One thing that has driven me NUTS about Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the lack of search functionality. They have made it SO stupid that it can't find anything.I am trying to do a search in Windows 7 for .admx files and there is no search on the right click and the idiot search in the start bar gives me nothing. I know the files are there.Where is the real search gone and how do I get it back for the right click with Windows 7?lforbes

Try using a wildcard: *.admx

I have used "Agent Ransack" for many releases, now.Kris

I am able to see .admx files though the standard search, provided I have Show Hidden Files checked under Organize -> Folder and search options -> View. Hope that works for you.

The only indexed location is the Users folder. I have Show Hidden Files enabled and have unticked "Hide Protected Operating System Files" too.I have found that the search under Vistawon't show anything in the Windows Directory.I have actually found a setting to turn off indexing when searching in file folders and system files in Windows 7 RC so that may fix it. Hopefully I can get that as a Domain setting.lforbes

Searching for system files or any file not in an indexed location was a teethgrinding pain in Vista. In my opinion the search function in vista is all but useless. I came here right now because I can't get it to work. I was checking to see if I had duplicates of a file on my machine so I cut & pasted the file name gave it the drive it was on told it search in non indexed locations and it simply can not find a file that I'm staring at in explorer. In Win7 it looks like they've eliminated the problem by getting rid of advanced search - so problem solved - there is no search function in Win7

The only indexed location is the Users folder. I have Show Hidden Files enabled and have unticked "Hide Protected Operating System Files" too.I have found that the search under Vistawon't show anything in the Windows Directory.I have actually found a setting to turn off indexing when searching in file folders and system files in Windows 7 RC so that may fix it. Hopefully I can get that as a Domain setting. lforbes lforbes,In the search options (within folder options... the next tab over from where you unchecked 'hide protected operating system files') there is a section called 'When searching non-indexed locations' and under that is a checkbox labelled 'Include System Directories'.

The only indexed location is the Users folder. I have Show Hidden Files enabled and have unticked "Hide Protected Operating System Files" too.I have found that the search under Vistawon't show anything in the Windows Directory.I have actually found a setting to turn off indexing when searching in file folders and system files in Windows 7 RC so that may fix it. Hopefully I can get that as a Domain setting. lforbes lforbes,In the search options (within folder options... the next tab over from where you unchecked 'hide protected operating system files') there is a section called 'When searching non-indexed locations' and under that is a checkbox labelled 'Include System Directories'. Thanks. I did have that checked on Vista. It "appears" to be the solution. I guess I will pick a system file name and search and see if it will find it. Didn't have much luck with Vista even with it checked before.Now only if they would bring back "search inside file". I used that a LOT.Cheers,Laralforbes

To extend the search indexing for looking into file contents (if I understood your problem right), go to Control Panel -> Index options -> Extended settings -> File types and set the checkbox at the bottom to "Search properties and contents".Mob. AMD64 3000+, 1 G RAM, Mob. ATIRadeon9700, 20x DVDRW, C:XPSP3 (55G),D:WIN7 (25G),F:DATA (250G)

One thing that worked for me was to uncheck "use the index" in search options after which it finds system and hidden files.

To extend the search indexing for looking into file contents (if I understood your problem right), go to Control Panel -> Index options -> Extended settings -> File types and set the checkbox at the bottom to "Search properties and contents". Mob. AMD64 3000+, 1 G RAM, Mob. ATIRadeon9700, 20x DVDRW, C:XPSP3 (55G),D:WIN7 (25G),F:DATA (250G) Thanks for that information. I never thought to look under indexing options. So many things are in different places in Vista/7 and I have noticed that even between Vista and 7 things have changed.It is checked when I go there but it doesn't work like XP did. I used to always be able to search inside .adm, .txt, .inf and .ini without issue.Thanks for the information though.Cheers,Laralforbes

...look under indexing options. So many things are in different places... I agree. It's hard not tocriticizewhen it's unsightly anddifficult like that. Now did they doa "video" on how things are different somewhere? I know with Office they did quite a bit because I have directed my users to watch it when we switched to 2007. However, with Vista even the help menu is completely Useless to find where they put things that you used to be able to do in XP.lforbes

lforbes,Absolutely. Please visit the Microsoft Springboard site, there are several videos and many pages of information.

lforbes,Absolutely. Please visit the Microsoft Springboard site, there are several videos and many pages of information. Thanks. They just seem to focus on the highlights though not the base structure information that a Network Administrator would need to know like how the profiles have all moved, even administrators have lost control of the registry etc. I guess I could spend a lot of time finding everything as that is the way I have learned OS since Windows NT 3 however the funny thing is things have been pretty much the same on the client side since Windows NT 4. I don't care about the highlights like UAC (I disable it entirely) and the added GUI stuff because we don't use it.I have Windows 7 and am slowly taking it apart piece by piece and will be documenting everything I find on my website for Network Admins. http://www.sd61.bc.ca/windows2000/Thanks for the info.Cheers,Laralforbes

lforbes, Did you go through the 3 adoption lifecycle buttons near the top of the page? They do get more technical the further in you go. There just aren't many videos yet.

lforbes, Did you go through the 3 adoption lifecycle buttons near the top of the page? They do get more technical the further in you go. There just aren't many videos yet. Yes I have read most of the technet documentation on the MS website including all their technet library here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349779.aspxIt isn't just there though. I understand Windows 7 is new. However, even for Vista a lot of the issues/changes weren't addressed except by techs like myself posting them on blogs, forums and websites.99% of the stuff I learned about Vista was from a 3rd party site. I still won't implement Vista in my Domain unless I am forced to because we can't find XP drivers. Therefore it is Windows 7 I am focusing on hacking to make it as much like XP as possible.I work in a domain where my users are not experienced computer users. Changes scare them and if they are even as simple as moving the logoff or changing where the documents are located it will be quite a challenge for me to implement. I personally have only 3500 users but I am also one of two techs in my organization with the most seniority so what we learn is passed along to the other techs that cover the other 50,000 users in the organization.lforbes

Actually I found this video. It does cover some cool features although I would like it to cover all instead of the highlights but it is a starthttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/dd758778.aspxlforbes