Starting from Windows 11:
<SYSTEMDRIVE>:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.db
<SYSTEMDRIVE>:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows-gather.db

Windows 7 to Windows 10:
<SYSTEMDRIVE>:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb

Windows XP:
<SYSTEMDRIVE>:\Documents and Settings\All user\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Application\Windows\Windows.edb

Overview

The Windows Search database provides an index to the Windows Search feature to improve search speed by indexing content. The Windows Search index is used for searches made through Windows taskbar, the Windows Explorer, and some Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications (such as Outlook, OneDrive, etc.).

By default, only a subset of folders and files are indexed (to reduce the Windows Search database size and CPU usage). The folders scanned and number of items indexed can be consulted in the “Windows search settings” menu.

Information of interest

By default, only items from the following sources are scanned and indexed:

  • Files and folders from the Users folders.

    • Data available: file name, path, size, attributes, MAC timestamps. For small file, part of the content of the file may be indexed as well.

  • Outlook mail data (with timestamp of reception, possible mail content).

  • OneNote notes title.

  • Internet Explorer history (URLs, timestamp of last visit).

Tool(s)

References

Tags: windows_file_knowledge windows_browsing_history

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