Windows Search service won't start

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I am having a terrible experience with getting the "Windows Search" service
to start/run. I would greatly appreciate advice/suggestions for finding a
"fix" for it.

Here are the details so far.

Similarities to previously mentioned "Windows Search" service problems:

When I attempt to start the "Windows Search" service manually, I get an
error message box which says: "Windows could not start the Windows Search on
Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this
is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to
service-specific error code - 2147218141)"

Related services (RPC and DCOM S.P.L.) running, no problems (that I can tell).

In the Control Panel, in the Indexing Options dialog box, the window
displayes "Indexing not running". Both the "Modify" and "Advanced" buttons
are grayed out (I can not make any changes).

running SFC /scannow had no effect

The folder: "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data " is present and has 3
folders in it. They are: "Applications", "Config", and "Temp".

The folder: "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Config" is present and
contains two files: gathrprm.txt and schema.txt.

Here is something that I thought seemed peculiar. In the registry at:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
Search\Gather\Windows\SystemIndex\Sites\{s-1-5-21-2809944867-2680333499-3313531811-1107}\Paths\15"
when I click on the "15", I get an error message saying, "15 cannot be
opened. An error is preventing this key from being opened. Details: The
system cannot find the file specified." Along that same registry path, under
the "Sites" key, there are four peer keys; the one I mentioned and three more
with similar names.

Does the latter info shed any light as to what's going on with my PC? I am
open to and would greatly appreciate any suggestions (short of totally
reinstalling) anyone may have.

Thanks in advance for any ideas/suggestions on helping me get this resolved,
Brad

ps: I have read Nevet's similar post on 7/31/2007
 
Brink, thanks so much for the link. It was written in a way that was easy to
read and follow - very concise. Excellent "how-to"! However, after
following each and every step, then rebooting, my Windows Search service
still will not start (automatically or manually).

note: In the "how to", it suggested that the folder
"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Config" folder would be missing. Mine
was present and contained the two files: gathrprm.txt and schema.txt. Just
as a precaution, I went ahead and deleted my existing Config folder,
re-created it and replaced the two .txt files.

Have any other suggestions in your Great Bag'O-Tricks?

Thanks,
BT
 
All of the folders (Applications, Config and Temp) were/are empty except for
the two .txt files that I copied as per your earlier instructions. Going up
one folder level, there is another Config folder (..\Search\Config) which
contains the file: msscolmn.txt.

BT
 
Hi Brad,

Sorry that Windows Search is not working for you. I have a couple of
suggestions, although I'm not sure what the issue is:

- What does the event viewer say? {Event Viewer -> Windows Logs ->
Application is where most search-related events are shown}

- Some people have reported that modifying the security permissions on the
whole of their drive can cause Search not to work. For example you might
'take ownership' of of random folders to avoid unneeded prompts and
access-denied messages. But if you end up changing the permissions on
C:\programdata\microsoft\search so SYSTEM no longer has full access to this
folder than this may prevent search from working. I haven't verified this
but it may be worth checking.

Dave
 
Hi Dave, good idea on checking the logs and rights, here's what I found.

Events (logged in this order)

Application log:
EventID 1008 The Windows Search Service is attempting to remove the old
catalog.
EventID 1010 The Windows Search Service has successfully removed the old
catalog.
EventID 1004 The Windows Search service is creating the SystemIndex
search index.
EventID 1006 The Windows Search Service has failed to created the new
system catalog. Internal error <1,0x800700b7>.
EventID 1013 Windows Search Service stopped normally.

System log:
EventID 7036 The Windows Search service entered the stopped state.
EventID 7024 The Windows Search service terminated with service-specific
error 2147749155 (0x80040D23).
EventID 7034 The Windows Search service terminated unexpectedly. It has
done this 13 time(s).

This pattern of errors constantly repeats.

The "System" account has "full control" rights on the
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search folder, as well as all the folder/files
downstream from there.

Brad

=======================
 
Hi Shawn,
Have any brain-storms over the weekend as to what else could be preventing
Windows Search from starting/running? I'm at my wits end on possible
solutions and it's *oh so* frustrating not being able to find particular
emails ... not to mention the slow file searchs.

*Any* suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ohhh - from my first post:

Here is something that I thought seemed peculiar. In the registry at:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
Search\Gather\Windows\SystemIndex\Sites\{s-1-5-21-2809944867-2680333499-3313531811-1107}\Paths\15"

when I click on the "15", I get an error message saying, "15 cannot be
opened. An error is preventing this key from being opened. Details: The
system cannot find the file specified." Along that same registry path, under
the "Sites" key, there are four peer keys; the one I mentioned and three more
with similar names.

If this requires further explaination, please let me know and I'll make some
screen shots of the keys in question.

Thanks,
Brad
 
Has anyone found a solution to this problem I can't get it working tried
everything and nothing can't seem to get this activated again.
 
Has anyone found a solution to this problem I can't get it working tried
everything and nothing can't seem to get this activated again.
 
Did you try setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
Search\SetupCompletedSuccessfully to 0 in the registry and then rebooting?
 
take a look at the DataDirectory value in HKLM\software\microsoft\windows
search. mine was pointing to something other than
c:\programdata\microsoft\search\data so i changed it and now wsearch runs.

if this works for you, go into Indexing Options->Advanced and change the
"Index location->New location, after service is restarted" to the same path.

YMMV. good luck
 
Well I can;t believe it was this simple, all you have to do is in REGEDIT go
to KLM\software\microsoft\windows search and change the Data directory, all I
did was change it from %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data\ to
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data2\. And now my indexing has started, you
might then be able to revert back to original directory, but don;t trouble
yourself.
 
The procedure outlined in this KB article completely resolved the issue for me:

support.microsoft.com/kb/2484025

My symptoms were as follows:

Windows Search seemed to work fine.
Indexing options in control panel were not clickable. I could not use the rebuild index feature.
I was seeing several errors related to Windows Search in the system event log and application event log.

Outlook 2007 Instant Search did not work at all.
My mailbox was unchecked in the Search Options within Outlook. If I checked the check box next to my mailbox and clicked OK, I received an error message indicating that the changes could not be saved.
 
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