Why doesn't the Vista search show an executable in the results?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Add my applications to Vista’s Start Search.

I have an executable in the Downloads folder (baretail.exe), and the folder is indexed. If I click the Start menu and type the name of the program is not listed in the search results. Why?

Answer 1

It will still take a little while for some of us to get used to how the Federated Search introduced in Windows Vista and expanded in Windows 7 is meant to be used :)

The immediate results from the search box in the start menu will only display your file if it is located in a few special folders. The Public folder and the user's folder are two examples. Applications registered into the system through installation routines are also displayed, as are many of the system applications. It will also search the Path environment variable.

If you want an executable file to be displayed on that immediate results lists, you have a few options. Here's some. They are all based on Windows 7 Search Scopes:

Add the folder to the Path environment variable:

1. Right-Click Computer in the Start Menu
2. Select Properties from the popup menu
3. Click Advanced System Settings from the left hand side of the new window that shows.
4. Click the Environment Variables button
5. From the User Variables section, select the PATH variable and click Edit.
6. Add as many paths you like to the Variable value field, separating each path with a semi-colon.

Execute the executable once from the Run... Box

Works because the contents of the run box are always searched by Windows Search and added to the list of results. Being the case you will probably also need to add a path to the command (c:\somewhere\myfile.exe) on the run box, if you type *c:* on the Search box, you will have your executable show on the list.

Add the executable to some Library or create a new Library to accommodate these executables.

This is part of what Libraries in Windows 7 are for, and the Windows Search search libraries to display immediate results.