SharePoint 2010 Search returns results only for the current subsite

By default in SharePoint 2010, if you are using the search box on the top right hand side of a SharePoint 2010 sub-site, only search results for that sub-site are returned. If you want the search results to be returned based on the whole site collection, follow these steps:

On the top level site (Site Collection) click on:

1. Site Actions
2. Site Settings
3. Under Site Collection Administration, click on “Search Settings”
4. In the “Site Collection Search Dropdown mode”, select “Do not show scopes drop down, and default to the target results page”
5. Click OK

When you now search from any site within the site collection, the results will be based on the whole site collection.