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After installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1, when you click Start, type a search string in the Instant Search box, and press ENTER, one of the following problems may occur:
- Nothing happens
- Two instances of search window are opened
- You receive the following error:
Fix Permissions for the Search key
Click Start, type regedit.exe and press ENTER
Navigate to the following key:
Ignore the following error message:
Details: Access is denied.
1. Right-click the Search key and choose Permissions…
2. Click Advanced, and select the Owner tab
3. Select Administrators under Change owner to: section
4. Click Apply, OK
5. Back in the Security tab, click Add
6. Type Administrators and press ENTER
7. Select the Allow check box for Full Control permission
8. Click Add, type Users and press ENTER
9. Select the Allow check box for the Read permission
10. Click Add, type SYSTEM and press ENTER
11. Select the Allow check box for Full Control permission
12. Click OK.
If the permissions are correct and the problem still persists, then this may be due to missing association settings. I have created a .reg file that should fix the problem.
Fixing the Search Protocol
1. Download fix_srch_assoc.reg and save it to the Desktop.
2. Right-click on the file and choose Merge.
3. Click Yes when asked for confirmation.
4. Logoff and login back and check if Search work correctly.
Editor’s note: This problem does not occur in every Windows Vista computer with SP1 installed. None of my systems running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 exhibit this behavior.
Last Updated on March 24, 2008
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The registry edit did not work, but longerlife’s technique did.
longerlife fix does work, but only after you fix the permissions for the Search reg key. Otherwise when you go to Default Programs you may not see a “Search Protocol” at all. So thank you to this article and to longerlife.
longlifes’ tip was the winner! Thanks for fixing the vista search problem.
This worked exactly as described when I followed your steps. Thank goodness I stumbled onto your tip. Man that was an annoying issue.
Actually none of these registry hacks worked for me, to solve the problem it was actually much easier. I recommend you do the following first and see if it solves your problem:
1. Click Start, and then click Default Programs.
2. Click Associate a file type or protocol with a program.
3. Select the search protocol, and then click Change program.
4. Select Windows Explorer as the default program for handling the search protocol, and then click OK.
Everything should now work as expected!!
OMG….nothing works. I did what was writen above no change then i tried to merge the reg file and gues what….cannot import Error accessing the registry…..Microcrap i call it now. SP1 brings more trouble then fixes….Ofcrouse it needs time but this is rediculous…
Uhmmm acces denied for both
Thanks for this, my search is working again. Yipee!!! The first section worked fine for me, I didn’t need to use the reg file. Thanks again
I had to actually do surgery on your .reg since it gave me an access problem every time i tried merging it into my system. I had to repeat steps 1-11 on all registry directories listed in the .reg. Then after that I tried once again, the .reg got merged, tried WinKey+F and whoah! It worked! Thanks a lot for writing this
Thanks for this. I have no idea why the registry locks certain keys and does not give access. I’ve had this issue with flash, microsoft’s silverlight, and others. Still trying to figure out the reason why it happens. But thank you for figuring out what key it is!