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Can not search my computer

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7 replies

by cxy

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Hi,

I'm using XP SP 2, and now have problem using its search function. Everytime I search for files or folders, I always get error message box saying "Unexpected Error. Action could not be completed".

Is reinstalling XP the only solution for this problem?

Thanks.

7 replies

by marco schumacher (at biznesslegion)

XP has a limit on the length of the full file name (i.e., including all ancestor folders starting with \). If this limit is exceeded, it behaves strangely on file operations.

I haven't seen this happen for search, but for deletes. XP refuses to do the operation and displays an irrelevant message (I don't quite remember which, but I think it was "disk full").

If you have a really deep folder structure or long names, you may want to poke around there. By the way, I had to use the MSDOS prompt to do some of the renaming to shorten the names. The explorer didn't work.

by beachfireman

Get TweakUI. Under the desktop tab make sure "search results" has a check next to it. This worked for me. you can get tweakUI from download.com for free.

by teffguo

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{e17d4fc0-5564-11d1-83f2-00a0c90dc849}]
@="Search Results Folder"

save as a .reg file
and double click this file
import it to registry

by michaelcarr

Both work great:

o TweakUI: the show search results folder check box is under the desktop tab

o for *.REG file: note that the line shown is VERY long and only breaks into two lines because there is an embedded space to allow a second line on your screen

Thanks to both of you.

Michael Carr

by beachfireman

when you get tweakUI you need to unzip the files to a folder then move those files into the c:\windows\system32 directory. then go to your control panel and the icon will be there. It should be about 4 or 5 files total.

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