Windows® XP – Search Problems

Windows® XP has a known issue for not finding a number of File Types when you do a Search for Files “containing text” or using the “A word or phrase in the file” option. This can be remedied for many file types, but not all.

The cause is the lack of a PersistentHandler value in the Registry for this type of file. To correct this follow the instructions below:

Click Start, Run and entering REGEDIT
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and locating the entry for the file type in question. For example, .txt, .adm, .asp.
Expand the branch for that file type, and if the PersistentHandler subkey does not exist, create it.
Do this by clicking on the file extension key and going to Edit, New, Key.
Name the Key, PersistentHandler.
Click on the PersistentHandler sub-key.
In Regedit’s right pane, double click on the Default value and enter the following (copy and paste may be your best bet):

{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}

If the PersistentHandler sub-key does exist, do not change the default value. This could have very undesired consequences.
Close Regedit and reboot the computer.