Index - Enable or Disable

How to Enable or Disable Search Index in Vista and Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to Enable or Disable the Search Index. You may want to disable it to get more accurate search results, or to stop your hard drive from running so much.


The Index keeps track of the files on your computer and stores information about the files, including the file name, date modified, and properties like author, tags, and rating. The index is used to make searching for files in Vista much faster. Instead of looking through your entire hard disk for a file name or file property, Vista scans the index, which allows most results to appear in a small fraction of the time that a search without the index would take.

   Note

The Index will run slowly in the background during low or idle computer usage to keep itself updated and current from the changes you make to the files from the locations that you have listed in the index. If you do a lot of changes in these indexed locations, then your search results will not always be accurate until the index has finished updating itself. This can cause the hard drive to run a lot, especially for the first week or so after installing Vista. If you do not do a lot of searches or need very accurate search results, then disable the index to allow Vista to default to using the full non-index search of the drive. The searches will take a bit longer since it is a non-indexed search, but it will cut down on the hard drive running as much and will give accurate search results.

   Warning

• Disabling the index may also impact some Microsoft programs, like MS Office Outlook or Windows Media Player, that use the Index when they search.
• Disabling the index in Windows 7 will cause you to no longer be able to do searches in Libraries. To be able to search in libraries, the Windows Search service needs to be Started and set to Automatic. Libraries require it's included folders to also be added to the index to be tracked properly even though they will still open properly.
• Disabling the index in Windows 7 will cause you to no longer be able to use Arrange by in Libraries.

EXAMPLE: Index Enabled and Disabled

​

​

​

​

OPTION ONE

Disable or Enable the Index "Windows Search" Service

NOTE: This will enable or disable the Index for Windows completely. It will not affect the regular non-indexed search feature in Windows.

1. Open the Start Menu, then type services in the search box and press Enter.​

​

2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Continue (Vista) or Yes (Windows 7).​

​

3. Scroll down and right click on Windows Search, then click on Properties. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

4. To Disable the Index​

A) Click on the Stop button. (see screenshot below step 6)​

​

B) Next to Startup type, click on the drop down menu arrow and click on Disable.​

​

C) Click on Apply.​

​

D) Go to step 6.​

​

5. To Enable the Index​

A) Next to Startup type:, click the drop down menu arrow and click on Automatic. (See screenshot below step 6)​

​

B) Click on Apply.​

​

C) Click on the Start button.​

NOTE: If the Windows Search service will not start, then leave it set to Automatic and see: How to Fix the Start Error For Windows Search Service to Enable the Index​

​

6. Click on OK.​

​

​

7. Close the Service window.​

​

OPTION TWO

Enable or Disable Index for a Specific Drive

NOTE: This will only enable or disable the Index for the drive you selected.

1. Open the Start Menu.​

​

2. Click on the Computer button on the right dark side.​

​

3. Right click on the hard drive that you want to enable or disable Index on, and click on Properties.​

​

4. To Disable the Index​

A) Uncheck the Index this drive for faster searching box. (see screenshot below step 6)​

​

B) Go to step 6.​

​

5. To Enable the Index​

A) Check the Index this drive for faster searching box. (see screenshot below step 6)​

NOTE: Step 5 in the OPTION ONE section above will need to be set to enabled for this to work to.​

​

6. Click on Apply.​

​

​

7. Select (dot) Apply changes to drive, subfolders, and files. (see screenshot below)​

​

8. Click on OK.​

​

​

9. Click on Continue in the Access Denied window. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

10. Click on the Ignore All button for the Error Applying Attributes window. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: Vista does not like any attempt to mess with the boot files. This is why you get this error and should select ignore all to skip changing these files.​

​

​

11. This may take a while to finish depending on the size of your hard drive, so sit back, kick the feet up and relax a bit.​

​

12. When finished, click on OK to close drive properties window. (see screenshot below step 6)​

​

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Open and Change Search Options in Vista
• How to Use the Indexing Options in Vista
• How to Fix the Start Error For Windows Search Service to Enable the Index in Vista
• How to Add or Remove the Internet Explorer Search Box in Vista
• How to Use Advanced Search Options in Vista
• How to Create a Search Desktop Shortcut on Vista
• How to Use the Find Window to Find Text on a Page
• How to Restore the Search Context Menu Item after Installing the Vista SP1
• How to Restore the Start Menu Search Button after Installing the Vista SP1
• How to Use the Advanced Query Language to Improve Windows Search Results
• How to Have More Accurate Search Results in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Enable or Disable Search "Indexer Backoff" in Windows 7

 

[Configure1]

Brink,

[Hi should I go and try to un-do the long-churn removal of indexing from "Subfolders and Files" in VISTA?]

I bought my first Vista computer and am just learning the subtle XP-to-Vista differences. I do NOT do frequent searching. Indexing was turned off on my XP unit.

I opened my new VISTA laptop last night and rushed the non-indexing configurations ('cause it was 2:30 AM) and ended up doing ALL THREE THINGS before finding this discussion.

I did all three:

- (1) turned off Vista indexing SERVICE
- (2) unchecked Indexing property on the c:\ drive
- (3) BUT ALSO: applied the above to all "Subfolders and Files"

After a long 15-20 minutes of system churn while Vista was applying the no-indexing function to thousands and thousands of Subfolders and Files, I started wondering, "Woah, why did I need to do this? Is this necessary when the "master check box" for the drive might have fully deactivated this anyway - (or not)?"

Can you please give me your opinion as to whether I should just leave things as they are -- with indexing removed at the deep subfolders/files level -- or should I go BACK and tell VISTA to reconfigure/reapply the setting to "Subfolders and Files" ?

That way, (1) and (2) would remain as above but I would be trying to undo the long-churn attribute removal from "Subfolders and Files. Would this be a better configuration so indexing may be turned on immediately at any time it might be wanted in future?

I like things to be set correctly while the computer is new and unloaded with lots of extra stuff (apart from the bloatware).

Should I do the re-churn to un-do (3) above?

Thanks in advance for advising,
Configure1

 

[Brink]

Hello Configure1, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If you do not plan on using the Index for searches, then you are fine with what you have done. If you decide to use the Index in the future, then you will just need to reverse all 3 again.

No worries

Shawn

 

[rightinthetrash]

I'm posting here because your site seems the most knowledgeable, readable and civil of the others I've recently encountered.

Intro: I'm here of course because I'm the proud owner of a new machine that has required me to reluctantly migrate to Vista. Attempting to translate XP's functionality to Vista appears to be a mistaken strategy. What had seemed straight forward before in the 'XP world' has become a puzzling hunt for rationality in Vista. I'm not a novice, I've done my time in an IT cubical so I found this very humbling. Yet I'm open to change and I understand the designers are moving to a new UI paradigm. I've lived long enough to experience all the migrations starting from 'card decks' and learned that with any alien assimilation, 'B*tching is Futile'. ( I do wonder how the less technologically inclined navigate this maze. Perhaps if you just email, FaceBook and YouTube you're insulated from these more nuts and bolts issues)

That said, I've found this site particularly useful in the 'hunt' and I would like to pass on some home grown experience from my struggles to understand Vista's "Indexed and Non-Indexed Searches". Hopefully others have had similar questions and this will be of benefit. Perhaps I'm stating what's obvious to others but for me it was not.

Three things I've learned about Vista's Indexing and Non-Indexing Searches:

1. Files that are indexed that you delete or move may still show up in a search window for a while. Because the Indexed Search is based on a ever running background process that tries it's best to keep pace with reality, things that happen in real time are not always reflected in search results. These phantom deleted or moved indexed files will ONLY show up in the search results window, NOT the actual location directory where they were deleted from. The larger the number of indexed search folders and files the more apparent it becomes. ( I was actually relieved when I found this out because I had feared I had some virus or corrupted file system )

2. 'Start' Button Search using 'Search Everywhere' defaults to a 'Search Everywhere That You Have Created Indexes'. ( FRIDU* )

If you notice the search window that opens after you press 'Search Everywhere it has in it's address window '> Search Results in Indexed Locations'. If your search request is a non-indexed file it will say "No items match your search'.

Even If you click the 'Advanced Search' button and only check the 'Include non-indexed, hidden and system files ( might be slow )' box you're still in 'Indexed Locations'. ( FRIDU* )

Non-indexed files will stay at "No items match your search', until you explicitly open the 'Advance Search' pane and in it's 'Location' window drop down you select 'Everything'.


If you want to follow an exercise it might help if you're still lost:

Create a non-indexed folder C:\foobar and create a file ( File2Find.txt ) with Notepad and save it there.

Use the 'Start' Button Search and type 'File2Find.txt' ( Extra Credit: open a Task Manager window before if you want to see how much CPU the 'Start Button Search option demands)

If you're lucky you'll receive a 'No items match your search' message quickly otherwise it chugs with a 'Searching' message for a loooong time if you're willing to wait.. Of course we're in a hurry so we click on the 'Search Everywhere' option.

This will open a search window with 'File2Find.txt' in the search value slot. This screen will display 'No items match your search'. This is because it hasn't done any 'Search Everywhere' searching yet.

Expand the Advanced Search pane by clicking on the 'Advanced Search' button. If you look at the 'Location' drop down its defaulted to 'Indexed Locations'

Now ONLY click on 'Non-Indexed files .... ' check box and click the 'Search' button, you will still get the message 'No items match your search'. This is because as I've said before you're still in 'Indexed Locations'. ( FRIDU* )

If you click on the 'Location' drop down arrow, the options of 'Everything, Index Locations, Computer, Local Drive C:.. etc. will appear. You have to click on either 'Everything', 'Computer', 'Local Drive C:' or 'Hard Drive C' options or 'Choose' to actually find this file.

ALSO if you click on the 'Desktop' folder icon in the navigation pane, this will not search all the folders below. Notice, when you highlight it in the navigation pane, the 'Location' window will return to the 'Index Locations' default. ( FRIDU* ) You have to tell it again you want 'Everything' in the Location window.

*3. 'Start' Button Search uses a huge CPU resource (95+% ) and pegs it longer then a WinKEY-F search window. A 'Start' search will ramp up to 95+ of CPU for the 'explorer' process the moment you start entering 3 or more characters in the search field. The the process stays pegged at 90-95+% regardless of whether you wait for a response or bale immediately from the search (click anywhere outside the Start window) this will remain for a minute or so. If it's a non-indexed file or one that doesn't exist it will stay pegged at 95+% for a while then drop down to 50% till it has completely checked every file/folder.

WinKEY-F will open a search window with an Advanced Search button. A search that's started here seems to peg at 50% and stay there. If you bale it releases the resources immediately.

If you haven't already Open Task Manger, sort on CPU and repeat the example to see.

Conclusion:

Not feeling particularly confident about index search results that vary, I intend to effectively bypass the index function by creating a small folder with one file that will be my index pool. This way at least some of the annoying messages about not having indexes will cease to appear. I found you still get allot more annoying 'hints' if you only disable the 'Windows Search' service or you just remove all the indexed folders under Indexing Options from the Control Panel. The good new is it would appear some system files have permanent indexes ( ex: netsh, ipconfig, cmd, msconfig) and the 'Start' Button search can still find these and have some use but it still holds your CPU hostage for a minute afterward.

I'll do most of my searches requiring absolute certainty with WinKEY-F option, clicking on any Icon below 'Desktop' in the Navigation tree to make sure I avoid the Index Location default.

Of course no one intends to write this much when they get the idea to contribute but I found out new stuff as I wrote down observations. I did my best to verify the stuff I mentioned, feel free to reveal discrepencies otherswise. Its very possible with Vista that my observations are merely isolated incidents that only occur in my little world. If it were only that simple. : )


* for reasons I don't understand


HP Pavilion dv7-1285dx notebook PC
Intel core Duo CPU p8600@ 2.GHz 240 GHz
6GB ram
ATA 500g Drive 5400rpm
Premium 64bit SP1

 

[Brink]

Thank you for sharing your results Rightinthetrash, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

 

[Configure1]

Brink (Shawn),

A belated thank you to you for your reply. Thanks also to rightinthetrash for great supplementary observations on the indexing function.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Configure1.

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

 

[paleolith]

I've been trying to get indexing turned off on the external HD that I use for backups. I don't want to disable indexing entirely. I wouldn't even care much about indexing the external HD, but it appears that the indexer is crashing the machine after the backup completes, either locking it up (no response, hard power off required) or blue-screening. It seems like the large number of file change notifications ferret out some high-activity bug in the indexing service. At first I thought the backup itself (using Vice Versa Pro) was causing the problem, though that seemed unlikely since it uses standard Windows functions to copy, move, and delete files. Last night I finally discovered that the backup had fully completed before the problem occurred.

I went through option two -- disabling "index this drive". I had tried it before; what the tutorial added was to "ignore all" when the "error applying attributes" occurred. This time I knew to let it go, and it did.

But when I look at properties on the external HD, it still shows indexing enabled. When I try to disable it, even with "apply to drive only", I get the "error applying attributes". Furthermore, it does not appear that the attribute got changed on ANY folders or files -- I took a pseudo-random selection of folders and files deep in the file tree, and "index this folder/file" was enabled on every one.

I tried again with the search service stopped (just a stab in the dark) but got the same result.

Any clues as to why I cannot set the attribute?

Vista Business x64, all updates installed, run a lot of applications but little or nothing modifying the system. No AV software in use.

Edward

 

[Brink]

Hello Edward, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might also double check to make sure that the external HD's letter and it's subfolders are unchecked in the index location list using OPTION ONE in the tutorial below. If everything for that external HD is unchecked, then it will not be included in the index.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/69581-indexing-options.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[paleolith]

OK, thanks. Everything is unchecked there, and I think it was unchecked before. (I was tired last night when I was rebooting after the crash, but I'm pretty sure I found nothing needing changing in the Indexing Options.)

So probably I'm barking up the wrong tree, unless perhaps the indexing service is choking on the change notifications even though none of them are for indexed locations.

Edward

 

[Brink]

No problem. I hope that you find a solution to your problem.

 

[jules2u]

will this delete the history in the search box thats at the bottom left hand corner? when i search all the websites ive been on come up when i type. i'd like to delete them. no one needs to know my business. thanx, jules2u

 

[Brink]

Hello Jules, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Sorry, but no. It will only disable or enable searching with the Index.

To remove your website history you will need to delete the Internet Explorer Browsing History instead. A great free program to remove all stuff like this is CCleaner. You might try it to see how you like it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[paleolith]

Just to follow up on my posting from three months ago ... it's now clear that indexing is NOT my problem. The problem seems to be in Vice Versa Pro, though we haven't track it down in detail. But indexing seems to be unrelated.

Edward

 

[Brink]

Edward,

I'm happy to hear that you were able to track down the source of your problem. Thank you for posting back and sharing your results.

 

[jules2u]

thanks guys, and thanks for the welcome. I'll try the cc cleaner. i was just hoping to somehow remove it manually. im not good at finding your thread, but this is a grat place to come to for vista and all its headaches. plus i love the tips. jules

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Jules.

 

[StijnDeWitt]

Hi Brink,

I am not sure if anyone already mentioned this (i must admit I skipped reading some of the comments), but you may want to add this third option:

Disable indexing for a certain folder

• Use Windows Explorer to browse to the folder you want to disable indexing for
• Right-click so the context menu appears
• Select 'Properties'
• In the dialog that appears, select the 'General' tab
• Click on the button 'Advanced', a new dialog appears
• Uncheck the box marked 'Index this folder for quicker searches'
• Click button 'Ok'
• Windows asks if changes should be applied to the current folder only, or to the current folder and all files and folders contained within it (recursive). Choose the recursive option and press 'Ok'
• This may take a while, patience...
• Ok all open dialogs.

Now indexing is disabled for just that folder. This way you can still use indexing in Outlook etc, while disabling it for some folders that you find yourself searching often.

Of course, none of this would be necessary if Microsoft would just be smart enough to *combine* both search methods to give you some results quickly, while still doing an exhaustive search in the background so results would always be accurate. A well maybe in Windows 2020.

Oh I forgot to mention: I am on a dutch version of Windows and translated the labels and button captions back to English myself, so they could be slightly off. Don't worry about that, you should still be able to find the intended options (unless my English is a lot worse than I think)

 

[mharris672]

I've had indexing disabled on every computer utilized (except maybe the newest one with Windows 7). I have got to 'get rid of' those annoying messages: "Your search may be running slower because indexing is turned-off" etc.

I'm not turning indexing back on (or at least that's the current plan). There's got to be some Registry key or some way to just 'disable' those stupid messages (i.e. pop-up bars, etc.).

Any help from the pool of knowledge will be greatly appreciated.

Thx.

Mike


Forgot to say I'm trying to disable the message bars on a machine with Vista Home Premium SP2 64-bit.

 

[ICit2lol]

Hello Shawn before I advise someone with a USB external drive problem which Seagate is telling her to turn off the indexing is this the tutorial we need.

John

 

[Brink]

Hello John,

Sure. They could use OPTION TWO to turn off indexing for that specific drive.