File Explorer says "File not found" searching on *.jpg

Vic Paine 15 Reputation points
2026-03-08T17:29:38.6366667+00:00

Half the files in a Picture folder are *.CR3 (Raw) files, the other half are *.jpg files but Explorer now refuses to recognise *.jpg in the search box and replies "File not found". What on earth is going on? *.(file type) has worked since DOS, what has changed?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage
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Vic Paine 15 Reputation points
2026-03-08T17:48:58.2733333+00:00

Found out that Microsoft had turned indexing on without telling me or adding common file types to the index. Totally unacceptable, it took a lot of restraint to not be abusive about this.

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  1. Thomas4-N 21,315 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-03-09T12:52:37.0333333+00:00

    Hello Vic Paine, welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

    I'm sorry you had to deal with this.

    For anyone else encountering this: File Explorer wildcard searches (like *.jpg) rely on Windows Search indexing even when searching a specific folder. The problem is that indexing can get out of sync—file types get unchecked, folders drop out of indexed locations, or the index corrupts after updates or system changes. When that happens, wildcard searches silently fail with "File not found" even though the files are sitting right there. The search won't fall back to a manual scan, it just fails.

    To fix, open Indexing Options > Advanced > File Types tab, verify jpg and cr3 are checked (or switch to "Index Properties and File Contents"), then rebuild the index.

    Thank you for posting what you found. It'll save others hours of troubleshooting the same issue.

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