I am reposting something here which I posted into another thread
dealing with the same issue.
FYI - You don't need to "index" anything in order for the content
searching capabilities of Vista to be better than any previous
versions of Windows. It is full adequte for engineers and
scientists. The problem is that no one has taken the time to really
mess around and try and resolve the problem for these types of users.
I have done so this morning and finally figured it all out. But...
scientists should have figured it out before I did lol.
Here is my original post in the other thread from this morning:
Hello
This post may make everyone happy. I had this issue with XP before
when trying to search through the contents of thousands of EDI files
on a mapped network drive. The Microsoft KB article fixed the
problem. So... I just set up my new workstation this past week with
Windows Vista Ultimate and guess what? I have the same issue. When
XP first came out I got the hotfix from my MAPS support before
service
pack 1. I called them yesterday to see if there was a fix for Vista,
nope. They told me to try the XP fix and low and behold... IT WORKS.
Here are the steps you need to take:
First go and open up this MS KB because you'll need it:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309173/EN-US/
1. In the search settings on Vista you NEED to turn on the setting
to
"...always search file names and contents..." or whatever is says (I
am not going back there to look at the exact syntax) lol. Otherwise
it will only search the contents of indexed files.
2. You need to open up at least 1 of each of the "unknown" file types
with notepad and tell Vista to ALWAYS use notepad for this type of
file so that it will register the file type. I am searching through
files named *.TDF, *.ORD. *.BAK, etc.
3. BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY before doing any modifications...
4. You need to create the DWORD registry setting (or set it to 1 if
it
is there) in the method 2 part of the KB article.
5. You then need to create the registry keys for "PersistentHandler"
for each of the newly registered file types AS SHOWN at the bottom of
method 1 in the KB article. Make sure you copy and paste the value
that is shown for the text filter into the default - don't go trying
to type it out each time.
6. REBOOT or log off and back on. If you don't do this IT WON'T
WORK!
I hope that everyone will benefit from this post but I obvioulsy
offer
NO WARRANTY and/or support if you destroy your registry lol...
Anyways, it works perfectly for me as I am now able to search through
thousands of files on a mapped netowrk drive and I am happy so you
should be as well once you get it all straightened out. Don't blame
Microsoft either - they are just doing what is best for the majority
of users by making the search fast and effective - most users are not
looking for text within a 1/2 million files that are wacky
unregistered extensions.
Have fun!
Marc