Posey's Tips & Tricks
Indexing a Windows-Based File Server
Although File Explorer makes it relatively easy to locate files located on your PC, you can also index your Windows file servers, thereby making it possible to search for individual files by content.
In this article, I want to show you how to enable indexing, as well as how to configure the file types that are being indexed. I’ll wrap things up by showing you what to do if your indexes don’t seem to be working.
Enabling Indexing
If you want to enable indexing on a Windows file server, you will need to start by installing the Windows Search Service. To do so, open Server Manager and then choose the Add Roles and Features option, which you can find on the Manage menu. When the Add Roles and Features Wizard opens, keep clicking Next until you arrive at the Select Features screen. Select the Windows Search Service feature, shown in Figure 1, and then follow the prompts to complete the wizard.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 1. Select the Windows Search Service feature and then complete the wizard.
When you finish installing the Windows Search Service, you will need to configure the indexed locations. To do so, right click on the Start button and then select the Run command from the resulting menu. When the Windows Run prompt appears, enter the word Control. This will cause Windows to open the legacy Control Panel. When File Explorer opens, enter the word Index into File Explorer’s Search box and then click on Indexing Options. You can see the Indexing Options screen, shown in Figure 2.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 2. Enter the word Index into the Control Panel’s search box and then click on Indexing Options.
When the Indexing Options screen appears, click the Modify button. Now, select all of the drives and folders that you want to index, as shown in Figure 3. Make sure that any required subfolders are also selected. When you are done, click OK to complete the process.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 3. You will need to select any drives or folders that you want to index.
Specifying File Types
It can sometimes be useful to tell Windows specifically which types of files you want to index. From the Indexing Options screen, shown in Figure 2, click on the Advanced button. This will cause Windows to open the Advanced Options dialog box. Select the File Types tab and then pick and choose the file types that you want to index. You can add additional file types to the list by typing the file extension and then clicking on the Add button, shown in Figure 4.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 4. Windows lets you choose the types of files that you want to index.
What to do When Things Go Wrong
You may sometimes find that despite your best efforts, your users are unable to search indexed locations on your file server. When this happens, there are a few things that you should check.
The first thing that I recommend checking is to make sure that the Windows Search Service has the necessary permissions to search the indexed locations. To do so, right click on an indexed location (from within File Explorer) and select the Properties command from the shortcut menu. When the folder’s properties sheet appears, select the Security tab and make sure that SYSTEM has permission to access the folder.
Another thing that you should do is to go back to the Advanced Option screen’s File Types tab, which is shown in Figure 4, and make sure that Windows is configured to index both properties and file contents.
If you are still having trouble searching an indexed location (and you have waited long enough for the indexing process to be completed), then it’s possible that the index has become corrupt and that you need to rebuild the index. It’s best to avoid rebuilding the index if possible, because the reindexing process can take quite a while to complete any may consume significant system resources while the files are being indexed.
To reindex your files, go back to the server’s Indexing Options screen and click the Advanced button. You can find the Rebuild button on the Advanced Options dialog box’s Index Settings tab, shown in Figure 5. Before you click the Rebuild button, it’s a good idea to verify that the index location (which is also listed in the dialog box) has plenty of free disk space available.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 5. Click the Rebuild button to rebuild the index.
About the Author
Brien Posey is a 22-time Microsoft MVP with decades of IT experience. As a freelance writer, Posey has written thousands of articles and contributed to several dozen books on a wide variety of IT topics. Prior to going freelance, Posey was a CIO for a national chain of hospitals and health care facilities. He has also served as a network administrator for some of the country's largest insurance companies and for the Department of Defense at Fort Knox. In addition to his continued work in IT, Posey has spent the last several years actively training as a commercial scientist-astronaut candidate in preparation to fly on a mission to study polar mesospheric clouds from space. You can follow his spaceflight training on his Web site.