Peter Jason wrote:
On Mon, 9 Dec 2019 08:38:42 -0700, Ken Blake
wrote:

On 12/9/2019 6:45 AM, slate_leeper wrote:
Windows search has always been problematic on this computer. Through
various updates the problem remained the same: after a reboot
sometimes the search box (Windows key) would simply turn white if any
character was entered. Other times after a reboot it worked just fine.
When it didn't work, it would most often start working again, on it's
own, a few hours or days later.

Now, version 1909: When first installed and after each of two reboots,
the Winkey search worked fine. After rebooting again, now pressing any
character produces a larger black box with what looks like an icon of
a magnifying glass in the center. Any further key presses are simply
ignored. The same non-functioning box is produced by Winkey+S.

Any ideas?

Yes, I have an idea. Stop using Windows search; it's terrible. Instead
download and install both these two free programs: Search Everything and
Agent Ransack. They are much better. Use Search Everything to search for
file names; use Agent Agent Ransack to search for file content.

Alas, the Ransak & the File Locator Pro cannot seem to search on EXIF
parameters. Unless I'm missing something?

What little I could find, seemed to stem around "photo organizers"
as having a search function based on metadata. Adobe Lightroom ?
ACDSEE ?

If you pay money, maybe you get a nice GUI or something.

*******

Windows Search has the information, but only for certain
well-known field types, not all field types.

This powershell script calls Windows Search and
lists all the image files that have a listed width
field and height field. You can specify in the SELECT
statement, what fields to place in the output.

Microsoft has a much more elaborate Powershell script I
could find, but... it didn't work. No output.

**************** Helper script "query.ps1" ********************
# Invocation:
# powershell -executionpolicy bypass -file query.ps1 -TREEDIR "'C:\'"
# Output: query.csv

param([string]$TREEDIR="'C:\'")

$sql = "SELECT System.ItemFolderPathDisplay, `
System.ItemName, `
System.Image.HorizontalSize, `
System.Image.VerticalSize FROM SYSTEMINDEX `
WHERE System.Image.HorizontalSize0 AND `
System.Image.VerticalSize0 AND `
SCOPE=$TREEDIR"

$provider = "provider=search.collatordso;extended properties=’application=windows’;"
$connector = new-object system.data.oledb.oledbdataadapter -argument $sql, $provider
$dataset = new-object system.data.dataset
if ($connector.fill($dataset)) { $dataset.tables[0] | Export-CSV query.csv }
**************** end of Helper script "query.ps1" **************

The output looks like this:

"C:\Users\user name\Downloads\JPG2","04.jpg","500","375"

Which implies you could ask for other fields to be included.
Checking for sizes, is partially a means of determining
a file has metadata in it. If you had a JPG with no metadata
in the file, it probably would not end up in the output.

My digital camera photos would all be in the output listing.
A file from GIMP, not always.

It's a clumsy way to find stuff, but it does have the
benefit of finding 50,000 files in three and a half seconds.
Which is a bit faster than Agent Ransack.

Here is a picture of me editing the query.ps1 and adding
an additional field to the output.

https://i.postimg.cc/YqL36wJL/query-...using-exif.gif

The names of the fields are listed here. System.Photo.ExposureTime
is an example of a full name.

#https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...ocument-bumper
$SystemPrefix = "System."
$SystemFields = "ItemName|ItemUrl|FileExtension|FileName|FileAttri butes|
FileOwner|ItemType|ItemTypeText|KindText|Kind|MIME Type|
Size|DateModified|DateAccessed|DateImported|DateAc quired|
DateCreated|Author|Company|Copyright|Subject|Title |Keywords|
Comment|SoftwareUsed|Rating|RatingText|Application Name|ItemPathDisplay"
$PhotoPrefix = "System.Photo."
$PhotoFields = "fNumber|ExposureTime|FocalLength|IsoSpeed|PeopleN ames|
DateTaken|Cameramodel|Cameramanufacturer|orientati on"
#https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...s/photo-bumper
$ImagePrefix = "System.Image."
$ImageFields = "Dimensions|HorizontalSize|VerticalSize"
#https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...s/image-bumper
$MusicPrefix = "System.Music."
$MusicFields = "AlbumArtist|AlbumID|AlbumTitle|Artist|BeatsPerMin ute|
Composer|Conductor|DisplayArtist|Genre|PartOfSet|T rackNumber"
#https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...s/music-bumper
$AudioPrefix = "System.Audio."
$AudioFields = "ChannelCount|EncodingBitrate|PeakValue|SampleRate |SampleSize"
$MediaPrefix = "System.Media."
$MediaFields = "Duration|Year"
$RecordedTVPrefix = "System.RecordedTV."
$RecordedTVFields = "ChannelNumber|EpisodeName|OriginalBroadcastDa te|
ProgramDescription|RecordingTime|StationName" [Defunct MediaCenter???]
$SearchPrefix = "System.Search."
$SearchFields = "AutoSummary|HitCount|Rank|Store"
#https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win.../search-bumper

This is of course, not what you wanted, but is intended
to show how much info a fully-indexed partition might have.

HTH,
Paul