Forum Discussion
File Explorer find not working in some directories
I'm trying to use File Explorer to search for files in a particular directory, and it's not working. It can't even find a file when I enter the complete name and the file is in the current directory, which is as simple as it gets. In other directories it's flaky, but when it lets me search at all, it finds the right files.
I haven't investigated enough to be sure about this, but it seems unable to find anything that's in a Git or GitLab repository, and it works correctly elsewhere. If I split the difference -- search for files that exist under the current directory both in a repository and not in one -- it finds only the files that are not in the repository.
By "flaky" I mean that about half the time it lets me enter a filename or wildcard expression to search for, then it does nothing -- it doesn't even say that it found no files. If I enter the same string again, it works. This seems to be repeatable; I sometimes have to enter every search string twice to make it search. And sometimes the search string I'm entering disappears while I'm typing it, and I have to start again from the beginning.
How can I make the file finding feature behave itself? None of this nonsense happened in Windows 10.
1. Quick fix steps
Try these actions immediately:
Rebuild the search index
Open Settings > Search > Search Windows > Advanced indexing options
Click “Rebuild” → Wait for it to finish (takes 10-30 minutes)
Restart File Manager
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc → find “Windows Explorer” → right-click “Restart”
2. Targeted solutions
Scenario A: A specific folder cannot be searched
Right-click the target folder → Properties → Advanced
Uncheck “Allow files to index content” → Confirm → Re-check
Scenario B: Search box is grayed out
Run CMD as administrator:
cmd
reg add “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced” /v Start_SearchFiles /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
Reboot your computer
3. System Level Repair
Check the Windows search service:
Press Win+R and type services.msc
Find “Windows Search” → Make sure the status is “Running”.
Right-click → Properties → Change startup type to “Automatic”.
4. Reset file manager settings:
Open Registry Editor (regedit)
Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileAssociation
Delete the “UserChoice” key value (after backup)
5. Ultimate Solution
Create a new user profile:
Settings > Accounts > Other Users → Add local account
Log in to the new account to test the search function
System Restore/Reset:
Fall back to a restore point before the update (Settings > System > Restore)
or perform a non-destructive system reset (preserving personal files)
