File Search doesn't work right

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Guest

I just right clicked on C:\WINNT and clicked Search, and then typed
*.dll into the filename box, and clicked Search Now, and it only
returns DLL files in C:\WINNT and C:\WINNT\AppPatch.

In the Search Options, the only boxes that are checked are the
Advanced Options and Search Subfolders boxes.

Am I missing something here? Seems like a really serious bug, because
obviously there are DLL files under C:\WINNT\system32 and other
folders.
 
Explorer|Tools|Folder Options|View, then radio button for "Show hidden files
and folders", then uncheck the box for "Hide protected operating system
files"

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Yes, I have done that already. If I do a search for *.dll starting
from C:\WINNT, then it won't find any dll files in system32 (or any
other subfolder except for AppPatch). But if I do a search starting
from C:\WINNT\system32, then it finds the dll files in there.


Explorer|Tools|Folder Options|View, then radio button for "Show hiddenfiles
and folders", then uncheck the box for "Hide protected operating systemfiles"

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]http://www.microsoft.com/protect



I just right clicked on C:\WINNT and clickedSearch, and then typed
*.dll into the filename box, and clickedSearchNow, and it only
returns DLLfilesin C:\WINNT and C:\WINNT\AppPatch.
Click to expand...
In theSearchOptions, the only boxes that are checked are the
Advanced Options andSearchSubfolders boxes.
Click to expand...
Am I missing something here? Seems like a really serious bug, because
obviously there are DLLfilesunder C:\WINNT\system32 and other
folders.- Hide quoted text -
Click to expand...

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...
 
Don't know what to tell you. Doesn't happen that way here. After backup you
might try running chkdsk /r from the recovery console.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
I get exactly the same result. the serach function will not search into
Systen32, which has neither the system nor hidden attribute set. A
Windows search for *.dll from WINNT finds 73 files, including many in
uninstall folders. A search using Agent Ransack finds 3487 files in WINNT
and its subfolders. I suspect this is a deliberate design deficiency in
the Windows search function,
 
I don't remember that ever happening for me with Windows 2000 (believe me I
would have remembered this one). Doesn't happen that way with Windows XP or
Windows Vista.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
It's the same on both my home and work systems, but I'd never noticed
before I read the original message in this thread. The search function
was compleletely redone in XP, so I'd expect it to behave differently.
Still, the quirks I've read about in the XP search function are a strong
argument in favor of the use of something like Agent Ransack instead.
 
For Windows XP If you have; say directory shortcuts on the desktop (or
toolbar) and search the desktop then all directories the shortcuts will also
be searched.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
 
Dave Patrick said:
I don't remember that ever happening for me with Windows 2000 (believe me I
would have remembered this one). Doesn't happen that way with Windows XP or
Windows Vista.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

Gary Smith said:
I get exactly the same result. the serach function will not search into
Systen32, which has neither the system nor hidden attribute set. A
Windows search for *.dll from WINNT finds 73 files, including many in
uninstall folders. A search using Agent Ransack finds 3487 files in WINNT
and its subfolders. I suspect this is a deliberate design deficiency in
the Windows search function,
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Doesn't happen that way here either ... Windows 2000 Professional.

A search for *.dll yields 6,997 hits spread across all drives, 2,953 of
those are the WINNT directory structure.

An interesting discusson, I wonder what causes the discrepancies we're
seeing?
 
Colon said:
Doesn't happen that way here either ... Windows 2000 Professional.

A search for *.dll yields 6,997 hits spread across all drives, 2,953 of
those are the WINNT directory structure.
Click to expand...

Well ... that isn't actually what the OP said. He's starting the search
from \WINNT and including subdirectories. So he should only get those
dll's in WINNT and subdirectories ... but in fact he doesn't get all of
those.

It works kinda the same on my machine as the OP - that is I get dll's in
\WINNT and \WINNT\AppPatch and in my case, I get a bunch of hits in
various \WINNT\$... uninstall directories too. But still none in other
\WINNT\ subdirectories.

If I try the search as you did from the root level and include all
drives, I get hits in various other C:\ directories and subdirectories
but none in the other drives (there may actually be none on those
drives) but the hits in the \WINNT directory tree are still incomplete
as above.
 
I just tried this on my Windows XP Pro SP2 machine and it found all the DLL's
in C:\Windows\System32 and beyond. I will try Windows 2000 Pro tomorrow.
 
I just tried Windows 2000 Pro SP2 and it also worked fine. It found DLL
files in C:\Winnt\System32 and beyond.
 
Was that a typo, or did you really mean SP2?

MPaquette said:
I just tried Windows 2000 Pro SP2 and it also worked fine. It found DLL
files in C:\Winnt\System32 and beyond.
Click to expand...
 
I was finally able to check a couple more systems, and every Win2K SP4
system I've checked displays the same behavior. Search does not display
..dll or .exe files in folders subordinate to WINNT except for AppPatch and
the uninstall folders. No other file extension seems to be affected.

.... and now I may have found the cause and the explanation for why some
systems do not exhibit the described behavior. The next folder following
AppPatch in WINNT on all of these systems is "assembly", which may be
related to .NET. The assembly folder contains a desktop.ini file which
causes Explorer to provide a special view of the contents. Somehow that
process interferes with the identification or listing of .dll and .exe
files. If the assembly folder is not present, or if the desktop.ini is
removed or renamed, searches for these files behave normally.

What we have here is a bug. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any
practical circumvention other than using something other than Explorer to
locate these files.
 
Gary said:
... and now I may have found the cause and the explanation for why some
systems do not exhibit the described behavior. The next folder following
AppPatch in WINNT on all of these systems is "assembly", which may be
related to .NET. The assembly folder contains a desktop.ini file which
causes Explorer to provide a special view of the contents. Somehow that
process interferes with the identification or listing of .dll and .exe
files. If the assembly folder is not present, or if the desktop.ini is
removed or renamed, searches for these files behave normally.
Click to expand...

I can confirm that on my system. It contains the "assembly" folder and
exhibits the same bug.

However, when I temporarily rename "assembly" to "Xassembly", the search
now proceeds to the other folders. So I think you've hit the nail on the
head here.

You might be able to use this renaming trick to extend your search but
I'll grant it's not very convenient.
 
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