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- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows XP
    - Registry Tips
      - Miscellaneous
        Do not use the comprehensive search-based method when resolving shell shortcuts (.lnk)

Section(s): Miscellaneous
Published on Apr 20, 2004.
Last Modified on Apr 20, 2004.
Last Modified by Wayne Maples.
Rated 3 out of 5 based on 1 votes.

By default, when Windows NT / Windows 2000 / Windows XP cannot find the target file for a shortcut (.lnk), it searches all paths associated with the shortcut. If the target file is located on an NTFS partition, the system then uses the target's file ID to find a path. If the resulting path is not correct, it conducts a comprehensive search of the target drive in an attempt to find the file. After this hack, the system does not conduct the final drive search. It just displays a message explaining that the file is not found. This can speed up things.

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Name: NoResolveSearch
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1 no search
Value: 0 search
Note: FAT partitions do not have ID tracking and the search capability.