Windows 7 search does not return results from indexed folders

PROBLEM: I was having the same issue where the Explorer window would only display search results when the Windows Search in Services was stopped. Furthermore, some folders allowed explorer search, while others displayed no results.

SOLUTION: Click "properties" for the parent folder in question (Google Drive for me), click the Security tab and make sure SYSTEM is one of the user names allowed. If it's not, click Edit and add SYSTEM. After, I opened Indexing Options and clicked Rebuild. Solved!

CREDITS: Windows 7 Index Search does not work in Google Drive folder

Are you giving the indexing service time to index the files? This can take time. If you enable indexing and it doesn't work immediately, that seems like a sign to me that files are not yet put into the index. Search is searching the index, not finding the files, then thinking they don't exist.

When you turn off indexing, search is iterating through the folder and thus finding the files.

After you enable indexing, give your computer some time to index all your files. You can see progress in the "Indexing Options" dialog (search in Start for it).

If you still have problems:

1. Open "Indexing Options"
2. Ensure folder, or parent folder is listed there (and not excluded)
3. Click Advanced.
4. Approve UAC
5. Under File Types tab, make sure the file extensions you want are selected.
6. Back under Index Settings tab, look under troubleshooting, select "rebuild" and approve.
7. Give the computer time to index. If you use the computer, Windows automatically slows down indexing so let it run overnight. The more files you have, the longer it will take.
8. Try again and let me know if you're still having problems.

I tried this simple modification and worked like a charm. Got this from some genius named Thekid2point0 on another site:

"Not sure if this would help but I had a user with this same issue and after awhile changing all the settings I could find, I found one that did the trick. Under the Folder options go to the Search tab and under how to search check the "Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files" check box close windows explorer and then reopen and try your search again. This worked for me hopefully this will help someone else out there."