Whenever I try to do a search with WDS under XP SP3 now, I get a
"Windows Explorer" dialog box popping up with the error: "The path '-
Windows Desktop Search' does not exist or is not a directory." I've
searched around and found very few reports of this problem and no
proposed solutions. Any ideas how to troubleshoot?

Err Msg: The Path <Web Address> Does Not Exist or Is Not a...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q190414/

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner

"ajkessel" <ajkessel******.com> wrote in message
news:3010f756-285b-4fe0-9204-17b8211e72cd@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> Whenever I try to do a search with WDS under XP SP3 now, I get a
> "Windows Explorer" dialog box popping up with the error: "The path '-
> Windows Desktop Search' does not exist or is not a directory." I've
> searched around and found very few reports of this problem and no
> proposed solutions. Any ideas how to troubleshoot?

That knowledge base article is not related to the problem described
here. The problem I am having is Windows Desktop Search (under XP SP3)
doesn't allow any queries. The article linked relates to Windows
Update not working under Windows 98. I am pretty sure it is a totally
independent issue. In any case, the fixes suggested in the kb article
don't work (the registry setting discussed there is not set for me).

On Jun 25, 2:06*pm, "Kelly" <ke...@kelly.com> wrote:
> Err Msg: The Path <Web Address> Does Not Exist or Is Not a...http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q190414/
>
> --
>
> All the Best,
> Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)
>
> Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm
>
> SupportSpacewww.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner
>
> "ajkessel" <ajkes...******.com> wrote in message
>
> news:3010f756-285b-4fe0-9204-17b8211e72cd@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Whenever I try to do a search with WDS under XP SP3 now, I get a
> > "Windows Explorer" dialog box popping up with the error: "The path '-
> > Windows Desktop Search' does not exist or is not a directory." I've
> > searched around and found very few reports of this problem and no
> > proposed solutions. Any ideas how to troubleshoot?

I figured it out. The problem was that I had disabled dde for Explorer
(I was having a separate issue that DDE calls to Explorer were
experiencing long delays). By restoring DDE in the registry, WDS could
be queried again.

The relevant keys were HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec
and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\ddeexec.

On Jun 25, 2:44*pm, ajkessel <ajkes...******.com> wrote:
> That knowledge base article is not related to the problem described
> here. The problem I am having is Windows Desktop Search (under XP SP3)
> doesn't allow any queries. The article linked relates to Windows
> Update not working under Windows 98. I am pretty sure it is a totally
> independent issue. In any case, the fixes suggested in the kb article
> don't work (the registry setting discussed there is not set for me).
>
> On Jun 25, 2:06*pm, "Kelly" <ke...@kelly.com> wrote:
>
> > Err Msg: The Path <Web Address> Does Not Exist or Is Not a...http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q190414/
>
> > --
>
> > All the Best,
> > Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)
>
> > Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm
>
> > SupportSpacewww.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner
>
> > "ajkessel" <ajkes...******.com> wrote in message
>
> >news:3010f756-285b-4fe0-9204-17b8211e72cd@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> > > Whenever I try to do a search with WDS under XP SP3 now, I get a
> > > "Windows Explorer" dialog box popping up with the error: "The path '-
> > > Windows Desktop Search' does not exist or is not a directory." I've
> > > searched around and found very few reports of this problem and no
> > > proposed solutions. Any ideas how to troubleshoot?