Search does not work on network drives

Hi, I have problem with Search function. I can search my local drive without problem but when I try to search something on the network it didn't even try to search anything and soon says it couldn't find anything. i tried the same on a different PC and had no problem. can someone tell me what seems to be wrong? the computer with problem is on the network as i can find the folders on the share.

 

Can you please give us a little more information:

• Confirm that you are using Windows Explorer's in built Search function rather than a third party add on
• What is the operating system of the computer you connect to via the mappings?
• If there is a server, what is the server operating system?
• What type of network is it? Is this a Novell network?

 

I'm using Windows XP and the server that I am trying to search that all other PCs (they all run Windows XP) can is running Windows 2000. the network is Windows Active Directory network. J:drive is mapped for this particular server via VBscript and it doesn't matter if I run the Search on Explroer and search within the J:drive or \\servername\share. I have no problems at all on all other machines but on my machine the Search quits right away and returns no finding result... I wonder if there's something wrong on the registory.

 

That suggests it isn't a permissions problem. So yes, a registry level problem could be at the root of this. Unfortunately, with Windows Explorer being such a fundimental part of the OS, you can't just uninstall and reinstall it.

Do you ever have days when you find a new utility and then find yourself using it everywhere:

Have a look at this article. It helped me with an Explorer problem I had earlier today. It describes errors causing explorer to crash, but a lot of processes it describes can be used to debug other Explorer problems.

With reference to your problem, I think the most likely cause of the problem will be a misbehaving Explorer extension. I'd suggest you do the following.

1. Download a copy of ShellExView used in the article.
2. Run it on a PC (with the same OS as the problem PC) that is working fine and use the software to print off the list Explorer Shell Extensions running on that PC.
3. Run ShellExView on the problem PC and use it to disable the non-Microsoft extensions that are on your PC and not on the working PC.
4. Test to see if this fixes the problem.

If this doesn't fix the problem, then repeat steps 3 and 4, this time disabling the non-Microsoft extensions that are on both PCs. If the problem persists, it is probably worth working through the Microsoft extensions, switching each of in turn and testing.

If my first or second suggestion work, you can work through the group of switched off extensions, switching them back on until the problem reappears. That should allow you to narrow down the problem extension and you'll be able to switch off just that extension.

If it turns out not to be an extension (in fact, it appears that you can turn off all the extensions with the tool, so do that first to see if it is an extension causing the problem), then I'd next test for malware.

Beyond that, I think you are looking for a search of Microsoft knowledge base for registry errors that could affect searches.