Results.aspx Page Layout Broken

Question

I have deployed a custom branding project as a Feature, to a SharePoint 2010 Publishing site (Intranet) - just some stylistic tweaks and a custom master page. When I perform a search and land on the OSSSearchResults.aspx page, there is a "Try searching again in all sites" link which leads to Search/Results.aspx page. This page's layout is broken, and it looks like there are no CSS files referenced from it.

My plan is to remove the link from OSSSearchResults.aspx but I'm not sure how to proceed. I've heard said that application pages (in the _layouts directory) "cannot be customized"...

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Answer 1

To remove the link break the connection to the Search Center

Step by step:

1. Select Site Actions | Site Settings
2. In Site Collection Administration click Search Settings
3. In Site Collection Search Center select Do not use custom scopes. ...
4. OK

Answer 2

Correct, you shouldn't modify SharePoint files in the _layouts folder. In your master page, you could add some CSS that targets that link and hides. Use a web inspector (like the IE Developer Toolbar) to identify the CSS class or ID that you could target to hide that link.