Double clicking on folder or drive opens search

by Abhishek Bhatnagar on July 1, 2008

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Trouble:

We have often received one common problem from many of the readers saying:

Whenever I double-click on any drive/folder in My Computer, a Search window opens 

 

This is one of the most annoying problem as per readers, problem as quite clear from the message mentioned above quote.

search window opens on double click

This type of problem normally occurs because some virus called ‘PET32.exe’ , or it can also occur due some other virus which disrupt the windows registry.

 

Lets see how can we fix this problem.

Fix:

 

If search opens when you double click on folder in windows explorer, then see the fix below:

 

We need to repair some registry entry damaged by virus corresponding to windows shell. Follow the steps below:

 

1. Open Start >> Run or press Window Key + r , this will open the run prompt.

2. Type “regedit” ( without quotes ) and press Enter.

3. Navigate to key


HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell

 

4. Double the registry key named Default and set the value to none.

 

This will restore the normal windows explorer behavior of opening a folder when you double click a folder rather than opening windows search.

 

If search opens when you double click on any windows drive, then try this

 

1. Open Start >> Run or press Window key + r

2. Type “regsvr32 /i shell32.dll” ( without quotes ) and press Enter

 

After the command run successfully, you will see a message saying DllRegisterServer and DllInstall in Shell32.dll succeeded.

 

We hope this will help to fix the trouble.

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Tagged as: drive-not-opening-on-double-click

{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }

stratosg July 1, 2008 at 2:26 pm

huh… never happened to me before but this is a very usefull tip! thx…

narendra.s.v July 1, 2008 at 9:23 pm

well i never faced this problem :P but will try if i have :D

Jesse July 9, 2008 at 11:42 am

hi, thanks, i was having trouble when i double clicked my c drive, which only opened search. and the regsvr32 /i shell32.dll that you type in run worked, it got ride of that thing, and now everytime i click on my c drive it goes to the c drive, it doesn’t open search. thanks alot

Rohan July 11, 2008 at 11:01 pm

Thanks a lot i was working on it for the last 2 days

Thakns again

Rohan

steve the wonder cat July 29, 2008 at 7:45 am

Worked like a charm.

After playing around for hours with registry cleaners and crap this worked.

My symptoms were actually the hard drive or folder kept coming up with command prompt when double clicked.. some virus or another.

Wahoo!

PrasadBorra July 30, 2008 at 10:36 am

tanx! fixed my problem

pankaj August 9, 2008 at 10:53 pm

wow works perfect. Thanks so much.

Nick Perla August 19, 2008 at 9:20 am

Thank you. It worked!

sanjay August 20, 2008 at 9:18 pm

dear sir !
i have a some problem in vista os.
my desktop computer included 1gb RAm.Harddisk 180gb.but vista OS running is Slow & can not supported by Antivirus software.pls help me..

Ratan August 29, 2008 at 8:39 am

thanks i was facing this problem..
and now its working fine..
thanks :)

hudaya September 7, 2008 at 1:19 am

I have this problems on several desktop in my office, after do the trick, everything back to normal!

Thanks! :) )

pablo gomez September 17, 2008 at 3:42 am

I’ve had this problem for weeks. Tried all sorts of things.
You solved the problem. Many thanks.

Ravikumar singh September 21, 2008 at 9:43 pm

Thanks it was simple

Thanks a lot the second example is quite effective.

Ruwan Nanayakkara September 22, 2008 at 3:22 am

Yep many thanks.. the second option worked for me…

Fazlumminallah October 8, 2008 at 2:16 am

Thanks problem is solved.

ballu October 12, 2008 at 1:40 am

thx buddy………….it was really very annoying
second option worked
thx

Fahim October 26, 2008 at 10:54 pm

Love you that just solve the problem i was facing from months …thanks buddy…

kishore February 27, 2009 at 11:09 pm

it did not work for me ihave the same prob i tried both option but nothing happnd…. m using vista…. please help….

ironfist March 5, 2009 at 5:24 am

thank you so much sir…..

Hellboy March 31, 2009 at 7:40 am

Boss it’s working thank you so much it is be really long time that i was looking for answer now finally got it.

If search opens when you double click on any windows drive, then try this

1. Open Start >> Run or press Window key + r

2. Type “regsvr32 /i shell32.dll” ( without quotes ) and press Enter

After the command run successfully, you will see a message saying DllRegisterServer and DllInstall in Shell32.dll succeeded.

Srivathsan April 2, 2009 at 8:37 am

thanks solved it…what is the reason behind it…?? i didn’t notice any suspicious process running…i have 3 users in my system…and i installed a few visual styles and and an application (ExeIco)….is this why i ran into this problem…??

xp is annoying April 24, 2009 at 12:47 am

although i work in the IT industry, this problem one of the most annoying i have encountered in recent memory..thank you so much for your help..

tse lieyaa May 2, 2009 at 7:38 am

thank you so much…it helps..i’ve bee facing this problem for months and you just make my life better..hehe :)

futuremenx May 12, 2009 at 11:20 am

Yes! It Work.Great.

aries maligon May 27, 2009 at 11:43 pm

thanks!!you solved my problem!

dheemanth June 26, 2009 at 3:04 am

fantasitc,it works..thanks a lot

sen July 2, 2009 at 1:31 pm

My problem solved n thanks yaar..!!

ram July 12, 2009 at 5:22 am

heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy thanks it works …………thank u so much…….

Chinu August 25, 2009 at 12:08 pm

Thanks a lot for the solution.It worked for me.

shantanu dey September 22, 2009 at 9:57 am

it is the bestest troublshooting web site i have ever seen.i have solved my trouble regarding search in double click within a second with the help of tips from this no1 site,

thanksssssssssssssssssssss

dinesh October 10, 2009 at 6:46 am

Thank you very much

Atul October 15, 2009 at 6:33 am

Thanks, I too had this problem. When I used to click on any drive under “my computer” it used to open up the search window.
I ran the command as suggested and yes :) it solved the problem…

Thanks for the great tip…

Rahul Pandey January 13, 2010 at 12:06 am

thanquuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu sirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr & so happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy that u r Indian.

sivaraman February 7, 2010 at 8:38 pm

very very thahks

Jean-Luc February 13, 2010 at 7:04 am

Thank you so very much! :)

I don’t know what caused the “search” instead of “open” when i double clicked a folder, but your technique worked like a charm and i am happy again. :)

great February 14, 2010 at 7:31 pm

Thanks so much it works for me.

Samantha February 15, 2010 at 5:32 pm

It’s still not back to open but it’s better than search! It’s on explore now and I would gladly trade SEARCH for explore. and I swear I’ll just exit the left browser and It’s technically normal. Thanks so much for the great great tips.

Rajan March 9, 2010 at 5:41 pm

The above solution is very helpful, thank you very much.

Great fix June 7, 2010 at 2:54 am

I never know if Windows update changed a setting or if there’s actually a problem. Wouldn’t have thought of a virus. Thanks!

dave July 6, 2010 at 3:03 pm

Thank you so much ,The second option did the trick.

ahmed b July 18, 2010 at 8:49 am

Thank you so very much

Juicy August 10, 2010 at 3:57 am

Thanks so much , second option worked!

prashanth September 22, 2010 at 6:55 pm

Thanks … boss for the above instruction… Keep up the Good work

dana burhan September 25, 2010 at 11:45 am

thanks very much, some drivers which is not share drive was fixed but still my share drive was not fixed

Peter L November 7, 2010 at 6:50 am

There are a few tips out there… but this one worked first time.
Thanks

vins November 22, 2010 at 6:11 pm

Thanks alotttt..:)

rajat December 10, 2010 at 4:11 pm

this has been proven a very useful trick
thanks a lot.i dont have words to thank u.
thanks a lot

Aditya jois March 26, 2011 at 8:48 pm

wow..problem fixed!! u guys are Genius!!

Satheesh May 6, 2011 at 3:44 pm

Thanks alot it is working……………

bala May 21, 2011 at 1:56 pm

I was not able to open my 1TB HDD, when I double click “OPEN WITH” menu appears. I followed the below process and now this works fine. Thanks for the site.. Dt: 21-may-2011.

1. Open Start >> Run or press Window key + r

2. Type “regsvr32 /i shell32.dll” ( without quotes ) and press Enter

coycoy July 10, 2011 at 8:30 am

awesome! thank you Sir! it works!!!!!!!!

Hritik July 10, 2011 at 5:45 pm

Thanks A Million… It Worked……. :-)

Samrat Brahma July 18, 2011 at 11:58 am

Thank U Very Much. It’s a realy good help

varun August 23, 2011 at 3:26 pm

thx i have that problem

USMAN September 2, 2011 at 8:02 pm

Thnx I have fixed This One.. !! ;)

Subhankar October 16, 2011 at 8:59 pm

Thanks a Lot friend.U saved me from formating my PC.

Rickinator November 11, 2011 at 1:59 pm

it worked right away…thanks!

Latrell J. November 15, 2011 at 10:50 pm

the fix worked well, no problem, but what if it is the pet32 virus? what indications are there?

jatin cenation November 28, 2011 at 5:12 pm

thanks its worked…….

Zaid January 13, 2012 at 10:11 pm

Very goood, thanks

Govind Joshi February 23, 2012 at 8:45 pm

Thank you ………………………….
reraly it helped me…………..
thanks

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