Restore the "Search…" Item to the Folder Context Menu in Windows Vista SP1

One of the unwelcome changes that Microsoft introduced in Service Pack 1 was the removal of some of the easy ways to get to the Search screen: the start menu button and folder context menu item. Thankfully we can easily add the “Search…” item back to the context menu with a simple registry tweak.

The nice thing about the folder context menu is that the search window will be already set to search only that folder.

Manual Registry Hack

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\find

Find the LegacyDisable key on the right-hand side and either delete it, or rename it to something else. That’s all you have to do… now you can right-click on a folder and see the Search… option again:

This will open up the search window for that folder, which will be a lot faster than searching the entire drive.

Of course you could just use the F3 key while you have a folder open, which will show you the same window, and is typically simpler. I primarily use the context menu for quick access to search a folders from the shortcuts I’ve added to the quick launch.

Downloadable Registry Hack

Simply download, extract, and double-click on ReEnableFolderSearchMenu.reg to enter the information into the registry. There’s also an included DisableFolderSearchMenu.reg file to put things back to the SP1 default.

Download ReEnableFolderSearchMenu Registry Hack

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. This article was written on 07/2/08 and tagged with: Desktop Customization, Vista Tips & Tweaks, Windows Vista

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Comments (11)

1. July 2, 2008 5:39 am
   dcj2

   Now *that’s* a handy tip. I right-click like a fiend, and even after two months with Vista, I was still right-clicking to look for the “Search…” (kinda like when you go to the fridge for snack, don’t see anything, then go back 10 minutes later and there’s still nothing there Thanks for this one!

2. July 2, 2008 6:37 am
   Michael

   What is this? I don’t understand this… I might as well check if I have the Search option but I might try this out when I get to my computer.

3. July 2, 2008 8:31 am
   Tom

   So *that’s* what happened! I just ran into this problem this morning on my home Vista machine (no Vista at work). Microsoft: you gotta be kidding me. Why did you pull this out?

4. July 2, 2008 8:48 am
   Michael

   It worked! Thanks! I already did this advise.

5. July 2, 2008 10:55 am
   gic

   “Of course you could just use the F3 key while you have a folder open, which will show you the same window, and is typically simpler.”

   While you have a folder open, maybe a even faster way is just to type in your search keywords in the search field at the upper-right corner (if you don’t need advanced options right away)?

   The question I have is, how did you get the search window to open with the advanced panel opened as shown in the picture above? Is there an option I can change to set this to default? When I open a search window the advanced panel is always closed. I have to click on the little arrow to bring it up.

   Thanks!

6. July 2, 2008 10:59 am
   The Geek

   @gic

   I did click the arrow to illustrate that we were searching through that folder. I’m not actually sure how to make it open to advanced, although I imagine there must be a way.

7. July 7, 2008 1:32 pm
   mikel

   Interesting…Have you/can you do a tutorial on how to optimize indexing for faster searches? I am quite frustrated at the fact that I cant find something I downloaded like 2 minutes ago because it is not yet indexed. In mac’s spotlight you can type in the file name immediately after a download and it is lightning quick…i just wish vistas search box was as reliable

8. July 17, 2008 9:03 am
   Ed

   @Tom

   “Microsoft: you gotta be kidding me. Why did you pull this out?”

   Short Answer: They were forced to by an anti-trust complaint from Google…

9. July 17, 2008 9:57 am
   jd2066

   @Ed: Actully not quite. Because of the anti-trust complaint they added a search protocal to launch the default search program and switched most of the search boxes to use it. They decided on this search item to just remove it instead of making it use the new search protocal.

10. July 22, 2008 1:49 pm
    Matt Ellis

    Don’t forget to do the same to the find verb registered under HKCR/Drive…

11. September 13, 2008 12:39 pm
    Kyle

    Thank you Geek! Missed my familiar way to search particular folders.