Windows 10 causes problems with files

"Then I decide to search the entire drive for jpg files. Search shows nothing. "

Sounds like your search has a problem.  That should definitely have worked.  Try typing kind:picture into the search box (no space, just the colon between words).

As far as the artist name, Microsoft did not purchase the rights to all sound formats anymore (it's expensive), so you cannot edit the embedded data in some kinds of files.  Use an ID3 tag editor to do it.

Also, regarding one of the most misunderstood things in Windows is the Read-Only checkbox in a folder's Properties dialog. It is not a status indicator. The gray square just means "when you click OK, the read-only status of files in this folder will remain as is. If you check it, it will set the Read-only attribute for files, not folders. Clearing the checkbox clears the attributes on files.

Additionally, a folder with its Read-only attribute set can still be written to, it merely tells Explorer to process the folder's desktop.ini file.

Add the Attributes column to a Details view if you want to see the state of the Read-only Attribute.

Keith

@ Shawn Keene, I tried your advice but still netted nothing. I then tried searching.jpg on my internal hard drive and it showed all my .jpg files on the local drive. So apparently the search works but not on the external drive. Is there a size limit to search thru? It is a 750GB drive.

FYI, I am aware of the tag editing restrictions and am using a third party editor.

@ Keith Miller, I am aware of the attribute process and WAS clearing the check box before clicking Apply. 

However, your reference to desktop.ini file raises a question, because there are no desktop.ini files in the root folder or the mp3 files folder of the external hard drive.

There certainly shouldn't be.  When you're on the root of the  external drive and type into the search box, does the folder icon and title bar change to say "search" and show any kind of progress bar in the address bar?  Or does it act like it literally ignores that you entered any keystrokes at all?

OK, I tried an experiment. I looked thru each folder one at a time until I found one with .jpg files in it. Then, while IN that folder I tried searching for .jpg. Nothing found.

I then renamed one of the files to .jpx, and then back again to .jpg.

After searching again it found this one file. Even though there were two .jpg files in that folder, it only found one.

My understanding of the indexing feature is that it makes finding files faster. But that the lack of an index does not mean a file cannot be found.

Perhaps the folders or files have a system attribute set or are otherwise being perceived as a system folder?  Try under Folder Options/Search tab, turn on the first checkbox so it doesn't try to use the index "in system folders" and see if it makes any difference.

There's also this possibility that the permissions of the index cache itself is wrong. When permissions on the Windows Search data directories are set incorrectly, the search service might not be able to access or update the computer's search index. This can result in slow searches or incomplete search results. But the built-in index troubleshooter should have found that, so I'm guessing that's not a problem.

Is this drive/folder included in the indexed locations?  If it is, remove it out of there -- we don't want an indexed result, we want the thing to just do a scan the way "dir /s *.jpg" would do at a command prompt.

Perhaps the folders or files have a system attribute set or are otherwise being perceived as a system folder?  Try under Folder Options/Search tab, turn on the first checkbox so it doesn't try to use the index "in system folders" and see if it makes any difference.

There's also this possibility that the permissions of the index cache itself is wrong. When permissions on the Windows Search data directories are set incorrectly, the search service might not be able to access or update the computer's search index. This can result in slow searches or incomplete search results. But the built-in index troubleshooter should have found that, so I'm guessing that's not a problem.

Is this drive/folder included in the indexed locations?  If it is, remove it out of there -- we don't want an indexed result, we want the thing to just do a scan the way "dir /s *.jpg" would do at a command prompt.

How do I check if it is in the indexed locations?

I (for fun) opened a CMD prompt and changed to E:\mp3 music directory.

I then typed dir /s *.jpg. File not found was the result.

In a folder that has a file that can't be found by Search, switch the view to Details, right-click on a column header, select More, and then check Attributes.

In the resulting column, do the files that can't be found have their 'T' attribute set?

I just remembered I had the file that shows "AT" not showing up in seraches. Searching for info now...

Keith

Hi Keith,

No, none of them have the T attribute.

They all seem to have HSI set. One file, the one that I renamed and then renamed back again yesterday has the HSAI attribs set, and THAT is the only file I can find in search.

Great. It's the System (S) attribute, as Shawn suggested, that is keeping your files from displaying in Search. You can't change attributes of a Hidden file (H), so you have to clear that with the System attribute, but you can then reset it.

1. Open an Administrator Command Prompt (right-click -> Run as administrator).
2. Change directory to the highest level where you have errant files, type:

attrib -h -s *.jpg /s

Then your files should be found in Search. The hidden attribute can be reset if you only want the files to display (and be found) when Explorer is set to show Hidden files:

attrib +h *.jpg /s

Keith