start .net application from start menu search

Question

bla.exe (application alias) points to a .net application called wpfapp1.exe. When i add a key&value to eg. this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\bla.exe and then start application using Run -> bla.exe it starts however when i start application using windows search i get an "windows cannot find wpfapp1.exe. make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again."

I have successfully identified problem: this error only occurs to .net applications while native one start normally (eg. firefox.exe).

So is there any .net config that i've missed during development?

Answer 1

From MSDN:

The App Paths key is not used when computing the DLL search path.

Maybe you're missing some dependent DLL...

Answer 2

I don't really understand your "points to" or if Windows search is specific to using the explorer search or using the start menu search.

I've had a similar problem with another application that the search could not find at all, neither in Explorer or Start menu (since it did not have an indexed folder to locate it) and solved it with a simple shortcut.

If you can create a shortcut of your application in your start menu or some other indexed folder, like a %PATH% folder, Windows search should be able to pick it up and then you can name your shortcut to whatever you want, for instance bla.exe.