How to Search for Contents in Any File Type Without Indexing Service Enabled in Windows Vista and Windows 7

In Windows Vista and Windows 7, there is no built-in way to search for file contents in any file type when the indexing service is disabled. But there's a little-known tool called "findstr.exe" which comes with Windows, and while it's neither pretty nor convenient, it does exactly what we want without the need to install any extra software.


Open the start menu
Click "All programs", click "Accessories", Right-Click "Command prompt" and select "Run as Administrator"
Type the following: findstr /S "content" C:\*.* Where "content" is the content you want to search for. The /S switch will recurse subdirectories. The last parameter, C:\*.*, is a combination of the root search folder and file extension mask you want to use. If you want to search all file types, use *.* as a file mask. If you only want to search text files, you could change this to *.txt.