Ollie stumbled upon writing online whilst participating in a mobile network forum back in 2011. Since then, he has developed an incredible passion for writing about all sorts of tech from smartphones, PC hardware, software, and everything in between. Read Ollie’s Full Bio

File Explorer search Current folder option doesn’t work

I am having a problem with my Windows 10 file explorer searches. When I search for an item, it brings back results in for the current folder and all subfolders as it should. When I click on «Current folder» in the search tools, however, it does nothing. I still see all results from all subfolders.

I believe this problem started after installing NVIDIA GeForce Experience and the latest NVIDIA driver. I tried to do a system restore, but it seems I dont have any restore points. That is another problem I will have to fix.

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Replies (50) 

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

We understand your concern as you are having issue in File explorer search option. In order to get clarity and to assist you accordingly, please reply with the answers to the questions below:

What is the Windows 10 Version and Build installed? (Type winver in Windows search/Run command)

Have you tried restarting your computer?

Meanwhile, we would suggest you to refer these methods and check.

Method 1: Restart Windows Search service.

1. Press Windows + R key to open run command.
2. Type services.msc and click Ok.
3. Scroll and look for Windows Search. Double click on the service.
4. Set the startup type as Automatic and click Ok.
5. Click on Start or Restart from the left pane

Method 2: If the issue persists, then we would suggest you to refer these steps to restore it to default.

1. Open File Explorer and click on View tab from the top.
2. Click the arrow below Options and select Change folder and search options .
3. Under General tab, click on Restore Defaults .
4. Click Ok and relaunch File Explorer.

Aditya Roy
Microsoft Community – Moderator

Search folder windows explorer

This forum has migrated to Microsoft Q&A. Visit Microsoft Q&A to post new questions.

Answered by:

Question

On Windows Ultimate 64-bit.

In Windows Explorer I can navigate to my website’s image folder and everything works fine. I can switch the view from Thumbnails to Details, etc w/o any problems.

Path: C:\Users\My_Profile_Name\Documents\My Web Sites\Sitexyz\Images that contains a _vti_cnf subfolder.

How can I exclude the _vti_cnf subfolder when running a Windows Explorer > Search?

The reason I am asking is because the Search result will show the thumbnail or details of the image I am searching for but also a smaller size duplicate from the _vti_cnf subfolder.

For example Search yields: Test.jpg 137 KB and also Test.jpg 463 bytes which is only an icon.

It’s only an annoyance really but a time waster as I have to filter the results every time a run an image search which I do quite often.

Edit adding the solution!

That was annoying me for years and just found out by poking around how to exclude a subfolder from Windows Explorer Search results:

1- Image folder (in my example) > Tools > Folder Options > View tab > Hidden files and folders > select: Don’t show hidden files, folders or drives.

2- Folder to be excluded from Search results (_vti_cnf in my case) > right-click > Properties > select: Hidden > Apply > select: Apply changes to this folder, subfolder and files > OK.
*
Method 2 is a shotgun approach that will exclude all subfolders: Image folder > Tools > Folder Options > Search tab > How to search > deselect: Include subfolders in search results.

How to Fix File Explorer Search Not Working in Windows 10

October 4, 2020 By Admin

Is Search box of File Explorer not working on your computer? If you are facing this issue at your end, you are not alone. Some Windows 10 users are also complaining about similar kind of issue at their end. Follow the fixes of this article and the problem will be solved quickly. But before going ahead for the main solutions, check out these simpler workarounds and check if they works out for you or not.

Workarounds–

1. Press “Esc” key when the Search box is not responding on your computer. It will offer some temporarily fix for the problem.

2. Reboot your computer and check if it helps or not.

3. Check if any Windows Update is pending or not. If any of the updates are pending on your computer, update your system, check if it is working or not.

If any of these workarounds didn’t work out for you, go for these solutions-

Fix-1 Modify File Explorer options-

Modifying File Explorer Options on your computer may solve this issue.

1. Press Windows key+R to launch Run window on your computer. Now, type or copy-paste “control.exe folders” in Run window and then hit Enter. File Explorer Options window will be opened.

2. In File Explorer Options window, go to “View” tab and then toggle the option “Launch folder windows in a separate process“. (You can check/ uncheck the option.)

3. Click on “Apply” and “OK” to save the changes.

Relaunch File Explorer on your computer. After opening File Explorer window, type to search something in File Explorer and check if the error is still there or not. Your problem should be solved.

Fix 2 – via Powershell

1. Press Windows key + R key together to open RUN.

2. Write powershell in it .

3. Press CTRL + Shift + Esc keys together from your keyboard to open elevated powershell window.

4. Write the following command given below and hit enter key.

Wait for some time to get it executed fully.

Fix 3 – Rebuild Search Index

1. Press Windows key + R together to open RUN command box.

2. Copy and paste the following code in text field and click OK.

2. Click on Advanced.

3. Choose Tab File Types

4. Select Index Properties and File Contents

5. Click OK.

6. Choose OK when the Confirmation prompt pops up.

Fix 4 – Make sure Windows Search Service is Running

1. Press Windows key + R together to Open RUN.

2. Now, Write services.msc in it and Press OK.

3. Locate Windows Search Service, right click on it and Click on Properties.

4. Make sure the Startup Type is Automatic. If it is not Change it to Automatic.

5. Make sure that Service is running also. If it is not running, Click on start to start it.

Fix 5 – End Cortana Process

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys together to Open Task manager.

2. Now, Locate Cortana and do a Right Click on it and Choose End task.

Doing this will restart the Cortana process and will Fix the issue.

Fix 6 – Install KB4532695 update to fix this

Microsoft have released KB4532695 update which seems to fix this issue for the PC affected by this bug. Just download ans install KB4532695 from this official Microsoft website.

Fix 7- Add System permission to a folder

If this problem persists with a particular folder then , system permission may be missing from the folder. To set this do this:

1. Do a Right click on the folder

2. Click on Properties

3. Click on Security Tab.

4. If you do not see System in the List of Group or User Name, Click on Edit.

5. Click on Add.

6. Write system in the text box and Click on Check names.

7. Keep Clicking on OK and Close every Open box so far.

Fix 8 – Troubleshoot Search and Indexing

1. Press Windows key + R together and write Control Panel in RUN command Box and Click OK to Open Control Panel.

2. Select Large icons in View by .

3. Click on Troubleshooting

4. Click on View all from the Right Menu.

5. Locate Search and Indexing and Click on it.

6. Choose Files Don’t appear in Search Results

7. Proceed with On Screen instructions.

Fix 9 – Default Apps by protocol

1. Press Windows key + I to open settings

2. Click on Apps.

3. Click on Default Apps from the left menu. Now, scroll in the right side and click on Choose default apps by protocol.

4. Now, scroll and and in the left side look for windows search protocol. After locating it just select windows explorer from the right, if it is not selected.

Saurav is associated with IT industry and computers for more than a decade and is writing on The Geek Page on topics revolving on windows 10 and softwares.

Related Posts:

Reader Interactions

Comments

Rombout Versluijs says

Does some one know or how i can make it stop refreshing or restarting the search everytime it looses focus. So for example i have 2 windows, ill do a search in on window and let it run and get results, that all works fine. Now ill focus on that second window browser through some folders and return to that other window. Why does it restart the search and clears all the results? THis is really counter intuitive, its making me go nuts

Thanks so much for this! By the time I got into fix 3 it my search was back!

Fix #2 actually worked for me!! I work a lot with a huge album of product photos so not being able to search was getting to be a real time suck. Thanks!

Fix 2 worked for me, thanks!

Thank you, option #3 finally got it working again. many thanks

John — Manchester says

Jan, some people cure diseases, some people save people from burning building, you have saved my keyboard from being smashed to bits and my poor cat for being pushed off my desk when she’s looking for strokes – which I believe is on par with the others.
Thanks for that, nothing worked for me until I ran that command and I’ve been trying for 3-4 hours today and 3-4 hours for the best part of another day a month ago (that time Indexing worked).
All the best 🙂

Jan’s solution is only one that worked for me. Windows 2004.

@Jan
You are a hero to me. I looked for days to find a solution. Nothing, realy nothing worked for me. As everything failed, why not try your solution.

What should I say; the only working solution.

Thanks so much for this powershell script.

Wow, had to get all the way down to Fix 8, but that fixed it! This File Explorer Search issue just happened with the last Windows update. Thanks for all the great suggestions!

Thanks a bunch Jan, ran the powershell script you left and worked. Did absolutely everything else everyone else suggested and no luck.

For me it was the SearchApp.exe process that kept crashing. That process was previously called SearchUI.exe, I think, and was a part of Cortana. Microsoft.Windows.Cortana has now changed name to Microsoft.Windows.Search, located in C:\Windows\SystemApps\.

To fix this issue for my user in Windows 10 2004 I ran the following command in PowerShell:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Search | Foreach

Athanasios Chaldoupis says

I had also problem with explorer’s search. I solved it this way:
Open the Registry Editor. Find the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
1) Go to “ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin” value , double click on it and set the data to 0 (zero).
2) Go to “EnableLUA” value double click on it and set the data to 0 (zero). If the value “EnableLUA” does not exist you must create it with right click as DWORD (32-bit).
Reboot your system to activate the changes.

RUSSELL CAROLLA says

I have tried out all the possibilities => without success

Why Microsoft? Windows 7 never had this issue

None of the steps above worked, though I did have an interesting time. Along with some other users, I tried to restart File Explorer from the Task Manager without many expectations. But, surprise surprise, it worked 🙂

Tried looking at default apps by protocol. Doing so immediately overrode all my custom defaults; hence I now have to contend with that, as well as the original fault

which remains unfixed. I suspect a buggy program… Sigh…

Finally the search is working. My problem was a little different in that I added a couple of file extensions (file types) but Windows Explorer wasn’t finding files in known searches. Specifically the new file types were .php files. Known searches would find strings in .css and .html files but not .php files. It was as if Windows Explorer was still blind to .php files. I tried everything, including running the PowerShell fix-it script, but none of it worked.

What seemed to make a difference was to go into Indexing Options, under “Index these Locations” I removed an entry for something that was no longer on my computer. When re-ran the index, the count of the number of items indexed increased dramatically. Now File Explorer searches were getting hits in the newly added (.php) file types.

I’ve been at this so long, now I can’t remember the problem for which I needed this capability. Ugh.

Fix-1 did the trick !!

Thank you very much, saved a lot of trouble !

I have manage to fix this issue in my windows10 (amd64)

1º step – Restore indexing services
2º step – make a shortcut of %windir%\System32\ctfmom.exe and place it on startup folder ..

( now everytime my pc startup it will auto run the ctfmom.exe allowing me to use the search functions )

Is enabling search indexing for SSD disk any good?

Restart Explorer worked 4me!
Cortannnnnna is OFF.

Tried all steps but Cortana as I do not want it running on my computer. Restarted Windows Explorer too and nothing has helped! Submitted issue (along with 100s of others) on Microsoft support page. Still waiting for fix!

Follow all steps in thegeekpage.com above, once done, you now have experience on skills. Click file explorer and try to click in search box. Still you can’t type in example *.jpg ? Or *.exe ? Do what post from Julia said. Opentask manager and find task Windows Explorer. Right click for menu popup. Click restart. Go to destop, click icon file explorer, click your path, say C: drive, then search box type in *.exe or *.jpg
Wow it freakin works now bill gates.

Robert Eckerlin says

I have the same problem. It is especially after an attempt to search my whole C Partition, that the the Search function stops to work. To work around this problem of not being able to search the whole C partition, I reboot the PC.

This happens much too often

I too, i am currently extremely disatisified with Windows 10 and I regrtet very much my very stable Windows / (that I gave up. because the end od its support period by Microsoft).
.
By the way: I resent very much that various excellent well functioning piece of Hardware are not supported under Windows 10: my excellent compact Bluetooth (=Bluetooth V3) K810 Keyboard, my excellent compact flatbed Canon Lide 200 Scanner, my excellent 10 year old PC….As if a Hardware Manufacturing Mafia took advantage of the end of windows 7 supporft to enrich itself by focring us or pushing us to buy new Hardware: new bluetooth keyboards, new Flatbed scanner, new PCs. is that ecological?

I have the same problem. When I turn on my computer, search box in file explorer stops working after a while. I think it began after the last update of my WIN 10.
Could not find a proper solution for this till now.

Having same problem on my home desktop Windows 10. (I don’t know how you find the 1903 version people keep referring to.) Very interesting, though, that I’ve never had one search issue on my work laptop Windows 10. Are we using some different, business version of Windows 10 that was properly tested, unlike the home version?

I went into the task manager and right clicked on Windows explorer and clicked on restart. This worked.
We shouldn’t have to do this and it only started going wrong after the last windows update.

When I type in FE to name or rename a file, it’s nonsense. I can hit the same key over and over and different characters/numbers will type each time. What the heck?

Julia’s fix worked for me:
I went into the task manager and right clicked on file explorer and clicked on restart. This worked for me after none of these did.

Broak Navi says

Like many others this didn’t work for me.

The amount of bugs in windows 10 is staggering.
I currently work as a contractor at Microsoft and even though I reported this issue months ago (which they came back with won’t fix) it won’t be fixed anytime soon. They (MS higher ups) needs to get their act together and fix their core systems. I’ve had calculator stop working, windows randomly not opening as expected, this search issue, clicks not working, just type from start menu not doing anything.
Staggering amount of bugs..
This is due to internal shifts removing more and more testers. Their hope was the devs would do the testing as well.. but most devs make crappy testers.

Answer is easy. Shift focus back into the OS. Make the OS super stable/solid and then go from there. Lots and lots of cool features.. but half working or not working at all just frustrates us to no end. 10 years here.. and the bubble is slowly collapsing. I just hope they reach their goal before it does.

I went into the task manager and right clicked on file explorer and clicked on restart. This worked for me after none of these did.

Mark Geller says

Having same problem with File Explorer…nothing happens when I click search box or try to type something into search box. Very frustrating especially when I need to search a folder with many, many, many files.
I started experiencing problem towards end of November.

Kendall DeMott says

None of this worked, Win 10 64 bit, latest updates. Can’t type in Explorer search window, this also goes for the search window in the Control Panel. I have no idea what the Ms people have done, but Win 10 has become a piece of crap, and years of Explorer working without issue, its now very buggy, and crashes a lot. Bill, please fire, and hire someone that can do a proper job!

I also have the issue since the November 2019 update

Cortana’s Frenemy says

Unfortunately none of these helped – when I click on the search box in Explorer nothing happens, I cannot type anything into the box. Also the Start Menu/Taskbar search appears to be affected; sometimes it closes as soon as I type a letter, other times it works.

I have gone to great (and varied) lengths to disable Cortana and it appears that one of the changed settings/hacks I did has disabled search in the most recent Windows update. I’m going to try re-enabling Cortana as much as possible to see if that helps.

The problem started roughly the last week of November 2019, so probably something in the Version 1903 update.

Hoping someone can find a solution, as I’m sure this has impacted a bunch of people.

I have tried out all the possibilities => without success 🙁

Milan Patnaik says

Thanks.
It helped me to resolve my issue.