Last week a co worker of mine who wanted to remain anonymous, ran into the weirdest problem. She tried to use the “find in files” option in Visual Studio 2005 and even though the searched expression was out there in one of the files, she got the following result: “No files were found to look in. Find was stopped in progress.”
You can close Visual Studio, restart your computer or jump three times on one leg, but the problem remains. This is a very strange and odd bug, but fortunately there is a solution: press Ctrl+Scroll Lock and everything gets back to normal. If it doesn’t work, try to press Scroll Lock and than hit Ctrl+Scroll Lock again. I have no idea why or how it works, but the fact is that it does solve the problem, if anyone knows what happened here, please leave your comment and share your knowledge with us.
This is one of my shortest posts ever, but it might turn out to be very useful at harsh times…
Write for us!
We pay for user submitted tutorials and articles that we publish. Anyone can send in a contribution
Learn More
Shankar Maru Said on Sep 4, 2008 :
thanks man, I was having this problem for a while…..thanks a lot
PHenry Said on Sep 4, 2008 :
I too have ran SMACK head first into this problem too! And the CTRL+ScrollLock works (sometimes takes one or two smack backs to get it to convince VS to work properly but it does work). Why? I have NO idea neither but would be very interested to read WTF?
tom Said on Sep 18, 2008 :
My visual studio seems to crash when i do crtl+f
no reason why
Random Said on Nov 4, 2008 :
Thanks! That did the trick. Oh Microsoft, thanks for this POS.
Fer Fig Said on Nov 6, 2008 :
Thanks! solved the “problem” for me too…
This is weird one!!!
J Said on Nov 10, 2008 :
Funny, I’ve been using VS2005 for years now and never had this problem… until just a few minutes ago! Luckily a quick question to Dr. Google pointed me to the answer here (and to a couple of dozen other sites!) Curious that the “problem” has been around since at least 2005 and yet nobody has yet been able to say *why* it happens…
Dashut Said on Nov 24, 2008 :
Pressing: Pause/break button (near the Scroll Lock button) solved it for me…
Jagadhees Said on Nov 25, 2008 :
Thanks a lot.
sri Said on Dec 4, 2008 :
Thank you a lot. It just works. The search is too important.
Chad Said on Dec 18, 2008 :
Control + Scroll Lock didn’t work for me this time. I think it did on prior occasions. This time, Hitting Pause 10xs in fast succession why I cursed Bill Gates loudly fixed the problem. Yes, I hold the ex CEO personally responsible for this longtime bug
Ashesh Deep Said on Feb 4, 2009 :
Thanks dude. It really solved my problem. I saved my time.
Miguel Said on Feb 6, 2009 :
Amazing tip. Worked for me. Thanks a lot!
paul woods Said on Feb 6, 2009 :
Amazing - the Pause/Break button worked for me.
Thanks for the help
Reva Said on Feb 26, 2009 :
Thanks a lot. Ctrl + ScrLk worked for me.
Homsa Said on Mar 15, 2009 :
Thanks a lot ! Pause/Breake worked fine for me too!
/Homsa
Jonathan Said on Mar 17, 2009 :
Dashut’s suggestion of pause/break worked for me, the ctrl-scroll lock / scroll didn’t. Maybe this tip should be added to the article? Thanks!
Paul Said on Mar 30, 2009 :
I just encountered this for the first time this morning. Bizarre problem and an equally bizarre solution. Thanks!
Soshan Said on Apr 5, 2009 :
Ctrl + Pause Break worked for me.
Ctrl + Scroll Lock didnt!
Neo Said on Apr 9, 2009 :
Hey ctrl + Scroll aslo work for me cheers!!
Neo
Neo Said on Apr 9, 2009 :
oh I forgotut to add the ver don’t surprise itz VS 2008
That’s not good
Fitzroy Said on May 20, 2009 :
This problem annoyed me a lot in the past and I could never remember what I did to fix it. Your tip is the answer - thanks a lot
Sheetal Said on May 21, 2009 :
Thanks ….for the post !!!!
dashesy Said on Jun 2, 2009 :
thnx man it worked!!! I hate the fact that I have to use crappy Microsoft products, Eclipse is far superior with Alt+Ctrl+G.
I think the bug appeared first when I stopped a build (using ctrl+break).