findstr ms-dos command won't search sub directories

Question

I had to switch off my windows search indexing in Windows 7 as the old hard disk was constantly making noise with indexing switched on!

Now I want to use Windows

Answer 1

You need to put /S at the beginning, i.e.:

findstr /S "thesis" *.tex

From the built in help:

C:\>findstr /?
Searches for strings in files.

FINDSTR [/B] [/E] [/L] [/R] [/S] [/I] [/X] [/V] [/N] [/M] [/O] [/P] [/F:file]
        [/C:string] [/G:file] [/D:dir list] [/A:color attributes] [/OFF[LINE]]
        strings [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]

Your modifiers/switches, whatever they are called, need to come before your pattern/string

Answer 2

You have your arguments in the wrong order, try this:

findstr /S "thesis" *.tex