Windows 10 search ignores exe files
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So, for the past hour, I've been trying to get stupid Windows 10 to let me launch my portable apps (eg. putty.exe) using the new Start Menu search.
It's either a bug or some kind of stupid "security" restriction.
Fine whatever. Let me just drag the application into the start menu then, so that I can signal to Windows that this is an app I approve for launching. Oh, right! THAT SHIT STILL DOESN'T WORK! 2 YEARS AFTER THE RELEASE!
Yes, I know I can dig into the start menu folder using Explorer, and create a shortcut there. FUCK YOU I DON'T WANNA!
Why is there no way for me to launch my portable apps without manually creating shortcuts using the functionality MS themselves considers "legacy"? Why the fuck do I have to waste my Sunday evening reading though threads full of frustrated people, screaming at Microsoft and getting no replies? LAUNCHING APPS SHOULD BE THE SIMPLEST FUCKING THING FOR AN OS TO DO, yet Windows somehow manages to fuck it up.
Seriously, I've been thinking lately about the way I use my computer, and I realize there isn't a single feature MS has added since Windows 7 that has in any way improved my experience. Every single pathetic thing they added was some kind of annoying garbage I had to invest extra effort to either ignore or hide away.
"Modern" apps? Don't use any. MS account and app store? Nope. Cortana? Disabled. Online search? Disabled. Multiple desktops? Gathering dust. New console? Still not good enough, using a 3rd party clone. Start menu tiles? Impossible to set up for arbitrary apps, stuff piles back to Desktop or taskbar.
Fail after fail after fail after fail.
And then Microsoft wonders why do people refuse to upgrade to W10, or run away to Mac or Linux.
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@cartman82 have you tried installing your application from the Windows App Store? This will allow the search result. Please do the needful and report back. Thx
bb36e, MSDN TechNet® Support Technician
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Right clicking on an executable and selecting Pin to Start works for me. I can confirm that dragging doesn't work, though.
If an executable is on your
PATH
, it appears that typing its full name into the search box will bring up a "Run command" result for it.
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This makes me wonder if there's a daemon we could create that watches the insertion and removal of removable media, scans for .exe files, and dumps links into the start menu folders under
Portable\drive-uuid
and removes them as necessary?
Optionally, improve theright-clickcontext menu activate add-to-start functionality to do this in a manner that lets it be pinnacle to be start menu instantaneously?Actually, almost all of this can be done with a batch script with an embedded vbs script and a few registry entries...
Remind me to add this to my to-do list and I'll get right on it!
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said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Oh, right! THAT SHIT STILL DOESN'T WORK! 2 YEARS AFTER THE RELEASE!
Nitpick: 1 year after the release.
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My favorite rant from the linked thread:
Okay, so I tried to create shortcuts to all my apps and tools manually. That worked fine for the majority of my tools. Interestingly, tools where the executable starts with the lettter "k" are completely ignored!
And it's consistent: All manually created shortcuts show up in "All apps" in the startmenu. Except for - you guessed it - shortcuts to executables starting with "k". What the **** is Microsoft doing there?
It's not possible to trick it by changing the shortcut's name. You have to change the name of the executable. Change it to any starting letter but "k" and it will immediately show up in search.
It seems like the search algorithm is either racist, completely ignorant or written by the intern.
Edit: It's really just shortcuts directly pointing to "k"-executables. Insert a redirect (e.g. via batch) and name it whatever you want and it works fine.
So right now the [sarcasm]very user-friendly and intuitive[/sarcasm] way of adding a shortcut to the startmenu looks like the following:
- Search for the .exe of your favorite program/app/tool. Realize it can't be found.
- Locate the .exe and right-click "add to startmenu". Realize it still can't be found even though it shows up on the very first page next to the live tiles.
- Try to create a shortcut in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs". Get blocked by UAC and instead create shortcut on Desktop. Move the shortcut to the destination intended in the first place. Realize it still doesn't show up in startmenu and can't be found.
- Create a folder like "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\YourFolder". Get excited that Microsoft's permission system allows you to do so without having to change all permissions. Move your previously created shortcuts to that folder. Search for an app linked there. Try not to wet yourself through pure joy because suddenly you find your executables.
- Bummer. Realize that only certain (Microsoft-condoned?) shortcuts can be found. Some just are ignored and don't even bother showing up in All apps.
- Create a batch file for every unfound executable and a shortcut to this batch as described above.
- Search for your desired executable. Believe your eyes when it pops up even as the first entry in start menu search. Lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot.
Tears of pure, unadulterated joy you finally have achieved what once could be done with a single click.
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In all fairness, the Windows 7 taskbar icons work the same (stupid) way. The Win7 taskbar just hadn't fully infected the Win7 start menu yet.
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@bb36e said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Please do the needful and report back.
Only if the needful is attractive enough
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Why is there no way for me to launch my portable apps without manually creating shortcuts using the functionality MS themselves considers "legacy"? Why the fuck do I have to waste my Sunday evening reading though threads full of frustrated people, screaming at Microsoft and getting no replies?
Because Microsoft is Apple now.
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
All manually created shortcuts show up in "All apps" in the startmenu. Except for - you guessed it - shortcuts to executables starting with "k".
***What the actual fuck.***
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@bb36e said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Please do the needful and
reportrevert back. ThxFTFY
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Interestingly, tools where the executable starts with the lettter "k" are completely ignored!
WTF, I thought this was some strangeness with his computer.
C... can confirm.
http://www.relatably.com/m/img/sejarah-meme-mother-of-god/mother-of-God-Meme-Rage-Face.jpg
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So wait, all I need to do to hide a program from Windows is to have the name start with
k
?ConspirAcy theory time: what if it were named
kkk.exe
¿?¿?!¡?¡!
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HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN
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@LB_ that is not
k
, butK
.
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Why the fuck do I have to waste my Sunday evening reading
You HAVE to?
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@dse I can't confirm or deny this because it seems the start menu is cached and I would have to restart my machine to see the result.
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@anotherusername Whenever Windows does something this weird, it's a compatibility thing.
Don't ask me what kind of thing would need that for compatibility, but it must be something.
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@anonymous234 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
@anotherusername Whenever Windows does something this weird, it's a compatibility thing.
Don't ask me what kind of thing would need that for compatibility, but it must be something.
No, it's shitty drivers.
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Yes, I know I can dig into the start menu folder using Explorer, and create a shortcut there. FUCK YOU I DON'T WANNA!
It's been 21 years since the Start Menu was first introduced and it's still a one way street, i.e., you can delete items but not add them. The only way to add an item to the Start Menu is to use Explorer and manually drop a shortcut into the proper folder. Good Work Microsoft!!
For extra bonus points, that method works with Discourse-level consistency in Windows 10, unless you use a third party program such as Classic Shell to give you a real, functional Start Menu, instead of the fucktarded nonsense that is the Windows 10 Start Menu.
For extra, extra bonus points, right click on a file and press Ctrl-C to copy. Navigate to the desired Start Menu folder, right click and select paste shortcut. Windows 10 won't allow it, and instead will offer to place the shortcut on your desktop. You can then use Explorer to drag the shortcut from the desktop to the proper Start Menu folder.
Seriously, I've been thinking lately about the way I use my computer, and I realize there isn't a single feature MS has added since Windows 7 that has in any way improved my experience. Every single pathetic thing they added was some kind of annoying garbage I had to invest extra effort to either ignore or hide away.
After using Windows 10 for a couple of months I have to agree. Microsoft definitely made a lot of performance improvements "under the hood" but the benefits of those improvements are completely offset by the total butchering of the UI and cramming it full of useless crap.
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@El_Heffe said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
For extra bonus points, that method works with Discourse-level consistency in Windows 10, unless you use a third party program such as Classic Shell to give you a real, functional Start Menu, instead of the fucktarded nonsense that is the Windows 10 Start Menu.
The few 3rd party start menus I tried had even worse search.
Why can't MS just fix this basic shit before they push their Cortana/AppStore/Bing/Continuum crap?
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@Lorne-Kates it's shitty drivers for Linux hardware
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@El_Heffe said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
you can delete items but not add them.
"Pin to start menu" is kind of close.
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@cartman82 Because of money? The Windows Store with UWP is a way for MS to grab a percentage of app sales so it has a business case. Fixing the start menu doesn't (as long as Windows has a position where people will need to use it anyways).
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
So wait, all I need to do to hide a program from Windows is to have the name start with
k
?ConspirAcy theory time: what if it were named
kkk.exe
¿?¿?!¡?¡!
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@cartman82 Well this explains a lot. I was wondering why I could no longer find
dbgview.exe
... Fuck you Micro$oft...
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
The few 3rd party start menus I tried had even worse search.
Cinnamon has the best start menu search. Ironically, it is similar to Windows7 start menu, only more modern and good looking (like what you would expect to see in Windows7 + Windows 3 = Windows10).
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@dse said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Cinnamon has the best start menu search.
Is it any different from the GNOME 3 start menu search?
<insert rant about Cinnamon being a relabeled GNOME Shell here>
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@asdf said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Is it any different from the GNOME 3 start menu search?
Fucking hell yeah!!! GNOME3 start menu search is like the abominable Windows8 start menu thingy (?), covering the entire screen assuming all my 3 monitors are on a damn phone!
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@dse You know that there's an official GNOME Shell plugin that restores the old layout and start menu?
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@asdf said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
You know that there's an official GNOME Shell plugin that restores the old layout and start menu?
There are many plugins to unplug some madness, to the point it is no longer GNOME3 of course you can
dnf install cinnamon-desktop
and be done with it. After that you only would need to also change fuckinggedit
to something that does not crash all the time, trying to parse everything as UTF and be smart about text.Windows8 also had some apps to give you back the start menu, but ...
Nope
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@dse said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Windows8 also had some apps to give you back the start menu, but ...
There's a huge difference: GNOME3 comes with that option built-in and officially supported. You literally just have to select "classic mode" on the login screen. That's it.
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@asdf said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
@dse said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Windows8 also had some apps to give you back the start menu, but ...
There's a huge difference: GNOME3 comes with that option built-in and officially supported. You literally just have to select "classic mode" on the login screen. That's it.
You do realize that classic mode was for a long time a second citizen officially, always on the verge of being obsolete (I remember very well because I changed to Cinnamon around that time). The experience was horrible, and was meant to be a transition for users to learn the new glorious UI. Everything is mobile, the CADT decreed and started farting all over the UI.
Cinnamon is very elegant, as well as free and open source. I am using it for few years now and there is absolutely no reason to tolerate a sub-par UI experience.
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
And it's consistent: All manually created shortcuts show up in "All apps" in the startmenu. Except for - you guessed it - shortcuts to executables starting with "k". What the **** is Microsoft doing there?
Cannot reproduce the problem here.
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@cartman82 I think those installed with an installer can be found.
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@dse said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
You do realize that classic mode was for a long time a second citizen officially
Are you sure you're not confusing GNOME Classic with flashback mode, which no longer exists?
@dse said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Cinnamon is very elegant, as well as free and open source.
Also, like everything developed by the Linux Mint team, it's just a relabeled fork with a few UI tweaks. Under the hood it's still the GNOME Shell.
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@asdf said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
@dse said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
You do realize that classic mode was for a long time a second citizen officially
Are you sure you're not confusing GNOME Classic with flashback mode, which no longer exists?
No I m not. There was no good UI when GNOME3 came, there was something something classic which developers donated to the homeless just to move on. It was worn and ragged and full of bugs all over. Then came the lord and savior with Cinnamon rolls
@dse said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Cinnamon is very elegant, as well as free and open source.
Also, like everything developed by the Linux Mint team, it's just a relabeled fork with a few UI tweaks. Under the hood it's still the GNOME Shell.
True, also everything under the hood is
glib
(orgcc
or ...) if you insist. I do not object to the better technology, getting rid of the old crap was of course great and I am thankful for the libraries.
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@cartman82 Stupid hypothesis...
A way to stop
kernel32.exe
from showing up? I seem to remember it was called something like that?
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@cartman82 said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
Interestingly, tools where the executable starts with the lettter "k" are completely ignored!
It's all hate for KDE…
(Or some astoundingly dumb malware.)
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huh...
so i have
C:\Users\Accal\Utilities
where i drop my portable exes so i can find them all later.....I wonder if just......
mklink /j "C:\Program Files\Utilities" C:\Users\Accal\Utilities
and they'd show up in the start menu search?
has anyone tried that?
@dkf said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
(Or some astoundingly dumb malware.)
oh, you mean Microsoft Windows, right? That's the only malware that fits the bill as far as i can recall....
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@accalia said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
you mean Microsoft Windows, right?
It wasn't what I was thinking of, but there's a few capabilities in there that make me wonder “WTF were they doing?!”
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the best windows ever made (3.11) didn't have search
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@fbmac said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
the best windows ever made (3.11) didn't have search
oh please, the only good windows was windows 3, that 3.11 windows for workgroups shite was absolute crap! and it's all been downhill from there.
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@fbmac said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
the best windows ever made (3.11) didn't have search
It didn't NEED search, there was always the MS-DOS shell at your fingertips - like dir /s filenamepattern
Which happens to be the way I use most often for searching files / folders under Windows 7 ff.
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@El_Heffe said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
It's been 21 years since the Start Menu was first introduced and it's still a one way street, i.e., you can delete items but not add them.
OK, so you can delete but not add...
@El_Heffe said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
The only way to add an item to the Start Menu is to use Explorer and manually drop a shortcut into the proper folder.
But literally the next sentence, you reveal you can add.
I just... I just don't know how to respond to posts like this. Like, do you read your OWN typing and realize you wrote a whole paragraph that's nothing but a huge contradiction of itself?
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@blakeyrat He's talking about easily, through the UI, genius. You can delete (uninstall) stuff by right-clicking it, but you can't add things that way (or any other simple method, like dragging).
Of course, pin to start works, kinda, but it won't affect search nor will it put things in the "all programs" folder
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@sloosecannon said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
He's talking about easily, through the UI, genius.
Turns out I don't have telepathy.
You apparently not only have telepathy, but the mystical voodoo ability to speak for El_Heffe. I admire your various super-powers, but I do not possess them.
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@blakeyrat said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
@sloosecannon said in Windows 10 search ignores exe files:
He's talking about easily, through the UI, genius.
Turns out I don't have telepathy.
You apparently not only have telepathy, but the mystical voodoo ability to speak for El_Heffe. I admire your various super-powers, but I do not possess them.
Not telepathy, but the ability to read things from context, Drax.