Win10 - Files associations in search results are broken

windows powershell windows-search

The last change I made to my PC was to install Node.js, although, this probably was not the cause, it is probably worth to mention. I haven't found any other person that reports this exact issue so I'm getting a little worried.

Every time I look for a file on my computer, it doesn't matter if its from the start menu or directly on the file explorer. All the Start Menu Results and the File Explorer results are shown as a "Computer".

It's not just because of the icon on the files, rather because the options available from the context menu are "Open file location", "manage", "Map network drive" and "Disconnect Network Drive".

It does not matter which option I choose, If I try from the Start Menu Results the only thing that pops up is a new instance of the File Explorer. If I try directly from the File Explorer results, nothing happens.

If I go through my files and folders I can certainly find the file and interact with it normally. The actual file associations are fine.

What I have tried

  • Run the troubleshooter. Settings > Search > Searching Windows > "Run the indexer troubleshooter to resolve common search issues"
  • Run SFC /scannow
  • Run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
  • Run msdt.exe -ep WindowsHelp id SearchDiagnostic
  • Run the Official Reset Windows Search PowerShell script
  • Reset Default apps. Settings > Apps > Default apps > Reset to the Microsoft recommended defaults.

I'm thinking on reset the PC. If that dos not work I might re-install the whole thing, but I would very much prefer not to do that.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.


Ok, I was able to figure it out. It looks that the Search Index got all messed up. Don't ask me how.

What I did was to Delete and Rebuild the Search Index by going to:

Settings > Search > Searching windows.

Scrolled down and clicked "Advanced Search Indexer Settings".

In the new window that pops up I clicked "Advanced".

A new dialog window appeared. Under "Troubleshoot" I clicked the "Rebuild" button.

Fortunately I have a good SSD so the whole thing took like 30 minutes to index +50,000 files.

While the building process was taking place I did a quick search and the results were working fine again.

I hope this helps someone in the future.

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