Windows 7: Search does not find files that it should, directory is indexed, and *.php included on the extension list

It's the Attachment Manager setting in Group Policy Editor | User Configuration you need to change - see post above.

Right, Brian100, here are the results of some experiments.

I acquired 14 .tif files, nearly all with numbers somewhere in their names.  I put them in TestFolder, within my Documents folder.  It turns out they were indexed almost immediately.

a) I searched from the Explorer search box, with Explorer pointing to Documents, with the search term:

ext:.tif

This immediately found all the TIFs.

b) Two of the filenames contained the number 6, FAX_DE_EDGAR_060605.tif  and  CCITT_6.TIF. I used the search term:

ext:.tif  6

Nothing was found, but this is to be expected, because of the way the search syntax works.

Then I searched using:

ext:.tif name:~=6

which means look for a tiff containing 6 anywhere in the name.  The two files were found instantly.

The syntax used must be exactly as shown or it won't work.  (But you can also put quotes around the search string - name:~="6", or name:~="GAR_060" for the first file, will still work.)

Searching for ext:.tif name:~=5 found FAX_DE_EDGAR_060605.tif again, and CCITT_5.TIF.

I did the experiment again using different files and numbers, with the same result.

c) I made all the files read-only and did it all again.  Same results.

d) Then I made them all hidden as well as read-only, and did it all again.  Same results, except the hidden files only showed when I had "View hidden files" turned on, as you might expect.

e)  Then I put a copy of TestFolder inside a folder at the root of the C: drive called SwSetup, so the structure was C:\SwSetup\TestFolder.  Then I repeated the searches with Explorer pointing at the root, C:.

This time, as I suggested in my previous post, the search took a lot longer, because the location was not indexed, so Search had to do a "grep" search through all the non-indexed folders.  But it still found the files eventually, with the same conditions and caveats as above.

f)  These experiments were all carried out on Windows 8 Pro, but the functionality should be exactly the same on Windows 7.  (Incidentally, on Windows 7 you can press Windows Key + F (WinKey and F together) to bring up a Search version of Explorer to do an indexed search - just in case you didn't know).

If some combination of all these suggestions doesn't do the trick, try  reinstalling the operating system  by the light of the next full moon while standing on one leg and reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards.

[Works for me ;-}]

JMWard, we are different people apparently experiencing the same problem. 

I started to delete the original file and then copy the revised file from the USB drive as you suggested, but curiousity got the best of me and I wanted to see if copy/replace "really replaced the file" or if Win7 left the file on the HD untouched.  Now we know.  I wonder what "Move" would do?  Then again perhaps the Tiff trust center attributes are saved separately from the file itself and would be deleted when the file is deleted but not deleted/newly rebuilt with copy/replace. 

The files are not invisible in the details list (or any list) they are invisible to the "search box", I can see them sitting there in file view if I sort by PO# and then scroll way down but if I type the same number into the search box it yields no results.

I'm still trying to find time to change the Trust Center to confirm newly saved files received in emails will be searchable going forward.

I'm getting confused now.  Are you, Brian100, and you, Oil Man, one and the same person?  Or do you both have the same problem?  Anyway, it's good that the file moving trick (1) worked OK.  I nearly suggested specifically deleting the original files from your hard drive before moving the copies back from the flash drive, in fact that's what I meant by "move", but then I thought surely copy/replace would do it.

Having the "read-only" attribute set should not affect the visibility of a file in Explorer.  Changing the trust of Word documents in Word Trust Center is an interesting idea (I guess you mean altering settings in Trusted Documents, Protected View, and File Block Settings), but again it should not make the files invisible, just alter how you can access them.

With regard to your note to Microsoft, I'm afraid your words are wasted.  MS has more important things to do with its time than read through its forums and help.  One of the forum purposes is to enable customers to sound off without Microsoft having to listen.

Pace ¡Firedog, there is no reason why one cannot put user folders in the C: drive root as long as the security permissions are set correctly and system folder permissions are not changed.  For instance, I set up a web server "by hand" in C:\Apache24, the PHP engine in C:\PHP, a C++ compiler in C:\MinGW, and so on.  I am puzzled by the reference to Windows surreptitiously moving a folder and leaving a link in the root.  This doesn't happen spontaneously; something (perhaps a program installation) has to do it.  There are however special hidden links in C:\Users, put there to make the system folders "My Documents", etc., work properly and for backward compatibility with XP programs.  But I digress.

Just out of interest, you can search any folders on the C: drive from the Explorer search box using basic file properties, including System32 and so on, even though they may not be indexed.  Search uses a mode rather like Linux's "grep" for this; it can take a long time.

Finally, for Oil Man, you can see the attributes on files by starting a command window, and typing "attrib", or "attrib w*" to see the attributes on all files starting with "w" for example.

iFiredog,

Its not truly at root.  I just didn't feel like typing the whole tree.  The tree starts at "My Documents" (aka Documents) and goes 2 or 3 layers deep.  Its in a normal place using a normal file structure.