Windows XP Search Gone (Help Please)

When I try to open Search all I see is the dog sitting there, he doesn't say anything, and there are no boxes or anything to run a search. Did I somehow turn off Search?

Thanks, to anyone who tries to help.

 

Assuming it's XP, there are several ways.

Go to Start, Run and type in regsvr32.exe jscript.dll then click OK.

If not, try the following

1. Log on to the computer by using an account with administrator permissions.
2. Click Start, click Run, type %systemroot%\inf, and then click OK.
3. Locate the Srchasst.inf file.
4. Right-click the Srchasst.inf file, and then click Install. This reinstalls the files that Search Companion uses.


Failing all that, and if you are comfortable editing the Registry, (Start, Run and type in regedit ) find the following key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoFind

If "NoFind" has the value "01 00 00 00" change it to "00 00 00 00" and it will probably solve your problem.

Restart.

The usual suggestion of backing up and creating a restore point applies.

 

Running regsvr32.exe jscript.dll said it succeeded, but did not solve the problem. Nothing changed with a restart after this.

There was no explorer/NoFind. Default has no value set. The other two values are CDRAutoRun and NoDriveTypeAutoRun. I thought about creating a NoFind with Value Data 00 00 00 00, but I have never created a regkey with number values before, and I am a little worried I might not do it right.

Trying to use Srchasst.inf resulted in it looking for a msgr3en.dll file supposedly located in SP2. I can't find my SP2. I did look for the .dll in I386 and INF, but I found no matches...

 

Well if you aren't confident in the Registry, then leave it alone.

Another option is to try System File Checker, but you will need your Windows CD.

Go to Start, Run and type in sfc /scannow then OK.