You're joking? Right? Windows 7 file/folder search is, at least, the most useless bit of an underdeveloped search parameter engine since windows 3.1. Delete Nero and remove the shrapnel with windows 7? Absolutely never. Same with Adobe, Windows Live etc etc etc. YOU WILL NOT FIND ANY C**P WITH WINDOWS 7 SEARCH.

You reckon XP search was useless? XP is probably the best and easiest and fullest configurable data searcher ever.

Thank God I have Windows XP and Windows 7 on different hard drives so I can use XP to search the Windows 7 drive for what I need to find.

That means you can tell Windows 7/8/10 to index and return results from files and folder on network drives or external hard drives. To get started, click on Start, then type in search into the search box. This will bring up the Indexing Options dialog. In Windows 10, you’ll click on Change how Windows searches.

I don't believe that there is a command line for this. The trick I have used is to fool Windows into thinking that the Search Setup didn't finish correctly, thereby forcing the index to restart / rebuild on the next reboot. You can do this from your desk by remote connecting the the registry of the problem machine.

Change the following reg key to '0' as a value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows Search SetupCompletedSuccessfully

Windows 7 Restore Indexing Defaults

NOTE: This will RESET EVERYTHING including any customization to your indexing settings. If you are only using the default settings, then this should work.