How to Reset and Rebuild Search Index in Windows 10


By default, Windows will use the index when searching to give you faster search results. The search index only includes your selected locations. These locations can be filtered for what file types (extensions), file properties, and file contents you want indexed.

The index uses the Windows Search service and runs as the Searchindexer.exe process in the background. The index will automatically rebuild and update for changes made to the included locations since the last index rebuild to increase search result accuracy. By default, the indexing speed is reduced due to user activity. If the computer is running idle, then the indexing speed will go back to full speed to finish indexing faster.

Starting with Windows 10 build 19592, the Windows Search Platform (Indexer) has been updated with improved logic to help find better times to perform indexing of your files and avoiding heavily indexing while you are using your machine. An improvement was also made to significantly limit the amount of times the service indexes your files for content that doesn’t have an impact on search experiences, and gives you a better experience on Windows.

If you are getting search results that are missing, no longer valid, or incorrect, then the index may not be up to date. You can manually rebuild the index to force it to update now.

This tutorial will show you how to manually reset and rebuild the search index for accurate search results in Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to rebuild the index.

Contents

• Option One: To Rebuild Search Index in Indexing Options
• Option Two: To Rebuild Search Index using a BAT file
• Option Three: To Reset and Rebuild Search Index using a BAT file

OPTION ONE

To Rebuild Search Index in Indexing Options

1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), click/tap on the Indexing Options icon, and close the Control Panel.

2 Click/tap on the Advanced button. (see screenshot below)

3 In the Index Settings tab, click/tap on the Rebuild button under Troubleshooting. (see screenshot below)

4 Click/tap on OK to confirm. (see screenshot below)

5 Indexing will now be in progress. (see screenshots below)

Rebuilding the index might take a long time to complete. If needed, you can click/tap on Pause to stop rebuilding the index.

6 When indexing has completed, click/tap on Close. (see screenshot below)

OPTION TWO

To Rebuild Search Index using a BAT file

1 Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .bat file below.

Rebuild_Search_Index.bat

Download

The downloadable .bat file below contains these commands that will rebuild the search index.

Code:

@echo off
net stop wsearch
del "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb"
:wsearch
net start wsearch
IF NOT %ERRORLEVEL%==0 (goto :wsearch) ELSE goto :END
:END

2 Save the .bat file to your desktop.

3 Unblock the .bat file.

4 Right click or press and hold on the .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

5 When prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes to approve.

6 The search index will now start to rebuild in the background.

OPTION THREE

To Reset and Rebuild Search Index using a BAT file

This option will reset search index locations to default, and then delete and rebuild the search index.

1 Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .bat file below.

Reset_and_Rebuild_Search_Index.bat

Download

The downloadable .bat file below contains these commands that will reset your indexed locations to default and rebuild the search index.

Code:

@echo off
net stop wsearch
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search" /v SetupCompletedSuccessfully /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
del "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb"
:wsearch
net start wsearch
IF NOT %ERRORLEVEL%==0 (goto :wsearch) ELSE goto :END
:END

2 Save the .bat file to your desktop.

3 Unblock the .bat file.

4 Right click or press and hold on the .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

5 When prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes to approve.

6 The search index will now start to rebuild in the background.

That's it,
Shawn Brink

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