[EX-70 v1.8.6.0] [6.1.7601.17514] Search not working! I tried everything

EDIT: I also must say that Avast Antivirus needs to have its shields disabled when Winreducer is working/removing features - my Avast was using 30-35% CPU for a large part of the process, I'm assuming it sees all the dism/cmd running in the background and it flags these processes for real time scanning.

I never got any alerts from Avast, nothing popped up saying anything, it was just wasting tons of resources in the background. You need to place a warning in winreducer about this. Maybe have it by the Apply button?

Original Post:

This is ironic considering the default example for titles is almost verbatim what my problem is.

I have painstakingly spent the past three days messing with this and I'm almost aggravated to the point of giving up.

I made a Windows 7 Home Premium iso and removed a bunch of unneeded features like parental control, fonts, samples, themes, sounds, turned off UAC, removed a ton of drivers I don't need etc, trying to make the install smaller.

I had the "Protect Search" preset on and I painstakingly read every single item's description before I removed it and I DID NOT remove/disable anything that has anything to do with Windows Search (unless it wasn't in the description ... but that's not my fault)

Windows Search does not work, in fact the few default things that should be in the Start Menu like "Calculator, Paint" etc were not even at the top of the start menu like normal - it was just completely blank (I was going to put a screenshot of what it looks like here, but I'm being told my account is too new to post links, so you can google "windows 7 start menu blank" to see. It's the first result in images.

So I decided maybe it was my fault and I forgot gpedit.msc is not in Home Premium so I decided to make a Windows 7 Pro version.

I even more painstakingly read every single item I removed/disabled and nothing has to do with Windows Search - I wasted hours and hours waiting on the processing to remove stuff etc.

Then I installed Windows 7 Pro and WINDOWS SEARCH IS STILL NOT WORKING.

This time my search menu is not completely blank on the left though, it does at least show my previously used software. So something is different - but still broken.

This is absolutely aggravating especially when your feature "Protect Search" doesn't work and when I did so much due diligence by reading everything. I've wasted a lot of time.

For example if I try to find notepad by typing out notepad - nothing happens, if I try to use msconfig by typing msconfig and then hitting enter, nothing happens.

Everyone needs these features to work - I have no idea what I disabled that could be causing this because like I said multiple times I touched nothing related to Windows Search.

So maybe you put bad descriptions and I did remove something but didn't know because it wasn't in the description? Because I picked over the descriptions with a fine toothed comb. I mean hell if the description wasn't good enough and I didn't understand what something did I Googled it - I did this many times. I spent a long time configuring this and making sure I wasn't removing things I needed.

I would love to post logs/some way for you to know what I removed/disabled but I'm not sure how?

I would highly appreciate any help or suggestions. I already tried turning Windows Search on/off in services - already tried rebuilding the Index (index says 0 items) - nothing works.

Thanks for your time.

hello,

is it the same as here? :

https://forum.winreducer.net/t2153-ex-70-v1-8-5-0-6-1-7601-17514-broken-windows-search-reason-unknown

you could upload your wccf file to i.e. https://zippyshare.com/ and send it to me via PN so i can post it here and also use it to look into it as soon as i got some time

Thank you KrK for your fast reply and your time. I tried to PM you the file but I get an error saying new members cannot post links for 7 days. It let me email you the link - so please check your email.

It does seem to be the same problem as you linked - except I'm almost 100% certain I did not remove the Natural Languages part - I saw the description mention it was needed for search.

The wccf file lists:   Element Category="Remove - Accessories" Name="Natural Languages" Selected="false"

False meaning I did not remove it, correct?

I will say that I did use some of the "optimize" settings to reduce the size of the ISO and install, such as some involving cleaning the winsxs folder. But that should not affect windows search and the descriptions of these options did not mention breaking search.

ok i got your email. like i said as soon as i got some time i will look into it. i will use for my tests win7 Pro x64

yes a false means that the component is not removed, true is it was removed, and i think OK means that it was removed in an older session

Thanks again KrK.

Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 is what I am using so that's good. Build number in title is correct. [6.1.7601.17514]

I can't think of anything else to try myself, like I said I already messed with turning Windows Search on/off in services, restarting, rebuilt the index many times, index always says 0 items so it may have something to do with that.

When I tell it to rebuild index, it acts like it's doing something and scans for a minute or two, but then ends and says 0 items in index always.

I would have used Windows Ultimate but I do not need all its features and just wanted the install to be as small as possible - that's why I chose Pro because I still need gpedit.msc

ok,

so just so i know what i should look at.

the search at the start menu does not work and also the search in windows explorer on the top right?

Yes sir, exactly.

Windows Explorer search in top right does nothing, I can type in anything, hit enter, nothing happens, it does not try to search or do anything. Absolutely nothing occurs.

The same thing with Start Menu. I type in msconfig, hit enter, nothing happens, no error, nothing.

In Start Menu, I type in notepad, no auto prediction as I'm typing, hit enter, nothing happens.

I am going to email you links to 2 more screenshots so you can see. (because I cannot post links here)

Thanks you.

Here is your wccf file, if someone else is also interessted:

https://www81.zippyshare.com/v/lxDLBo6L/file.html

Here is a screenshot of what happens when I try to search (nothing): https://i.imgur.com/ksuAYSJ.jpg

But see the "See more results" button? When I click that, this error is given:  https://i.imgur.com/jPtt3tF.png

It seems Windows Search is very broken - it cannot even attempt to search.

ok now i know exactly what i need to look at

hi,

i have tried it with the same version of winreducer as you. this iso:

de_windows_7_professional_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_676919.iso

where i didnt include any updates, i just downloaded a fresh version. and i used the Professional version from this multi iso.

i also used your wccf file and i just selected to save in a wim file at the APPLY page and installed it in a VM, but the search is working for me






EDIT:

so i will try to download via winreducer all updates and try it again.

EDIT2:

i integrated all updates winreducer offers (SP1, optional, net framework etc) and after that it still worked (i didnt reduce it just integrated the updates) i will reduce this updated iso tomorrow and report back

so i have tested it with the updated iso and the search function is still working.

i used like i said the de_windows_7_professional_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_676919.iso with german language

the only thing i did with your wccf file is i used the save in wim file at the apply page and after that i created the iso file manually but that shouldnt be the problem

That's a lot you have done and I appreciate it.

I have integrated all latest updates including SP1, option net frameworks, but nothing related to IE 8 or IE 11.

But I did use some expert settings which says it reduces the size of the finished install and the winsxs folder, maybe this was the issue.

I will try again from scratch without using that setting, I cannot remember exactly what it was considering there's so many pages in the GUI .. my fault.

I did not use the preset "Use EXPERT Optimizations" because that clearly says it will break windows features.

I am using en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_677332 as my source ISO (works perfectly and has been tested by me) but it contains home/home prem/pro too.

I'm about to give up here - I tried again building the image and I saved it as WIM this time and created the ISO myself in ImgBurn, used Rufis to create bootable USB media.

Before I did not do this, I allowed Winreducer to create the ISO itself.

Even so,

Windows Search still does not work! This has been hours and hours of my time now.

"ISO - Boot - Clean Boot Wim" Selected="true" />
"ISO - Boot - Delete Unneeded Editions" Selected="true" />
"ISO - Windows - Delete Unneeded Editions" Selected="true" />
"ISO - Delete Unneeded Files" Selected="true" />
"ISO - Compression Mode" Selected="true" Value="Fast" />
"Windows - Unneeded Files Cleanup" Selected="true" />
"Windows - WinSXS Backup Folder Cleanup" Selected="true" />
"EXPERT - Net Framework Complete Cleanup" Selected="false" />
"EXPERT - Net Framework Light Cleanup" Selected="false" />
"EXPERT - WinSXS Folder Cleanup (boot.wim)" Selected="true" />
"EXPERT - WinSXS Folder Cleanup (install.wim)" Selected="false" />
"EXPERT - WinSXS Folder Compression" Selected="false" />


I can't see anything there that would cause a problem with Windows Search, but those are the expert settings I am using.

I am ACTUALLY installing this, not putting it in a VM like you did.

I type "not" into search and nothing comes up, it should start to autocorrect to notepad, Windows Search cannot find anything, it cannot find msconfig, nothing. It is USELESS.

Yet again I have double checked and Windows Search is running under Services.

I also told Indexing Options to rebuild the index, but again it says it's rebuilding and then in a few minutes it says rebuilding is complete and there are 0 items in the index.

This is to be frank, fucking ridiculous how much time I've wasted and the fact you're telling me it works ...

Maybe you should try with en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_677332? Maybe try actually installing it on a computer? I can likely provide a link to en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_677332 if you need it.

en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_677332 is THE standard, what everyone in US uses, your software should have no problem with it.

Like I said I integrated the latest Windows Updates, that's literally half of why I am using winreducer (the other reason being I need a smaller install) but I did not integrate anything to do with IE because I do not use it and might remove it later.



I thank you and appreciate your time - but obviously there is a miscommunication here somewhere, either you are not applying ALL the settings I have or the fact you are using the dutch version of Windows or a VM is the problem. Or maybe you have not integrated the Windows Updates I have?

I'm at a loss as what to try, I simply want a small install but it seems impossible to have it with Windows Search ...

Hello Zentri

I'm sorry to hear that's not working for you. EX-70 needs to be updated, to support all new stuff added by Microsoft, since the last update I released. I just want to confirm that I will start releasing new updates for EX-70 in the next 2 weeks !

I will have a look at this trouble in few days, and I will let you know ... but for this I need your wccf ... KrX could you please send it to me because the link you provided is for Windows10LTSB2016

Have a great day and don't loose hope ... we will find a solution.

P.S. : if you want to continue testing maybe you should try a different approach : i named it the "steps by steps" approach : in other words, instead of removing your entire list of components, just start with all "Features" then check your ISO in a virtual machine ... then re-mount this first customized iso and remove all "Accessories" and test your iso in a virtual machine ... ans so on for all categories !

I appreciate your reply winterstorm,

I look forward to that update.

I could send you my wccf but I am trying a slightly different one now, started from scratch and made a few different changes hoping maybe Windows Search will work now.

The reason I did not try "step by step" is because of how long it takes to process, I have an i4690k overclocked to 4.3ghz and it still takes many hours to process integrating the updates and removing all the features ... I understand it would be faster but still take at least an hour to do this in pieces and that's a lot of my time to try testing all these different "builds".

I'm on step 77 out of 570 of integrating/removing features right now on the build I started from scratch with - still waiting so I can try to see if Windows Search works again - but I have not much hope at this point.

https://www61.zippyshare.com/v/WP0d4dpU/file.html


That is a link to all 3 wccf's I tried, I put them in a zip file, I see they are dated so you can see which is the latest that I am in the middle of processing right now.

Thanks again for your time!

You do not have to integrate all updates each time you want to test for windows search, this is how I'm doing :
- I assume you already download all updates
- I mount a windows edition
- only select "Integrate - Windows Updates" option
- "Apply" and create an ISO named "Win7_Updated.iso"

Then I use this "Win7_Updated.iso", as a backup updated iso, to step by step remove the components to test ... it will save you from integrate all updates each time.

That makes sense thank you for the suggestion.

I have just finished with processing the latest wccf and installing it - still Windows Search does not work, Index says 0 items etc.

For tonight I have no more time but maybe tomorrow I will try step by step.

Thanks again.

Hello Zentri

The component which is responsible of breaking Windows search is : "Languages - English (UK)".

It will be fixed in a future build.

Thanks for your report !

PS : in the meantime, you just need to keep this component to avoid trouble with windows search

That was the problem, I kept English UK and Windows Search works now.

However now I cannot get Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) to work, I left it installed but Windows tells me it cannot be found when I try to launch it from the Control Panel.

Also the winsxs folder is ~5GB and absolutely full of everything I have removed, like the fonts, drivers, everything, it's the largest I've ever seen on a fresh install. Like completely useless to me, I am trying to make Windows fit on a 19GB partition and as soon as I run Windows Update to get the very latest ones (I already integrated all that Winreducer is compatible with) Windows pops up telling me I am low on space and it can't even install 2 updates ... the 19GB is maxed out and I only installed Firefox/Avast/drivers which is under 1.5GB.

Windows 7 used to be like 12GB installed WITHOUT MODDING ANYTHING, like what happened? Did all the security updates literally balloon it double its size for literally security patches?

I figured it would be possible to fit on 19GB and still have room leftover but I've removed a lot of things and at this point I'm feeling like I wasted my time.

Latest wccf I used https://www109.zippyshare.com/v/aXj2R3dK/file.html

Zentri wrote:

That was the problem, I kept English UK and Windows Search works now.

OK, thanks for the report

Zentri wrote:

However now I cannot get Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) to work, I left it installed but Windows tells me it cannot be found when I try to launch it from the Control Panel.

In your last wccf, you have removed " Accessories - Disk Space Cleaner", just keep it

Zentri wrote:

Also the winsxs folder is ~5GB and absolutely full of everything I have removed, like the fonts, drivers, everything, it's the largest I've ever seen on a fresh install. Like completely useless to me, I am trying to make Windows fit on a 19GB partition and as soon as I run Windows Update to get the very latest ones (I already integrated all that Winreducer is compatible with) Windows pops up telling me I am low on space and it can't even install 2 updates ... the 19GB is maxed out and I only installed Firefox/Avast/drivers which is under 1.5GB.
Windows 7 used to be like 12GB installed WITHOUT MODDING ANYTHING, like what happened? Did all the security updates literally balloon it double its size for literally security patches?
I figured it would be possible to fit on 19GB and still have room leftover but I've removed a lot of things and at this point I'm feeling like I wasted my time.

I just tried and the winsxs size is around 2.2Gb (once installed), that's seems to be pretty good for your selected components ... if you may try without using "Optimizations - EXPERT - WinSXS Folder Compression". Please let me know.

" In your last wccf, you have removed " Accessories - Disk Space Cleaner", just keep it "

That's embarrassing - this was literally my 10th+ time picking what to remove and it gets extremely mundane after awhile and I must have somehow accidentally wrongly selected to remove it. It happened because I hit select all and accidentally removed the ones I wanted to keep - did the opposite of what I wanted. So damn tedious how much time I've wasted. I didn't trust ANY old wccf after I wasted a ton of time so I just kept making new presets and I messed up the last one.

Still, like I said I launched Windows Update trying to get the latest ones which cannot be integrated and the winsxs folder is 4.6GB with over TEN THOUSAND FOLDERS, 10,000.

It has ALL the things I removed, the fonts, every piece of Windows, anything I selected to remove in winreducer is still in the winsxs folder - Windows keeps removed features in that folder incase you need to install them again, you're acting like you didn't know this?

Why would you let it keep them? We are "removing features" with "winreducer", it's supposed to reduce windows ... it should not keep all this crap around wasting space.

I don't know if it was 2.2gb when installed, but like I said I want security updates so I ran Windows Update to get the latest patches and all I know is that it's now 4.6GB and the vast majority of that is the features I removed using winreducer - this is not cool.

Here are screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/4v35Nz6

See the second one, all the truetype fonts? That's the most obvious, but literally 95%+ of those 10,000 folders are what I removed using WinReducer - why are you allowing them to stay?

I thought these options would help remove those useless files:

EXPERT - WinSXS Folder Clean Up and
EXPERT - WinSXS Folder Compression
Windows - WinSXS Backup Folder Cleanup
Windows - Unneeded Files Cleanup


Right now there's literally apparently no way for me to put W7 on a 19GB partition even using winreducer - like I said as soon as I installed some drivers (USB 3.0, chipset drivers, wifi, card reader, bluetooth) and firefox/avast (under 1GB) and launched Windows Update the 19GB was completely maxed out.

The winsxs folder just should not contain 10k items the vast majority of which Winreducer should have removed.

I understand it was 2.2gb when you installed it, but that was before launching Windows Update or doing anything right? Again - I like to be safe and I need the latest security patches so I use Windows Update.

Thanks for your time - I'm gonna try another preset that correctly has the features I want this time - but that won't help make the winsxs folder smaller, I feel like I need to give up because I'm not sure I can fit w7 on a 19GB partition which is goddamned ridiculous when a STOCK (non winreduced install) used to be like 10GB and no new features have ever been added to w7 in order to justify this insanely larger install.

(I know that has nothing to do with you, but it's atrocious that MS has made w7 almost double its size yet adding no features.)

Hello Zentri!

I can really understand your pain with the WinSXS folder, but fortunatley there are a few things you can do about it:

- First of all you should start to try downloading only the really important updates for example with programs like "WHDownloader (Windows Hotfix Downloader) instead of using the Windows Update function, because you can read in several forums all over the internet that windows messed up several times with the Windows Update process itself in the last few months (this also saves space because the windows update catalog is not renewed every time with the whole updates available).
- Then you should download and try the program "Dism++" and do a sweep of all the unneeded files with it - but be carefull, because this program can really literary delete too much and destroy your system. My suggestion is to keep the Windows Update history, Thumbnail Cache, Package Cache and maybe the system restore points if you want - with everything else you should be good.

- Also you could then try the program "PrivaZer" wich is a really good cleaner.

Hopefully this might solve your problems

Thank you hauser.markus!

Those are all excellent suggestions and I'll try them, just sad to see that winreducer doesn't "reduce" as much as expected. (mostly the winsxs folder still having everything I removed)

I tried programs similar to WHDownloader in the past but none of them worked and wasted hours of my time - so that's why I haven't attempted any recently. I'm glad to hear that it works and I will definitely use it.

Dism++ sounds great and I'll check that and PrivaZer out as well, sincere thanks and I appreciate your suggestions.

I also must say that Avast Antivirus needs to have its shields disabled when Winreducer is working/removing features - my Avast was using 30-35% CPU when Winreducer was doing the processing/removing.

I'm assuming it sees all the dism/dismhost/cmd running in the background and it flags these processes for real time scanning.

I never got any alerts from Avast, nothing popped up saying anything, it was just wasting tons of resources in the background. You need to place a warning in winreducer about this. Maybe have it by the Apply button? People need to know to disable their shields so they're not wasting 30+% of their time.

Hello guys,

I already said that I will update  EX-70/EX-81 in the next weeks/months, to bring support for many optimizations (already available in EX-100), such as "System - Integrate - Windows Updates Files Cleanup" (to delete unneeded windows updates files with a great size reduction though), and with many new components or bugs fixes !

The EX-70 updates catalog will be also updated with the latest updates !

And many surprises are coming in the next months ... believe me, I'm preparing something never seen before with WinReducer "Codename:Revolution" :
https://www.winreducer.net/prorevpub.html

I wish you to have a great day.

Hello Zentri!

You should always disable your Antivirus + Firewall + Security Suites before reducing - this will help you a lot!!! Yes those programs work quite well for me.

@ Winter

I know that this might not belong here but I have no words to describe how dissapointed I am to see that you once more moved the EX70 release backwards - this is not funny anymore... It has been more than a year now. I (and maybe others too) would really like to have a new version now, and it would not matter to just have the things fixed that we already talked about in the forum threads, but it seems that this is a never ending storry - anyway I know you are working hard and your new features will surely be great, but a new version right now without all the super duper new stuff would not hurt don't you think? I am sorry if i sound upset, but I am simply dissapointed...

Markus