How To Add a Custom Find Utility to the Start Menu

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The first step to registering a custom Find utility is to implement a shell context menu extension that supplies the menu item. The handler's IContextMenu::InvokeCommand() member will be called whenever the user selects the custom Find utility on the Start Menu.

The context menu extension can be registered by adding some information for the handler to the following key in the registry:

    \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
        \Software
            \Microsoft
                \Windows
                    \CurrentVersion
                        \Explorer
                            \FindExtensions
                                \Static
				

Under this key, your program needs to add a key, such as MyFind, for the context menu extension that contains the GUID for the context menu handler. Under MyFind, your program needs to create a second key "0" that contains the text of the menu item you want to include. Finally, under the "0" key, you need to create a third key "DefaultIcon" that contains the name of a .dll file that contains the icon you want displayed on the menu and the index of the icon in that .dll file.

To summarize, you need to add the following under the ..\FindExtensions\Static key in the registry:

    \MyFind = <GUID>
        \0 = <Text for the menu item>
            \DefaultIcon = <path to dll, index of icon in dll>
				

The context menu handler must also be registered normally as documented in the Win32 SDK.