In Part 1 of our Haystack series, we looked at two ways to search TechNet and the Azure App, Group Policy Search. Today, we are going to cover a way to improve the Group Policy Search service and to make it accessible in Windows Explorer.
Searching in Explorer
If you haven’t, head on over to GPSearch. Select the Misc tab and then select the Add Search Connector option. When prompted to download the ZIP file, select Open. Double click on the Group PolicySearch file and select add.
You’ll notice that a favorite has now been added in Windows Explorer. To search, select the Group Policy Search button and just type what you are looking for.
So did you try searching? Got an error? Me too…
It turns out that Microsoft hasn’t updated their search connector. Right now, the search connector is pointing to GPS.CloudApp.Net instead of the new domain name. Now open your Search folder. By default, this folder is at %USERPROFILE%\Searches\. Find the Group Policy Search connector, right click and select Open with. Then open the connector in Notepad. Either find the old domain references and update them to the new domain or copy this code and paste it into the connector. Be sure to save the connector (in Notepad) after updating.
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<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<searchConnectorDescription xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/searchConnector”>
<description>Search the Group Policy Search for matching Policies/Keys/etc</description>
<isSearchOnlyItem>true</isSearchOnlyItem>
<domain>http://gpsearch.azurewebsites.net</domain>
<supportsAdvancedQuerySyntax>false</supportsAdvancedQuerySyntax>
<templateInfo>
<folderType>{8FAF9629-1980-46FF-8023-9DCEAB9C3EE3}</folderType>
</templateInfo>
<locationProvider clsid=”{48E277F6-4E74-4cd6-BA6F-FA4F42898223}”>
<propertyBag>
<property name=”LinkIsFilePath” type=”boolean”><![CDATA[true]]></property>
<property name=”OpenSearchShortName”><![CDATA[Group Policy Search]]></property>
<property name=”OpenSearchQueryTemplate”><![CDATA[http://gpsearch.azurewebsites.net/gps/rss.ashx?search={searchTerms}]]></property>
<property name=”MaximumResultCount” type=”uint32″><![CDATA[100]]></property>
</propertyBag>
</locationProvider>
</searchConnectorDescription>
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If you try searching again, your search will populate! As an example, try searching for Verbose:
To read our final post in the search series, click here.