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Windows 7: Search indexing is stuck

Windows 7: Search indexing is stuck

When I open Indexing Options, it says:

Asked by: Guest | Views: 280
Total answers/comments: 3
Guest [Entry]

"I think you could be correct when you say that there's a corrupted file that causes it to hang. A crude way of trying to identify the file is to go the files tab and turn off half the files types from being indexed. Let it run. Either it completes or it stops. If it stops, turn off half again. If it completes, you know the bad file type is in the other half. Doing this should allow you to identify the bad file type.

Also, look through the file list that's indexed. File types have different search providers, like HTML, plain text and so on. Are there any that look out of place, that might have been installed by some third party application?

Another idea is let the search hang on the 4,317th file. Then run a command prompt. Type

CD c:\
DIR /s /TA /O-D >c:\newt.txt

This will create a file named newt.txt that will hold all of the files and the last time they were accessed. Accessed, meaning read, not modified. You'll have to search through the file with a file editor but look for the last several files that were modified. If we're in luck, your bad file will be in there. Good luck!"
Guest [Entry]

First things first, try rebuilding your index. Also, exclude from indexing any folders with temporary/uncompleted downloads. Unfinished files are by definition corrupted and could hang the process. Video/audio codecs could also possibly hang if the indexing looks up metadata in them.
Guest [Entry]

"One of the questions asked here was about how to see whether the SearchIndexer.exe is blocked, faulting or hanging, or whether there is still progress. Also, it would be nice to see what file is currently being indexed.

Here's a way to find out.

Microsoft does not readily give you tools for viewing this, the log files created during search, like MSS.log (later copied and changed in other names, and then deleted) are binary files and cannot be read unless with special tools.

Another alternative I tried to find out whether it was hanging on a single file or not was to fie up SysInternal's Process Monitor. I set the filter as follows:

include process SearchProtocolHost.exe (note: not SearchIndexer.exe) ,
include event type File System,
exclude anything on the C:\Windows and C:\ProgramData directories,
and/or include the directories you are actually indexing,
optionally set Operation to ReadFile.
click Apply or OK and then click the Capture button top-left.

The resulting event view gives you all ReadFile operations (and some others) that are currently being read by the Microsoft Search Index service.

It should be a long list of ReadFile operations and the files currently being indexed are in the Path column. The Result column should show SUCCESS (if not, there's your issue) and the Detail column should continuously show a different offset (if not, it is looping, and that is again a possible hint for the cause of your issue)."