How to remove Windows (Desktop) Search … revisited
In October last year, I posted an article on how to remove Windows Desktop Search from an XP machine after it had been unhelpfully installed as a mandatory upgrade. The world has moved on since then and version 3 of Windows Desktop Search has been replaced by version 4, which is now called Windows Search. This means the name of the uninstall folder has changed and the information in that post is becoming ever more out of date. As it still accounts for 80% of the traffic to my site, I figured it was time for an update.
If you have version 3 of Windows Desktop Search and want to remove it, please refer to the old post. If you have version 4, read on. If you are unsure which one you have, press the windows key and F together to start up the application and look at the image that appears toward the top right of the window. If it says “Windows Desktop Search”, then you have version 3. If it says “Windows Search”, then you have version 4.
Windows Desktop Search (version 3)
Windows Search (version 4)
To remove Windows Search version 4 from XP, try the following steps:
- Start by running up Add & Remove Programs from the control panel and look for Windows Desktop Search in the list. Unlike with version 3, Windows Search v4 should be there.
- If not, open a cmd window (click on Start, then “Run..” and type cmd in the Run dialogue that then appears). Then copy and paste the following line into the cmd window:
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
- If that also fails and you get a “The system cannot find the path specified.” error, then I have zipped up a copy that you can download from here. To work out where to extract it to, type:
echo %systemroot%
into your cmd window and note the location it points to (it is likely to be C:\Windows, but may not be if you upgraded to XP for Windows 2000 for example). Open the zip file, and extract the $NtUninstallKB940157$ to this location. Now repeat step 2.
Update: Thanks to “Derek” for pointing out to me that I’d missed the “bleedin’ obvious”, ie that v4 can be removed via “Add Remove Programs”. I’ve added this as step 1 as a consequence. Steps 2 and 3 are likely redundant, but I’ve left them in for completeness.
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Or, you could just run appwiz.cpl and remove it that way?
Good point Derek. I misread the release notes for KB940157 as saying that it could not be removed via Add/ Remove Progams. I have updated the post as a result.
Thanks for this. My copy of XP doesn’t show it in the add/remove programs options either as the program, or as the update (and yes I am ’showing updates’). The uninstaller wasn’t in my WINDOWS directory either. I had to download your copy to get rid of the fl$%^& thing!
did help with the dditional download of $NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst
Thank you very much appreciated
was on the verge of full reinstall
Like Jim Deakin, Windows Search wasn’t in Add/Remove Programs. Running spuninst.exe worked a treat! Many thanks for this.
The procedure with the ZIP file work very well.
Thanks!!!
Thank you for the zip-file.
I have a habit to delete these uninstall information since I hardly ever unistall anything.
However, this time I badly needed it… Thank you!
I tried reinstalling Windows Desktop Search to get an uninstall dir created, but for some reason the reinstall directory were never created… So your download or creating one in a virtual machine or reinstall of XP was my options…
Thank you! I’ve been trying to remove Windows Desktop Search 4.0 for weeks. Your instructions and zip file worked perfectly.
Thank you so much! =)
WDS 4.0 was in my Add/Remove Programs but it indicated it couldn’t find it. I used your zip file and it is now gone.
Thank you!
Windows Search v4 never created an entry in the Add/Remove even with Show Updates checkmarked. I accidentally deleted the uninstall directory during maintenance, and as another user stated, attempts to reinstall Search v4 did not recreate the uninstall directory. Your ZIP file and instructions finally provided the means to get rid of that piece of crap. Thanks so much!
THANK YOU
thank you
Nice job…
Thanks so much.
R
I recently built a new desktop with XP home. its been running for about a month now. I removed desktop search and the program gave me a list of programs that were installed after desktop search was installed. it said that these programs might not work if they need desktop search. ever since then i have been having dificulties with my machine freezing. sometimes on boot up. has anyone else seen any issues like this. I had to install a new copy of xp on a diffrent partition just to get into the computer. I did put the computer together from a bare bones kit and it may have issues that have nothing to do with the desktop search. i just find it funny that i only started to get the issues after i removed it.
My XP did NOT have it in the add/remove list but your Run command saved my day!
Thanks!
Thankyou for restoring my faith in humanity, the fact that the search ‘update’ does not allow a simple right click copy/paste function alone renders it absurd to say the least.., not to mention that it doesn’t even seem to facilitate any of my fundamentally imperative requirements!!? My bad for deleting the uninstall folder but thanks to your help all is restored.. It really highlights how superb the integrated XP search actually is, why they’ve conceived such a bloated alternative is beyond me.. It’s much like a bloated (starving) Ethiopian kid, though just as empty, with about as much to offer, ie the software equivalent of the AIDS virus!!
Thanks a lot!
as zipped file is copied from another computer uninstaller might not contain all the registry data used in installation for other machines. however, it does contain standard reg entries, and will remove windows search, but one should do some registry cleaning afterwords to prevent malfunction of affected software.
btw thanks for this beautiful download!
Thank you thank you thank you
Thanks for the ZIP-file!!!
Thank You!!!! Option 3 worked for me. Thanks so much for providing those files!
David,
thanks a lot for making the zip file. Live Search was not in my Add/Remove programs window and I was also missing the $NtUninstallKB940157$ folder.
I downloaded your zip file, and ran the command. It worked beautifully.
Thanks a lot.
I’ve searched everywhere for an uninstall of this…disease of a program. After an hour, I run across your site, and kablam. That simple. Thank you so much.
You is the boy!!
Brilliant, thanks very much. The uninstall didn’t appear in my Add/Remove progs, but your instructions were nice and easy to follow. Finally rid of that pesky new search which only slows down my machine!
Cheers
Claud.
Thanks a ton for including the zip file. It was a life saver.
Thank you very much, now I uninstall it and the speed of PC is faster.
I’ll add to the “thanks”. I’d already looked for uninstall folders and on the add/remove. Nowhere to be found. Well done, Microsoft, for yet another bodged “update”.
Glad to say that the ZIP file worked a treat and I’m about to run a registry cleanup as someone else mentioned above. No harm in giving it the once-over.
[...] page is this one, courtesy of ARNO#. It does involve downloading a ZIP file, but I can verify that it works. I would [...]
Thanks for zip file. WDS gone
.
Nice post, the zip file and cmd line instructions were essential. Thanks!
Nice and simple post, the zip file and cmd line instructions were essential. Thanks!
Another thank you…I removed the uninstaller when doing some cleaning up, and as has been said, reinstalling WDS didn’t reinstall the uninstaller.
Many thanks for the zip file.
I would never have been able to do this! There were so many complicated ways of trying to do this and you simplified it for the rest of us. Windows Search 4 was not in my add/remove programs and I have a couple other programs specifically to remove software and it wasn’t listed there either. I used your ZIP file just as you said and boom, it’s done!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
VERY straight and useful.
Thanks
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you a million.
Thank you for the zip and thank thou Mightysoft for making all this happen once again.
Thanks for the ZIP – it was missing for some reason. I’m switching to the Google Outlook add-in
thanks for the tip to look under “Add/Remove Programs” — i assumed it’d be harder than that! >_<
Thankyou, I installed XP slipstreamed with SP3, then did all the updates and ended up with WDS4. It was not listed under add/remove programs so I had to call the uninstaller as you have listed above from command line.
It worked, thanks
amazing this worked out just fine even before reboot, Thank you M$ for making us install something with out our permission
Perfect!!! Thanks for this tutorial and the unninstall file, worked fine!!!Thanks man!
Thank!!!
u don´t know how many days I lost searching the way to uninstall this “great” development of microsoft.
Again, thanks, thanks a lot!!!
THANK YOU! This really saved me, the WDS was hogging gigs of drive space and slowing everything to a crawl. Nothing in add/remove and the KB files were missing. THanks for this information and files, it really made a big difference.
Thanks again!
Thanks for these instructions:
(http://www.davidarno.org/
2008/08/22/how-to-remove-windows
-desktop-search-…-revisited/) on how to remove ”Windows Search” from WinXP.
They worked quite well!
A BIG THANKS again!
pete goddard, Columbia, SC
Thanks! The only guide to remove this pest from my pc.
Grat job!
I was able to uninstall windows search, but “Advanced Find” in Outlook 2007 is still trying to use the DS index which is no longer being updated and does not exist. Do you know if any registry entries are left still pointing to the old index?
Many thanks for the help. I was unable to install Solidworks but this fixed the problem.
Thanks so much for your simple fix – something that seems to go way beyond Microsoft’s dull intellect!
Useful We need to digg this site!!
to improve it’s SEO.
It is extraordinary useful
Gracias!!!
Easy, simple precedure.
Adios WD4
Many thanks, this save my resources
@Rubén, de nada mi amigo.
@Chad Nelson, I’m not aware of any such registry keys, but if I find any, I’ll post them here and email you to let you know.
Thank you! Well thought through.
Thankyou!
I’ll chime in also — thank you very very much! I can confirm the following. The latest version of the installer for Microsoft Desktop Search v4.0 does NOT add an entry in Add/Remove Programs. It also does NOT add the $NtUninstallKB940157$ directory to the system root directory. I confirmed this by downloading the installer from Microsoft, installing it, and then looking for the entries. Nothing… Your zip file works great though!
Your solution of $NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst download worked miraculously. I have searched for so time now to find a solution to this problem and this is the first intelligent solution i found thank so very much!!!
I did have an entry in the add/remove programs but when i used it it wanted to uninstall windows XP and return to my original configuration. This was a very tempting thing to do, but not the solution I was looking for. your solution was perfect. I had to uninstall it directly from the $NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst i placed in the windows folder but it worked well.
Thanks for your advice.
Thanks man. I was about to reinstall Windows Search 4 to get that uninstall directory, but it seems it wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. I had to repair my Windows XP since some software messed up my boot files so I couldn’t see it in Add/Remove.Your zip saved me a lot of workaround.
I was experiencing alot of the same problems you’al have been mentioning for many months. Here’s what I have found!
If you ever have stopped or exited the function and there is something wrong with your indexing profile it will cause these kinds of problems. Sure the over head canbe extensive if the index is incomplete or contains errors that we cannot see.
The simplist way to keep it would be to right click on the search icon in your tray and select “Windows Search Options”.
Then select “modify” to make sure the paths are stored to where the searching is to be done.
Then select “advanced” make sure you have all of the file types you would like to have indexed for searching. I even added to include contents where possible too.
You will get a message that the current information is going to be deleted and a new index will be created after you select “ok”!
I waited a couple of minutes and rebooted, logged into my XP machine and its working fine. I do recommend that you check this from time to time, why? Well it seems that when the function gets updated the install defaults are restored – don’t ask me why.
I know its a pain, maybe in my next life they’ll get it to work right, add a clutch so it doesn’t take 110% of your system resources everytime you boot untill the index is completed. You see I have two drives indexed, the system drive and a data slave drive with 167,000 files in around five hours with contents too.
Good Luck!
Thank you, I tried long to find help, but the problem was, that the data you offer to download was missing on my system, so now, thanks to you, it worked!
Thank you sir…
Thanks a lot, really appreciate it!
Thank you v. much! … I also failed to notice the painfully obvious and went straight for Windows components to find this institutional virus. …
Thanks man im happy now that i got rid of that white crap bar.
thanks a millions
Thanks, your tips saved so many minutes of troubleshooting.
You succeed where Microsoft fails! Windows Search is an abomination and installed on my system without giving me the luxury of an uninstall feature. Thanks for your help, it solved everything.
Big thanks! After an unproper uninstall that left services running and lots of registry keys, reinstalling and using your zip file removed the program! I just had to manually delete $program_files$\Windows Desktop Search
Thank you. I could not figure out how the hell to get rid of this application.
Thank you very much for helping me to remove v4. I had follow all three steps. Best regards!
Your zip file works like a charm on 2003 server also!
FYI… one of my sysadmins swears by CCleaner… not anymore. I’ve banned it from our computers due to removing uninstall files!
Hey I want to thank you very much for the info on the uninstall of windows search tool. I am a PC user and looking for the best solution for what I use my computer for, to build my next on in the coming year. With all the new changes I want to stay current.
I am leaving this to let you know that Windows Search Version 4 of Window Desktop Search did not show up in my Add Remove files folder at all. In case you wanted to look into that. I really do appreciate this help from you and yours.
Thank you, Shaun Conley
my scalp thanks you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have hated this total piece of shyt since they fu.king installed it without my permission. I’ve been unable to do ANY searches because the POS wants to index my terabytes of data instead of just fu.king searching! Argh!
Well thank you again, now I won’t have go to prison for murder.
Thank you very muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
i would have never been able to figure this out. when i tried add/remove programs and enabled see updates, i saw wds4.0 but when trying to uninstall it told me that it was already uninstalled.
i tried you solution and a few applications installed after wds was installed stopped working, but i just reinstalled them and we are good to go.
i’d send you a million bucks but i don’t have it so will a million thanks yous work instead?!?!?!?! =P
I like what I see and I’m so glad I found your sight after sifting thru all the Microshaft garbage. I do have version 4.0 and I do have the option to remove it in add remove programs.
I would like to re-address a question asked here by Henry on September 15, 2008 about the list of programs installed after search was installed. I have the same list and I’m gun shy to proceed. I recently had no choice but to upgrade my box to XP Pro in order to install Office 2007. Like everyone else, I am hard pressed to find any value in “desktop search” and just want to go back to regular search. Has there been any negative experince after uninstalling Windows Search?
I would really like to know now as I’m the guinea pig for this upgrade experinece and have 13 more boxes to upgrade to office 2007. Any assistance and/or direction is greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Thank you so much for this article. I had a Win2k3 server with Desktop Search v4 installed. It was not listed in Add/Remove Programs and the $NtUninstallKB940157$ folder was not in the %systemroot%. I tried reinstalling to uninstall but that didn’t work. By downloading the unistall folder from your website, i was finally able to uninstall and be rid Desktop Search! Thanks a ton!
Thank you so much! Your zip helped quickly! I tried MS before, but no useful hints there.
Thanks again. greetz-
Carsten
Muito Obrigado!
Referencing: Stefan January 15th, 2009 00:29
I just performed a clean load overnight, XP Pro, and forgot to ignore the ‘Blasted’ MS Search v4 before leaving the massive update running overnight. I have continued to load software and just realized it is now on the system. I can see it in the Add/Remove Programs. I even attempted the referenced ‘Zip’ file. However, executing the uninstall from either option presents a screen “Windows Search Setup Warning” and states “The following programs were installed on your computer after Windows Search 4.0″ and list them. Then at the bottom of the window “If these programs depend on Windows Search 4.0, they might not work properly after it is removed. Do you want to continue?”
I am also run shy. Any suggestions out there?
Thanks
Woodman
Woodman, this only shows up because it is a windows update. You will be fine.
I did the remove and cleaned the registry with several differnt utilities and things appear to be stable. Much appreciated.
I’m very grateful for your help. I’d already tried the XP uninstall and it left all Windows search functionality broken. Your file fixed it. Thanks!
THANKS!!
Worked like a charm, nice for a change. Seems to be *many* people who don’t care much for Search 4.0..
Dave D.
Many thanks!!! needed the uninstl folder badly, worked nicely.
I believe is a conflict between Windows Search and their new “One Note 2007″ program, available in Office 2007. It would appear One Note does many of the same real time file management tracking as Windows Search, and I’m getting error messages and now new the “dllhost.exe” application running when I open the Task Manager. I had earlier disabled Windows Search under “Services” via the msconfig command. I am uneasy about uninstalling the Windows Search via Add/Remove programs as when I attempted it reminded me how many programs have been added since its install that could be affected by an uninstall. I’ll save this site link here and follow up later.
Thanks alot!
That Windows Search app is thougher to remove than malware. Unbelievable…
Thank you sooooooooo much. MS is really out of control!
Your step #1 for version 4 removal tells us to look for “Windows Desktop Search” in the Add/Remove list – you won’t find it, but you will find “Windows Search v4″. thanks for the helpful site, I came here to help get rid of v3, and simply returned here when I found v4 had installed during an ‘update’ .. never thought to check the Add/Remove applet since MS usually doesn’t want to let us use our computers the way we want to.
Thanks for the copy of the uninst folder. Like many IT Manager I tend to delete all the $ folders from the Windows directory hence no copy of my own.
My main bugbear with the utility is disk space, I have a normal PC with a number of Apps and lots of data, 200GB of music files and the size of the index was 850MB! Again I split my disk into 2 partitions and GHOST the 40GB C: drive to a file in the root of the 960GB D: drive to cover me agains the blue screen of death.
I had just disabled the service and deleted the log files and .edb but it then annoyed me that I couldn’t easily remove it so thanks for the simple solution.
Now. Has anyone cracked getting rid of the C:\WINDOWS\Installer directory yet with its repository of all Windows and Office patches?
THANK YOU!!
I’ve been trying to get rid of this pest for a while now! It really ticks me off when Microsoft doesn’t give you uninstall functionality for crappy software such as Windows Search 4.0!
Thanks very much for this fix. You are very kind to share this info with others.
The live search 4 was driving me mad. Keep up the good work and remember people do appreciate you for your help.
I wonder if there is a way to uninstall the virtual processor custom add on. Also the h.d. custom raid add on.
Thank you so much for this. Windows Search was the biggest resource hog I have ever seen (hyperbole, I admit), and all the other removal walkthroughs I had seen involved crazy and often-dangerous steps which didn’t end up working in the end anyway.
It is, by the way, a documented problem with Windows Search that the uninstall information gets ‘lost’, so your hosting this uninstaller file is a great help to a lot of people.
Thank you again!
I live and work in the Middle East, where we have to constantly worry about hackers and viruses meant to disrupt our work, and we have never lost as much downtime to any of these attacks as we have because of this ridiculous search program that we didn’t ‘choose’, we didn’t want, and we never use. And all this time we never suspected that some silly little indexing program was the cause of some of our major issues, we’ve been blaming the Jihadists (and not that they’re not that they’re not out here trying to disrupt things, they’re just not as good at it as Microsoft). So thank you for this article and for the zip file, you’re a true hero.
Who has a script that can remove 4.0 from computers/servers. I have a consulting company that is suffering because of this annoying app from microsoft that was deployed through patch mgmt. Looking to automate the removal process for a large scale client base
thank you!
zip file works in 2003 server spanish like a charm!
I tried via the Add/Remove but it did not work.
luckily, the last option worked.
thanks
Thank you so much
This search 4.0 application “design by commitee” at the M$ headquarters shows generous antipathy toward the general public, a true glimpse at reverse-engineering users to suit a product.
No uninstaller on this machine even after reinstalling stand-alone, even the ’search companion’ was limited to the documents folder.
Thanks, a dinner on me if you ever have a layover at MSP International Airport!!
Thanks alot for this mate.
I deleted the dir and couldnt uninstall the damn search tool.
thanks again, u saved me lots of time
THANK YOU!
Worked like magic.
thanks
Thanks a million times man..
this was such a relief. This thing had my machine running slow for so so long
…fine piece of work! Thanks a ton!
Thank you for providing the zip file. I had removed the uninstall folder while looking around for space on my drive. Windows Search v4 was *not* in my list of installed programs.
fantastic – saved me headaches.
Thank You
Thanks a ton. I had the same issue as many, it did not show up in my add and remove programs list. On less chokehold on my laptop
WAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ! i m so happy, it s working !
nice man, I didn’t have the uninstaller, but thx to you, I finally got rid of that anoying program
Thanks a million. You da man!
Thank you for the fast and simple solution. PF usage went down to 260 from 300, exactly what I wanted. The geniuses as MS who came up with this garbage should be neutered.
Thanks.
The post helped me alot
Thank you so much for your detailed solution to the Windows Search 4.0 removal problem.
Like other, the option to remove did not appear in my Add-Remove Programs list.
Unlike some other recommended fixes on the net, yours, with the reinstallation of the change files, worked.
Let me know if I can be of help.
In case anyone is wondering, this works on Server OS Editions as well.
Kudos, this helped me solve a server lag issue for a client … whenever the searchindexer would fire off, everything else on the server would lag horribly.
Thanks, I finally got rid of that anoying program by downloading your uninstaller
worked for me using your supplied uninstaller zip’d package, very much appreciated!
Thanks for this, windows search 4.0 is sooooo lame
Step 3 worked finaly for me
Thanks very much
I just wanted to let you know that the second two portions of the post are not a waste. The search had not been showing up in add/remove programs and even step two wasn’t working so thank you for taking the time and energy to be so thorough.
Thank you very much for this tutorial. I had to use the download to complete the uninstall. I’ve been reading unhelpful webpages for about an hour now and was growing quite frustrated. I appreciate it!
- Michael
Thanks. It has been really helpful.
THANKS! I really appreciate.
Andrea.
Thanks from Germany for this… The downloadable uninst-file helped very well – best regards stefan
THX for the help, the command prompt thing worked for me
Would by chance know how to stop IE 8 from showing the ‘Download Windows Search to
improve history and favorites results’ line. I run XP Pro 64 bit and the suggested Reg fix does not seem to work for the 64 bit.
REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search” /v CurrentVersion /t REG_SZ
/d 99 /f
Thank you for the post – it really helped!
After I read the comments it seemed that everybody understand instructions in Step 3 but me…
Anyway, I just run the spuninst.exe after unzipping, without any cmd use. I think it is removed though
I had trouble removing WDS, It is not seen on Add/Remove Programs. I have also unclicked ‘Allow Indexing..’ Indexing Services are not running…
Still unable to delete windows.edb? Seems it is locked.
Any ideas?
Thanks for the instructions and the zip file! Succesful removed
Thanks boss!
this solution rocks!!!
great work. all other sites have old info of uninstaller folder.
Wow, max Kudos and many hugs & kisses from Texasto you! I was so glad to come across this site because I’d been following other instructions from pseudo-geeks and getting nowhere but more frustrated, missing sleep and cursing microsoft (nazis). What was strange is I have the same windows search, XP, windows, sp3, firefox, and security on my desktop, but Win Srch was only acting bad on laptop (?)
Another strange thing: WS was not in add/remove, the spuninst didn’t run, and when I followed all your steps, even going back to step 2, it stil didn’t work.
I was heartbroken, but then decided to again try spuninst. Having followed your instructions and instaling your zip somehow that allowed spuninst to work! I literally jumped for joy.
You might want to consider adding this final optional step in case someone else is about to give up & throw their machine out the door (which is truthfully how I got my laptop a yr. ago for free!)
I’ll sure keep these instructions in case I need to uninstall it from my desktop, but so far it’s non-intrusive. (?) Another mystery, but probably not worth solving. (: I’m Happy.
Deb, TX Geekette
Thanks, and it was not in the add remove app for XP, if it was I wouldnt be here. And I had to add the $ signs to the folder, you should mention that, then I still couldnt run it from the DOS prompt and I said “why am I running this from I dos prompt, what am I, 40? (Im 44) and I just navigated to the folder and uninstalled it by double clicking the EXE. THANKS!
Thanks a million!!!! Stupid Microsoft. I had version 4 but it was not in my add/remove.
I had to download your zip file to get it to work, and I had to save it to C:\Windows. I ran your command in step 2 and it worked perfectly.
Thanks,
. “how to remove windows desktop search”
I have been looking for this information for a long time, possibly because my choice of search words were not the obvious
Really THANKS!!
Folks, I have been reading through this thread and thought it mentioned twice about the message:
If these programs depend on Windows Search 4.0, they might not work properly after it is removed. Do you want to continue?
I am really concerned about this part. Should I still go ahead with that and answer yes? I am too sick and tired of this MS crap. I am sure others don’t wish well for those programming dolts who do not offer a back-out option.
Hey, thanks a lot for such UseFul post.
Windows Desktop Search 4 was missing from my Add-remove list.
Thank you
Thanx. It was a relieve.
I have found very easy way to remove WDS
Add Remove Programs and on the left side choose Add Remove Windows Components – remove the tick for Windows Desktop Search – Next – wait till it uninstall and done
Thanx a heap for putting up that zip file – it hauled my buggy right outta the Search4 bog. Youse is a true-blue Net-Citizen, an’ I salutes you!
Thank you so much! the windows desktop search made my system very slow and I finally got rid of it!
dear god! you can uninstall that piece of crap, thanks for the good tip.
Thank you! I just wish I would’ve found this sooner. Windows Search is f%#@in USELESS!!!
this is the easiest way I found to get back to the Search Companion and get rid of Windows Search 4.0.
The method would be to set the vaule of HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows Desktop Search/DS/ShowStartSearchBand to 0 to disable the pane.
to add to above comment that edits the registry. go to Services, run/services.msc find Windows Search, stop the service and set it to disabled.
Hey! Thanks a mil! #2 worked! Excellent!
Thanks, I still needed to use step #2. I still don’t see the point of Windows Search 4. At long last I got rid of it, thanks again.
Thanks for this! Especially point #3 with the uninstall folder which helped mucho!
Thank you so much. I tried everything imaginable besides actually just removing folders and files from my registry, which I am always hesitant to do except as a last resort. I am one of the computer admins for a firm and I was able to remove Windows Search from everyone’s machine using the Add/Remove Programs feature, except for when it came to my own personal workstation. After looking through article after article which only covered the old versions, I finally found your downloadable file solution which worked like a charm. I am very grateful. Thanks again.
Thank you for million times! Since May,3 I’m trying to remove this nasty piece of sfw, and could not manage it.
Your package did it! [Just I've unzipped in widows dir, and restarted appwiz.cpl. Everything went fine].
God Bless You!
Thanks! I had version 4.0, plus the following corresponding update, and none of them showed up under “add/remove programs”. After following your suggestions I use “%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe”. Then I just repeated the process for the update this time and bingo!
Oops… sorry. I should have mention that the name for the corresponding update is KB963093:
– Use “%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe” for 4.o removal.
– Use “%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB963093$\spuninst\spuninst.exe” for 4.o Update removal.
Thank you!
THANKS!!!
I’ve been looking some time now for just this advice.
Why I couldn’t find this at MS own site is beyond me. It’s pretty sad… when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hands doing!
THANX !!!
ZIP file worked – most excellently
Many Thanks for that .zip file,
Windows Search was not to be found in Add/Remove Programs, but your .zip file took care of that monstrosity quite handily. Live long and prosper David Arno, you are a headache saver.
One more sincere Thank you! for the ZIP file. It did the job
The uninstall is a bit scary with a long list of programs that could (maybe) stop working properly after the uninstall!!!
The uninstall erased many files… I hope they were all useless… Time will tell.
Thanks again
[...] Arno has an article on removing WS here: http://www.davidarno.org/2008/08/22/how-to-remove-windows-desktop-search-…-revisited/ to which he also covers the previous version, known as Windows Desktop [...]
Thanks for posting this – I already thought I needed to re-install the whole thing after I’d foolishly deleted the original uninstaller. Great idea to make it available for download! Thanks again.
This was great – but is the index or catalog created by Search 4.0 left on the computer somwehere? I was startled by the amount of detail it revealed about the content of documents.
Ah. . . . THANK YOU! I feel so much better now!
Thank you. forever thankful. and it didn’t show up in my ‘add-remove programs’, so step 2 was extremely helpful
Thank-you so much for this solution because Windows Desktop Search is a pile of shit that does not work! Who needs viruses when you’ve got Microsoft on the job?! Actually I’ve had viruses on my machine that were much easier to remove…Thanks again!!!
Thank you!
DAVID; THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE AUTO SPUNINST DOWNLOAD FIX… IT WORKED GREAT.
Thanks for the zip download. Thats the only thing that worked finally! It had a long list of programs installed after it, but its taken care of the problem!
worked GREAT, even more than a year after your original post!
Good, awesome, cool, freezing…
Hi everyone, could anybody help me with the procedure to remove the Windows Search toolbar from the taskbar? I dont need to remove Windows Search from Windows, I would like to remove only the toolbar shown on taskbar, I need to remove it in all the computers on my site.
Thanks in advance.
Wilson
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!
[...] here’s a link to a fine gentlemen who comes to the rescue and helps you undo Microsoft’s most unhelpful mandatory update to [...]
I might have missed this in all the replies but I have uninstalled Windows Search with no problem. The trouble I have is that within Outlook there is an option to download. Does anyone know how to remove this as I do not want people within the company to have this option
Clear, helpful & useful (unlike MS efforts) – I don’t suppose you can do the same for WGA..?
Thank you. I just performed Step 2 and it seemed to work. The Windows Search immediately disappeared from the taskbar.
Nice one, this worked fine, DS 4.0 did not show in Add/Remove programs.
Add/remove worked just perfectly for Version 4.
What a relief.
David, if you do nothing else worthwhile for the rest of your life, you can die happy.
Many thanks. Trust Microsoft to screw up a search program and prevent anyone from removing it.
Awesome! Thank you, thank you!
Like a virus this app keeps coming back – but your solution took it away for good.
Thank you!
THanks a lot.
Thank you!!!!!!
Your zip file worked. It removed Windows Search. But now I have a new problem. The old search facility doesn’t work. Only the dog appears, but none of the search fields above it is there (just blue color only). Now how do I get back my old search facility?
Thank you. I was so frustrated, and your post helped me get rid of it.
Thank you for providing the zip file for the uninstall. My client had fouled her windows search capabilities (after Vista automatically installed some updates), and windows wouldn’t find the following two weeks of emails in her Outlook 07 even though they existed. Rebuilding the index didn’t work as it completely ended in 0 results for all searches in Outlook. (Yes, the indexing had completed before the searches were attempted.) Using your uninstall process, I was then able to restore her windows search ability. Your article saved her from losing clients! Thank you again!
Fantastic job! Found it rediculous that Microsoft would not provide a simple uninstaller for this but from a business perspective understand why. Thank you again for your tools and instructions; very helpfull!
Reading your writings and how you so willing share your knowledge on a delivery level that shows expertise without ego, is truly a gift. A sincere simple thank you seems so little for what you provided me. I appreciate your proficiency. Thank you.
Many thanks for the instructions and download. Tried all the other options I could find and this one worked. *Fantastic*
Bloody fantastic. Like passing a kidney stone, but you feel so good afterward.
yeah fantastic…!!wow
My problem is solved, thanks you help me
David!!!!!!!!
You a real MAN!!!
Avery one of all of us mast do some realy great during the life. You have done!!!
Gongratulations!!!
Unfortunately Bill doesn`s associate with me…
Seva, Russia
I think it’s more safe to disable windows search 4 instead of deleting it. You can disable the service and use old but good search companion.
Thanks!
Windows Search had been an major annoyance since it was installed. Like others, it did not show on the Add/Remove Programs (maybe the the original was ver 3.0 and ver 4.0 was an update to it).
The cmd line and the zip file were essential!
(for comment by Jocuri) Disable service didn’t work well. Click on search and it would go to the Windows Search anyway, but then say it wasn’t available and to click to get to the old search.
Thank you! Your zip file solved my problem. Windows Desktop Search 4.0 is now blessedly GONE!
Thank you!
thanc’s very very much !!!!
thank’s very very much !!!!
Thanks. Procedure with the Unzip file works Oke
for Version 4
Díky moc … fungovalo to bezvadně po rozbalení ZIP souborů …..jinak jsem tu zpomalovací mrchu nemohl dostat pryč.Díky
Thanks, works like a charm. Keep up the good work.
Thanks! This one has been aggravating me for a while. Now I just have to get rid of IE without breaking updates and most of the rest of Windows..
uninstalled windows search4 only to have kb940157 re-install itself the next time the computer started.
anyone found a way to block a specific kb update?
hate microsoft, glad its not my computer, thank god for linux.
Thanks a lot
)
best regards
Googlehupf
zip file saved me ages, appreciated.
This all sounds GREAT, but like several others have continued to ask, when I proceed to remove desktop search 4 via the Add/Remove Programs, it gives me a list of (3) other program updates that were installed on my computer after Windows Search 4.0 and states that “if these programs depend on Windows Search 4.0, they might not work properly after it is removed, do I want to continue? The three OTHER Programs are: (1)Security Update for Windows Search 4[KB963093) (2)Update for Microsoft Windows [KB971513] and (3)Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 7 [KB978207]. Please, I would also like to remove Search 4, but now hesitate because of these 3 Warnings. Can someone please advise regarding this?
Sounds like my blog post is starting to get out of date Jim C. Not sure at this stage whether I need to update it with new information, or retire it. More experimenting is needed.
Thanks for the download. This system came from Dell, with everything pretty much pre-installed, including Windows Search/Index.
It did not show up in Add/Remove programs nor did this directory,”%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB940157$”, even exist on my computer.
After downloading and running this file, I was finally able to be rid of the Windows Search/Index tool.
THANK YOU!
Also thanks for the download. I tried first to use the Uninstall procedure in Add/Remove Program, but that exited with some stupid Error Message and afterwards, the uninstall program was gone. Even after a re-install of WDS, no unistall re-appeared. Your download saved the day.
Many Thanks!