Vista Windows search does not work with User 1

Bucketowater · 3rd July 2009

I have two user accounts on my Vista PC. The instant search USED to work on the administrator account - USER1, and then all of a sudden stopped. Months later I set up USER2. The instant search works for it.

I always get no match to your search for USER1 now. I can say search EVERYWHERE and get a list in a separate pain on USER 1 but that is not how it was designed to work. USER2 gets the search results instantaneously in the Start pane like it was designed to do.

I stopped and restarted the indexing for USER 1 and did a rebuild. I compared settings between the two USERS and it seems the same.

I thought about making a new USER #3 and seeing if I can transfer all of my USER1 files to the new USER3, I only found information for transferring between two DIFFERENT computers. and besides I don't want to risk re-mapping my home network.

Any solutions?

**mattman** · 5th July 2009

Firstly, if you want to search in a place that is not indexed, go to Start -> Computer and drill down to the (general) folder/directory that you think the file is located in. Then put your search in the "search bar" at the top right-hand side of the Window.

If you put something to search for into the Start -> Search bar, it will only search indexed places. If you go to Help and Support and look up

Quote:

Improve Windows searches using the index: frequently asked questions

there are some leads.

You have checked "settings". Are they comparative indexing settings? What is a "rebuild"?

If one user profile does not work the same way as an identical user, the user profile might be corrupt.

If it is similar to Win XP, you can get the user transfer wizard to save to a file (the cable for transferring data is one option). I would use the wizard to copy settings, then copy the data across myself.

Matt