Can someone explain why I cannot find files with certain file extensions? The repro steps are below.
- Create Folder.
- Create TXT file with the following text.
<root />
- Use Windows Explorer to search the folder for files that contain the word root.
- The file that was just created will show up.
- Change the extension of that file to XML.
- Perform the search again but the file doesn't show up.
Best Answer
Method 2 of this KB article explains how to enable searching files of unknown type: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;309173
To configure Windows XP to search all files no matter what the file type, obtain the latest service pack for Windows XP and then turn on the Index file types with unknown extensions option.
If you use this method, Windows XP searches all file types for the text that you specify. This can affect the performance of the search functionality. To do this: