Matt Hester Windows Administration FIND ANYTHING WITH WINDOWS DESKTOP SEARCH Have you ever wondered why it takes 3.2 seconds to search the Internet but 2.7 days to search your hard drive? Don’t you wish you could search your hard drive and e-mail as quickly as the Internet? You can with the newly improved Windows Desktop Search (WDS). Think about how much information you have stored on your computer, and where that ware versions). For a full list see search.msn. information resides. Now think about all the information your users have stored on their com/docs/toolbar.aspx?t=MSNTbar_CONC_Searchable­ laptops, desktops, or on the network. I have all my rarely used information on my d:\ drive FileTypes.htm. And, with an extensible API set, or a network share, my somewhat important information in My Documents, and my really WDS can index anything, anywhere. WDS vital information on the desktop and in the tons of e-mail that has built up over the years. is available to all users in their taskbar and (Not to mention the millions of other Outlook items stored in contacts, calendar and tasks.) it runs automatically whenever the user logs Finding anything in that morass is quite a chore. And not just for me. IDC conducted a into the machine. Figure 1 shows some typical survey that showed the average active computer user spends nine and a half hours a week search results. Built-in right-click capabili- looking for documents, which illustrates the ties allow you to copy, move, delete, print, • Types of files indexed by WDS serious need for a better solution. So how open, reply, forward and even preview your • How the WDS index is maintained can WDS help? search results (see Figure 2). • Deployment tips Windows Desktop Search is an extremely Windows Desktop Search also provides • Management and Group Policy powerful search engine that lets you search great flexibility to multinational organi- through all of those pockets of information: sations. The optional Multilanguage User Matt Hester is a seasoned TechNet presenter, an Exchange Server insider who worked as an MCT for over eight years before joining your hard drives, your network drives (via Interface (MUI) pack download offers sup- AT A GLANCEAT Microsoft. Matt loves reaching out to users and customers in the UNC names) and even your e-mail. WDS port for 30 languages in addition to English local community and gets a thrill from installing a server that can can index more than 200 unique file types (see Figure 3). send e­mail or provide other services. (more than 350 if you count different soft- If you tried the initial versions of WDS, 26 To get your FREE copy of TechNet Magazine subscribe at: www.microsoft.com/uk/technetmagazine Figure 1 Broad Range of Search Results Figure 2 Previewing Files you may have been deterred by the perfor- and search your e-mail, you need Outlook recommended for the index. The size of the mance hit you took during indexing. The 2000 or Outlook Express 6.0 or greater. For index depends on how much content you new version of WDS has significant im- full preview of Office documents you need have and how much you index. And for best provements, though. WDS 2.6.5 reduces Office XP or later. viewing, a 1024 x 768 screen resolution is disk access by 50 percent compared with From a hardware perspective, you need recommended. previous versions, and it eliminates the de- at least a Pentium 500MHz processor or lay during system shutdown. WDS 2.6.5 of- better (1GHz recommended), 128MB of Deployment fers three new policies (including policies RAM (256MB recommended, 512MB is WDS is easy to deploy into any environ- for inclusions/exclusions of specific paths), optimal), and 500MB of hard disk space is ment. It comes as a self-extracting executable considerable improvements in stability and file of only 4.5MB, so you can use Systems results, and full integration in the Windows Figure 3 Supported Languages Management Server (SMS) to deploy it or servicing model. There are also add-ins for you can turn to Group Policy. The size of Lotus Notes and for the MSG file format ● Bulgarian ● Korean the program makes it ideal for Group Policy so WDS can index Outlook MSG files that ● Chinese (Simplified) ● Latvian package deployment. However, in order to have been saved outside of Outlook. Content ● Chinese (Traditional) ● Lithuanian use Group Policy for deployment, note that within e-mail attachments are indexed and ● Croatian ● Norwegian you will first need to wrap the WDS file in searched as well. ● Czech ● Polish an .msi file. If you have multiple or dual-core pro- ● Danish ● Portuguese WDS is distributed like other Windows cessors, look for enhanced performance (Brazilian) components through the package install- and even less noticeable system impact as ● Dutch ● Portuguese er (formerly update.exe), which means it the thread-optimised search engine code (Iberian) can also be distributed very easily using a takes advantage of the additional process- ● English ● Romanian script. WDS supports both attended and ing threads. ● Estonian ● Russian unattended installation modes. Attended ● Finnish ● Slovakian mode, which requires end user interaction, Configuration Requirements ● French ● Slovenian is more common. To take advantage of WDS you must ● German ● Spanish For unattended installations you can cre- be running Windows XP SP1 or higher, ● Greek ● Swedish ate custom batch files using the command- Windows Server 2003, or Windows 2000 ● Hungarian ● Thai line options that are shown in Figure 4, or SP4. As of now only the 32-bit versions ● Italian ● Turkish by using SMS, Group Policy, or Windows are supported; support for 64-bit systems Update Services. ● Japanese is expected in the near future. To index The command line offers many options for TechNet Magazine October 2006 27 Windows Administration host for IFilter add-ins, which enable the Figure 4 Installation Command-Line Options WDS indexer to open, read and index the Command-Line contents of new file types it would not oth- Option Description erwise be able to fully index. Many software /quiet or /q Provides no status dialog box during the extraction. Can be used programs on your PC already have IFilters in combination with /extract or /extract path, or this option will di­ installed. For example, if you use Microsoft rect the installation to run in quiet mode. Office Visio®, you automatically have the /passive or /U Provides a progress bar during the extraction, but does not prompt Visio IFilter plug-ins installed. Several free you for the destination folder name. Can be used in combination IFilters are available (StarOffice/OpenOffice, with /extract or /extract:path, or it will direct the installation to run in passive mode. PDF, ZIP, and so on) and are located at add­ ins.msn.com/addins_category_desktop.aspx. What’s /extract or /X Extracts package files without starting the installation. Prompts you for the path of the destination folder for extraction. When great about IFilters is the extensibility they used in conjunction with the /q or /U switch, extracts the package provide. WDS provides the architecture that file to a randomly named folder on the root folder. lets you or your developers write customised /extract:path_name Extracts software update package files to the specified folder IFilters. Windows Desktop Search is smart or /X:path_name without starting the package installer or prompting you for a des­ enough to recognise new IFilter plug-ins tination folder. When used in conjunction with the /q or /U switch, and will be able to index the contents of extracts the package file to the specified folder. the associated file types the next time the index is rebuilt. Moreover, WindowsSearch- automated installation. When you use the /q ed to look into other drives and directories Filter.exe was specifically designed to survive option, for example, the WDS installation is on your system including network drives poorly written third-party IFilters, in order completely silent, and if a restart is required, via UNC paths. to maintain overall reliability. it occurs automatically. Alternatively you can use the /passive or /U option, which displays WDS Components Once WDS is a progress bar and warns that a restart will WDS consists of four elements: Win- deployed, it will occur if necessary. Passive mode also dis- dowsSearch.exe, WindowsSafeFilter.exe, plays any errors that may be encountered. WindowsSearchIndexer.exe and Windows- create and maintain Figure 4 details the command-line options SearchFilter.exe. WindowsSearch.exe is the an individual index and their functions. primary component. It runs automatically After extraction, the files are placed in at computer startup and is located in the of all the the specified folder. If no folder is speci- Startup Program Folder. It manages the in- information on fied and the /extract option was used with dexer process and provides the management /passive or /quiet, a randomly named folder interface via the desktop tray. Additionally, it a user’s PC. (like 1ed6b742f546f) is generated and the defaults to replacing the standard Windows The final component, WindowsSearch- setup files are placed there. When installa- search GUI (Search Companion) with the Indexer.exe, is the chief process for creating tion is finished, the folder and installation enhanced search interface. and querying the WDS index. This process files are removed. The WindowsSafeFilter.exe processes the runs per user, which ensures it indexes the Figure 5 provides examples of commands information before it gets into the index documents in the user’s security context. In you can use to extract the contents of a soft- and maintains the integrity of the index. future releases the indexer is expected to be- ware update package.