PA Bear [MS MVP]:
No, I do not have (or want) WDS installed --don't want the overhead of the
indexing function; years ago I turned off the Windows the Win Indexing.


Bob Harris:
It does not appear the the MS updates installed yesterday had any effect --a
laptop similarly updated yesterday still has a functioning Search assistant.
Curiously, it too has the same empty "SxsCaPendDel" directory, showing the
same create date as on my desktop in early Feb which also showed other MS
update activities (on both PCs).

As you suggested a search for "fix search" showed a couple of promising
leads. However, an attempt at one suggestion to re-install via right click
and 'install' of srchasst.inf resuslts in yet another befuddlement.

It prompts for the WinXP installation CD, however the CD I have is WinXP
SP1. I also have the SP3 CD but not slip-streamed.

Can I safely use the original WinXP SP1 install CD --it is an install CD,
not a 'restore' CD.

I do have a backup image of the C partition, but it is a few months old, if
I can 'restore/re-install' only the search assistant, I would prefer that to
going back to an image that is several months old.

An alternative would be if I could determine the actual location/directory
that the search assistant file are in, I could retrieve those specific file
from the backup image I have.

Again any help you could provide with locating/identifying the specific
missing files would be greatly appreciated.




"Bob Harris" wrote:

> What is suggesting is that you insert the XP CD and reload part of the
> operating system.
>
> That is fine is you happen to have the XP CD that was used for the original
> installation. The advice is of little value, if your PC came with XP
> pre-installed.
>
> If you suspect a problem with the XP updates, you may be able to uninstall
> them via the add/remove programs option.
>
> But, in fairness to Microsoft, their updates only rarely cause problems.
>
> You might also want to try some web searches like "fix search" or "repair
> search".
>
> The best thing would be to have an image of the C: partition before the
> problem happended. Then, you could revert back to that time, and slowly
> creep foward with updates and/or other changes. However, most users do not
> see the value in such backups, until it is too late.
>
> "bpa_retired" <bparetired@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:59B497B8-5E3C-435C-9ECE-D0CE540B5582@microsoft.com...
> > Today I tried to use the Windows 'Search' utility and encountered a
> > problem.
> >
> > Upon clicking on 'Search' (from START menu) an ERROR window was displayed
> > with the message " A file that is required to run Search Companion cannot
> > be
> > found. You may need to run setup."
> >
> > I am not sure what 'You may need to run setup' means.
> >
> > Yesterday morning the (2) May Windows Updates were installed --with no
> > noticeable after effects. Yesterday afternoon the 'Search' utility was
> > indeed used with no problems. After turning the PC on this morning the
> > utility does not work.
> >
> > OS is WinXP Pro SP3 with current updates.
> >
> > Help/suggestions would be appreciated.
>
>
>