a small folder shows that Locate32 is very much faster.

I was using Locate32 in my XP days but it doesn't seem to have been updated since 2012? so when I updated to Windows 8 I went looking for an alternative and that's when I found Everything Search and then UltraSearch
Since you are happily using Locate32 then it obviously works well with Windows 10

I am not an expert on UltraSearch and in truth I can't remember the last time I searched files for content, I usually have a good idea in which file the content is and where the file is located so a manual search by me is usually quickest.

dalchina said:

Is that indexed content search- or a search of the content of the found file?


(aar is the character string to be found)

That drive is fully indexed by Windows search, including content indexing... so it seems Ultrasearch doesn't use that, hence the warning it's slow. An important difference. (I've added 'indexed' to my previous post- thanks).

Repeating the same search once the text has been found takes just as long - green progress bar.....

No Indexing, might be why the repeat search takes just as long

UltraSearch does not maintain an index which is stored on your harddisk, but achieves its speed by working directly on the Master File Table (MFT) of the NTFS partitions.

dalchina said:

...A direct comparison between Ultrasearch and my preferred tool, Locate32, finding text content in a couple of files in a small folder shows that Locate32 is very much faster.

Since Locate32 does work ok with Windows 10 and the Portable Version is only 2.71 MB (without index) I am going to have it on standby
Everything Search will search C drive only
UltraSearch will search E drive only (external drive)
Locate32 will search for content only

Too much is never enough

True it hasn't been updated, but it's absolutely reliable and convenient- I use it across both drives and partitions. Sometimes I use Windows search when working with file explorer. And it does need to be allowed to index of course like the others.

I find Ultrasearch's GUI awkward to work with, and Everything was using more resource - a service I think- plus Everything required the use of a beta to add essential GUI features to specify the search.

Windows search on content can work well.. now where's that aardvark?

Instant- but what it doesn't indicate is that's on partition H. And to get fast content search requires all of H: to be indexed.

I am guessing adding huge HD's to the search index will slow it down considerably?