Windows Search Index not working

I've recently found, through event viewer, that Search Index is not working. I can't switch it on in services, or re-build the index. I've tried fix it several times and it just tell me the service isn't switched on. I had a disc clean a week or so ago and deleted all but the most recent restore point, so that isn't an option.

The issue seems to have started on 14 June whereby the event view is saying that it has detected corrupted data files and will attempt to rectify the problem by re-building the index.

Event viewer then says it failed to read the registry.

What should the registry entries be?

LevelBest

I would not go mucking around with the registry until you have tried a few suggestions, first.

Your search index may only need to be reset, do you have any experience running troubleshooters?

• Go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Troubleshooting and make sure the box at the bottom is checked, the one that says: Get the most up to date troubleshooters...

• Click on System and Security.

• Do you see Search and Indexing under Windows like I have?

Click on Search and Indexing to start it. When it opens click on the Blue Advanced Word near the bottom left corner. It will open, showing:


You can leave the Apply repairs automatically box checked, but if you want to learn uncheck it, then click on the blue Run as Administrator link and it will go back to the window that only has the Advanced link. Click on the Next button.

When the tool is finished running and you see:


Click on all check boxes to reset search and index and then click on Next to finish the reset.

When finished does the troubleshooter tell you the reset worked or did it fail, it could not be reset?
If it worked go to: Index - Rebuild, but see Related below first.
If it failed take snips of and post any/all error messages and we will have to figure out how to fix it.

If you do not see the search and indexing troubleshooter like I show you can get it here: Fix Windows Desktop Search when it crashes or not showing results It should run close if not exactly as I have shown.


Related:
Those corrupt files you mentioned; It might be good thinking if you ran the a SFC scan even before you tried the troubleshooter 'cause you don't know if they were fixed or not, and if I had a successful reset I would run a SFC scan before I indexed my drive(s) just to be on the safe side or you could wind up back in the same boat as before the reset.

Heed the blue note box at the SFC tutorial about running the SFC scan at least three times or more with restarts in between.

See Note after Option Two step #4:

   Note

• If SFC could not fix something, then run the command again to see if it may be able to the next time. Sometimes it may take running the sfc /scannow command 3 or more times to completely fix everything that it's able to.

Hi LevelBest, you're welcome.

I see you are running a McAfee product, as a test can you shut it down and see if you can then index for search?

First make sure you're not on the internet then, go into the Real-Time scanning settings and turn it off and do the same with the Firewall, then see if you can run the indexer for search.

Hello Anak

I switched off McAfee firewall and scanning, disconnected from the net and tried to re-build the index, run the troubleshooter and switch on via services etc All the error messages are the same as the previous screenshots. I appear to be missing a file option tab on the index facility.

Event viewer is going round in circles saying it's successfully removed the old index and is trying to rebuild a new one.

LevelBest

I would like to go over a few easy suggestions before I bring out a big gun. We've all ready touched on some of these.

If search was running okay even with McAfee on, go ahead and turn McAfee back on; If McAfee was a recent addition or if it had a recent update leave off.

   Note

Please remember to start McAfee back up to go online, and shut off for testing, I wouldn't want you to go online without malware protection.

There are three settings I'd like you to double check:

In Services: Services - Start or Disable


Open Windows Explorer and;


Go to: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features and check:


If any of these three conditions weren't met, correct, and test Indexing.

If these conditions were met, study this tutorial: CLFS transaction logs - Reset And run Method I without using the MS Fix it 50140
If Method I doesn't work then proceed to Method II, hold off on Method III.

I believe those are spaces, but I know from past experience win7 will overlook them in some commands [CMD].

Yes the screen will zip by very fast and it can get scary especially if you have a lot of files in the CMD target, it's kid of a shame you didn't let it finish, doing the system restore was okay though.

If you want, go ahead and run the MS Fix it 50140 When you get there its the 20th down the list: Find and fix problems with Windows Search Clicking on the link will open a download dialog box, save it to your desktop, save and close any open work, then right click on it and run as administrator.
It kind of looks like the troubleshooter you ran earlier but maybe this one's better.

Were you able to find when this started?

Any hints on the "larger problem"? Is it computer related, like on this machine or is it of a personal matter? If personal, I understand.

In your first post, the registry screenshot, where did you find that key? It's not even close to mine.


Do you have a disk, you might want to think about doing a: Repair Install

Do you use Outlook for email? Incomplete search results may occur in Outlook when a PDF iFilter is installed

If you do have a go at running those CMDs again just copy and paste the CMDs from the tutorial on to the CMD line, that should remove the ambiguity.

You should expect that behaviour for each entry, to slow down the quickness of the CMD showing you all the files in a particular folder, add

Code:

dir | more

Code:

attrib *.* | more

or

Code:

dir /p

to the end of the CMD before you execute; These CMDs will pause the showing of files in a folder to one DOS screen's worth if there are more than a screen's worth of files in the folder.
If there are more than a screen's worth there should be a notation to "press any key to continue" to continue to the last file in the folder, if not just tap the space-bar or enter/return key, if it doesn't advance, you've reached the end of that file.

Related:
More - screen display | Windows CMD | SS64.com
How to scroll in MS-DOS or the Windows Command Prompt


If you want to make sure all files are safe you would need to run an Image or Clone Backup of your system. A System restore only backs-up you system and leaves personal files alone.

See: System Restore Point - Create

   Note

These restore points contain information about registry settings and other system information that Windows 7 uses. System Restore points do not include the personal user files.

You will not be able to create a restore point in safe mode since it is not supported.

If you do a System Restore when the computer is in safe mode, then you cannot undo the restore operation. However, you can run System Restore again and choose a different restore point if one exists.

This may be related to your "bigger problem" after everything we've tried to turn on Indexing.

This is old, but Live Mail related to windows search: Using Windows Search to search for Windows Live Mail e-mail will return incomplete results on Windows 7 64-bit Operating Systems

Yes,

the idea that it should populate itself after successfully recreating the index?

One fix is to change the "1" to a "0" restart the machine and test the indexing, since you're already at zero change it to a "1" restart then test indexing, I wouldn't believe it would help but its worth a try.
This may have the affect of a reset if you then go back in and change the "1" back to "0" and test for indexing.
To be prudent, you should: Registry - Backup and Restore

Okay with the mid-April problem.

That's been standard practice to sell a machine without a disk, if ever you want to try a repair there may be a way through an .iso disk, let me know.