Searching for documents on an additional drive

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My computer is set up as I have often seen recommended, i.e., Windows and programs on the C drive, data on another internal drive. The properties, as checked this morning, indicate that the drive is indexed for both file name and contents. However, Windows search, as initiated from either the start button or Windows Explorer for the data drive only, fails to find a Word document I’ll call here “Rembrandt on Titian” when I search for Rembrandt. (It finds the file  immediately if I copy it to my desktop.) In fact, when I ran the search from Explorer for the data drive alone, the green made its way laboriously across the address bar and finally stalled nearly all the way through and then remained their for about an hour before I closed it.

This is not the only time this has happened.

What am I missing?

Thank you.

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Open Windows Search settings (WinKey + I; select Search)
Select Searching Windows in left pane
If you have under Find My Files the Classic option, click the Customize search locations here text to open those settings and be sure that the other drive is listed. If not add it.

If the drive or folder is listed and you still have the problem then run the Indexer Troubleshooter at the bottom of that settings page.

HTH, Dana:))

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Thank you for your reply.

No words appear directly under Find My Files, just white space until Excluded Folders (also nothing there).

I ran troubleshooter twice. No change.

I opened Advanced options under More Search Indexer Settings. The relevant drive was not listed, so I added it and then tried again. No change.

What’s the next step to take?

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As an alternative, you might try using Everything, a search program provided by VoidTools:

https://www.voidtools.com/

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Alex5723

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Thank you, but I really don’t wish to add programs. If I put the drive in the
Windows search group, I presume it should be included in searches, unless I have not done something I should have to enable this.

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geekdom

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Cthru wrote:

No words appear directly under Find My Files, just white space until Excluded Folders (also nothing there).

The attached image shows the Windows Search settings under Find My Files

If you don’t have those settings, then it was removed.   Maybe some software that has taken over your search functions.  The fact that these settings are not there indicates that Windows is not in charge of the searching.

 

HTH, Dana:))

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geekdom

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Well, that’s interesting. I try to keep my machine simple as I can. Thinking about your response, I logged into my administrator account. The Search there looks the way it should, and in fact the data drive is included. When I put in the same search term from the Windows start button, it instantly brought up the folder on that drive in which the document I want is located.

How do I get my regular account to do this, since the Troubleshooter was unable to fix it? Any ideas?

Thank you for your continued assistance.

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Cthru wrote:

Thank you, but I really don’t wish to add programs. If I put the drive in the
Windows search group, I presume it should be included in searches, unless I have not done something I should have to enable this.

Everything app is free and portable (no install needed).
It doesn’t need indexing and you get your search results in 1 second !
The app will search internal and extremal drives.

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Wizfile is another portable fast file search utility like Everything.

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I opened Advanced options under More Search Indexer Settings. The relevant drive was not listed, so I added it and then tried again. No change.

Give it time to index that drive for your user account. You may even want to rebuild index.

Never Say Never

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Cthru wrote:

How do I get my regular account to do this, since the Troubleshooter was unable to fix it? Any ideas?

A standard user (Guest status) can access only certain folders and files by its security setup.
One solution that might work is to change the type of standard account you have as different types have different access.

This is an old tech method to change the type of standard account that still works for Windows 10.

Open a Run box (WinKey + R) and enter control userpasswords2 and press the Enter key
This will open the User Accounts window
Find your standard user account listed, highlight it and click properties which will open the Properties window for that user account.
Click the Group Membership tab
Click Other and click the dropdown list of users. Select Power Users (next step below Administrator and should have access to search files)
Click Apply and Ok your way out.
Cold reboot (hold down the Shift key when selecting reboot)

Hopefully the Power User type for your standard account will work.

FYI: Click the link below for a detail of the access options for each type of user account.
User and Group Accounts

HTH, Dana:))

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