How to Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index (2024)


By Timothy Tibbetts

Windows 10 keeps an index of all your searches so that you can get the fastest search results. If you find that you're getting slow, missing, or incorrect results, then it might be time to delete and rebuild your search index.

1: Delete and Rebuild from Indexing Options

Press the Windows Key + S and type in indexing and click on Indexing Options. Click on Advanced.

How to Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index (1)

Under Troubleshooting, click on Rebuild.

You will be notified that "Rebuilding the index might take a long time to complete. Some views and search results might be incomplete until rebuilding is finished."

How to Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index (2)

1: Run Search and Indexing Troubleshooter

The troubleshooters in Windows 10 include fixes for every known problem and are a great place to start. The most significant advantage of running the troubleshooter is that you don't have to guess.

Click on Start > Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot.

Scroll on the right and click on Search and Indexing and then click on Run the troubleshooter.

How to Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index (3)

Click on any of the problems you're experiencing and click on Next. If you're not sure, we will use Search, or indexing is slowing down the computer.

How to Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index (4)

3: Run a Batch File

If the steps above didn't work for some reason or want to kick it old school, we could always run a batch (bat) file.

Copy and paste the following code in Notepad and save it as Reset_and_Rebuild_Search_Index.bat. Be sure you can view hidden files or folders, or your file will be saved as .txt and open in Notepad. Save, right-click and run as administrator.

Reset_and_Rebuild_Search_Index.bat

If you'd prefer not to create your batch file, we have made Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index available for download.

@echo off
net stop wsearch
REG ADD "HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows Search" /v SetupCompletedSuccessfully /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
del "%ProgramData%MicrosoftSearchDataApplicationsWindowsWindows.edb"
:wsearch
net start wsearch
IF NOT %ERRORLEVEL%==0 (goto :wsearch) ELSE goto :END
:END

If you receive an error code 5, you need to Run as Administrator.

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  • How to Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index (2024)

    FAQs

    How to Delete and Rebuild the Windows 10 & 11 Search Index? ›

    1: Delete and Rebuild from Indexing Options

    How do I reset and rebuild the search index in Windows 11? ›

    To make sure that the index reflects your changes, select Settings > Search > Searching Windows > Advanced Search Indexer Settings > Advanced > Rebuild.

    How do I delete the search index in Windows 10? ›

    You can have Windows delete and rebuild the search index via "Indexing Options" in the Windows "Control Panel":
    1. Open Control Panel and click on the Indexing Options icon. or: WIN + R then type control.exe srchadmin.dll and click OK.
    2. Click on the Advanced button.
    3. Click the Rebuild buton.
    Mar 2, 2023

    How do I fix Windows Search Indexer? ›

    Step 1: Go to Settings in Start and click on Update & Security. Step 2: In the Troubleshoot tab from the left menu, click on Additional troubleshooters. Step 3: Scroll down and choose Search and Indexing and then Run the troubleshooter.

    How do I reset the Windows 10 search bar? ›

    Restart the Windows Search service:
    1. Press Windows key + R.
    2. Type "services.msc" and press Enter.
    3. Scroll down to find the "Windows Search" service.
    4. Right-click on it and select "Restart"
    May 13, 2023

    How do I repair Windows 11 search? ›

    From Settings (WIN+i), go to Privacy & security > Searching Windows, and then select Advanced indexing options at the bottom, followed by Advanced > Rebuild > OK.

    What does rebuilding the search index do? ›

    You can rebuild the search catalog, which restarts the indexing of your data files. The search catalog is a file where all of your Outlook and Microsoft Windows items (data files) are indexed.

    How long does an index rebuild take? ›

    The rebuild times usually should last less than 10 minutes, but depends on the database size. The index rebuild is atomic operation that is not considered a data corruption threat. When you create or rebuild an index, you can specify a fill factor, which is the amount the data pages in the index that are filled.

    How do I turn my search index back on Windows 10? ›

    1 Answer
    1. Run Start > Indexing Options.
    2. In the Indexing Options window, click the Modify button. ...
    3. Make sure that the locations you want to be indexed are checked.
    4. Click OK to save your changes.
    5. Windows 10 will then begin indexing these locations in the background, which might take some time.
    Jan 24, 2024

    How do I get rid of Windows Search completely? ›

    Hide the search box on the taskbar
    1. Press and hold (or right-click) the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
    2. Select Taskbar items to expand the section, then toggle the Search switch to Off.

    Should search indexer be on or off? ›

    Many apps in the Microsoft Store also depend on the index to provide up-to-date search results for your files and other content. Disabling indexing will result in these apps either running slower or not working at all, depending on how heavily they rely on it.

    Where is the Windows Search Index file? ›

    Index Location

    The default location of the index lives in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft. You can alter this location by entering a new one, and when you click 'Select New' the service will temporarily be restarted and if you navigate to the new path you've selected you will see the indexing service files there.

    How do I turn on search indexing in Windows 11? ›

    Enable Or Disable Search Indexing From Services
    1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialogue box.
    2. Type msc and press OK.
    3. A services window will open. Find Windows Search, and double click on it to open its properties.
    4. Now, you can either press Start (enable) or Stop (disable) this service according to your requirements.

    How do I clean up Windows Search Index? ›

    1: Delete and Rebuild from Indexing Options

    Press the Windows Key + S and type in indexing and click on Indexing Options. Click on Advanced. Under Troubleshooting, click on Rebuild.

    How to fix Windows 10 search bar not working? ›

    1. Solution 1: Restart Windows Font Cache Service. ...
    2. Solution 2: Check for updates. ...
    3. Solution 3: Run the Search and Indexing troubleshooter. ...
    4. Solution 4: Restart Windows Search. ...
    5. Solution 5: Reset Windows Search. ...
    6. Solution 6: Regenerate the Microsoft.Windows.Search package AppData folder. ...
    7. Help us improve Search in Windows.
    Mar 23, 2024

    How do I clear Windows Search in Windows 10? ›

    Clear search history

    To clear a single search from history, on the Search History page, click the X next to the search you want to delete. To clear all of your search history, on the Search History page, under Change history settings, click Clear all. This deletes any search history on this device.

    How do I rebuild my Exchange search index? ›

    How to rebuild Exchange search index
    1. Get Exchange content index status. Let's get the status of the content indexing. ...
    2. Stop services. Stop the services first by running the two commands. ...
    3. Identify mailbox database. ...
    4. Remove Exchange indexing folder. ...
    5. Start services. ...
    6. Check Exchange index status. ...
    7. Final results.
    Jun 26, 2023

    How do I turn Windows Search index back on? ›

    1 Answer
    1. Run Start > Indexing Options.
    2. In the Indexing Options window, click the Modify button. ...
    3. Make sure that the locations you want to be indexed are checked.
    4. Click OK to save your changes.
    5. Windows 10 will then begin indexing these locations in the background, which might take some time.
    Jan 24, 2024

    How do I fix a corrupted Outlook search in Windows 11? ›

    Exit Outlook. Open Indexing Options in the Windows control panel. In the Indexing Options dialog box, select Advanced. In the Advanced Options dialog box, select Rebuild.

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