mnswhit
asked on
Search bar in Start menu won't run programs
I've been running into a few computers lately, both Windows Vista, and Windows 7, Where the Search box In the start menu won't execute common commands, Such as "cmd". When the boxes were origionally setup, you could execute any command that could be recognized in a run box from the search bar. Common ones that I typically execute in this bar are: cmd, mstsc, services.msc, regedit, msconfig, notepad, and probably a dozen others. It's becomming an annoyance to actually navagate to the locations and I'd love to get this working again.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
I disabled it following your directions, it asked me to reboot, so I did. then enabled it when I realized what exactly it did, rebooting again. I realize sometime things can start working again by disabling/enabling things, however didn't work in this case. I can't place a specific change I made to where this problem started. It was just one of those things that I noticed one day as I tried to do something I normally do, but not regularly do.
Does this happen in safe mode also? If not, it might be a startup program that causes it, since startup programs don't operate in safe mode. You could then use MSCONFIG.EXE (Microsoft Configuration Tool) to disable startup programs in normal mode and go through this process:
just click on the button for Disable All. Reboot and see if the problem goes away. If it does then re-enable the startup programs one (or a few) at a time, reboot, and when the problem occurs again, there is your culprit. If you have a great number of apps to narrow down on in trying to track down the culprit, do it instead by dividing up the loading programs into successively smaller halves: disable half of them; if the problem doesn't go away, then the offending app is within the other half, so divide that group into half; or if the problem does go away, then the disabled group contains the offender, so again narrow down by dividing in half.
just click on the button for Disable All. Reboot and see if the problem goes away. If it does then re-enable the startup programs one (or a few) at a time, reboot, and when the problem occurs again, there is your culprit. If you have a great number of apps to narrow down on in trying to track down the culprit, do it instead by dividing up the loading programs into successively smaller halves: disable half of them; if the problem doesn't go away, then the offending app is within the other half, so divide that group into half; or if the problem does go away, then the disabled group contains the offender, so again narrow down by dividing in half.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER