Windows 10: Fix for Incomplete Explorer Search Results

I'm looking for a registry fix that I used to have for the incomplete search results problem. This was back with Windows 7 (or maybe even Windows XP?) and I'm hoping it still works with Windows 10.

(In case you don't know, when you search for file names in Windows Explorer, the results are automatically filtered - thanks Microsoft - and not all results are returned. So if your file is called MyTestFile.txt and you search for "test", that file is missing from the search results.)

Does anyone know this registry setting? It took me such a long time to find it the first time!

submitted by /u/Malachacha
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:)

 

Please fix Explorer incomplete search results

This is a request towards Microsoft to please finally fix the incomplete search results in file explorer.

I just spend a lot of time again trying to find a file that I could've found in 3 seconds, if only search was actually showing all files and folders within the selected folder. This is a known Win10 (and probably 8, 7) problem and has always been there,
but it is never fixed.

This is not an indexing problem as the data disk isn't even indexed, and it does find files with identical names in it but just randomly does not show certain files or folders in the search results.

And while you're at it maybe also fix the random crash (= explorer voluntarily closes) that sometimes occurs at completely random moments.

I don't want to install yet another third party software because Microsoft doesn't care about actual day to day user experience.

 

W10 Search Broken - These results may be incomplete


No one found a solution? I see old uninstalled programs showing up in windows search and it always says "these results may be incomplete" -- I am talking about Cortana search not file explorer search. I've tried all of the 'fixes' listed here but none seem to work for me.

 

searching error "search results may be incomplete"

Hello Yitzchok,

We realize the inconvenience you are experiencing with Search window giving error "Search results may be incomplete" in Windows 10. We will certainly help you.

Let's try the below steps and check if it helps:



Step 1: I would suggest you to run
Search and indexing troubleshooter and check. Please follow these steps:

a. Type troubleshooting in the search box on taskbar.

b. Click troubleshooting in the search results.

c. Click "View all" and then click "Search and Indexing".

d. Click "Next" and follow on-screen instructions.



Step 2: Follow these steps to turn on the hidden search box:

• Open Registry Editor.
• Go to the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
• Create a new DWORD value named EnableSearchBox and set it to 1. If you already have this value, then just modify its value data from 0 to 1.
• Sign out and log in back to your Windows account. Alternatively, you can just restart the Explorer shell.

Note: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore,
make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following
article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (How to back up and restore the registry in Windows - Microsoft Support )

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Please reply with the results, I will be glad to help you further.

Thank you.