index > Windows Desktop Search Development > WDS never finishes indexing

WDS never finishes indexing

If I watch the status, it will get down to 1 file left and then build back
up to 40,000+ files left to index (I do not change very many files on this system and certainly not 40000 in a day). If I search using WDS, it says it is building the initial index. I have even left Index Now checkmarked for the last week. Any idea on how to fix?

MrJavaGuy

Hi there,

Just a few quick questions for you...

What version of WDS are you using? (Right click Icon, Select Help, About WDS)

What indexing options do you have selected? (Right click Icon, Select Desktop Search Options, indexing, browse)

Also what Anti-Virus softeware are you using? It is possible, however unlikely, that something is scanning the file system and changing the date on the items you just scanned so that the indexer thinks it needs to scan them again.. Long shot but not outside the range of possibility.

When the indexer runs, it builds a queue and as it moves through the tree(s) of information it is indexing, if it finds a folder that has been changed it will add all child objects in that folder set to be checked for changes. Thats why you may see 100 items to index then it jumps to 1000 etc.

Also you may want to check the button to Prioritize Indexing in the Desktop Search Options, Advanced area.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

Jeff "99% of life is just showing up..."

Jeff_R

Hi Jeff,

Sorry for the delay, I just travelling.

WDS version: 2.06.5000.5373

Indexing Options: (Browse is not enabled) email and all hard disks

AV Software: Grisoft AVG 7.1 Network addition

I just checked the prioritize indexing, I will let you know if it helps.

MrJavaGuy

Hi,

Has Jeff's reply been of any assistance?

Thanks in advance,

Bill Connors

Program Manager, Windows Desktop Search - Communities

WDS Communities PM

Bill Connors MS

Hi again,

I'd like to close out this post so if Jeff's comments answered your question, please mark as "Answered".

Thanks in advance,

Bill Connors

Program Manager, Windows Desktop Search - Communities

WDS Communities PM

Bill Connors MS

Hi Bill,

I am still having the problem. I did a check with the AV program to check if it updated the file date. But it does not appear to. So I still have WDS going in circles.

MrJavaGuy

Sorry to hear that. I'll see what I can find out. Stay tuned.

Thanks,

Bill Connors

Program Manager, Windows Desktop Search - Communities

WDS Communities PM

Bill Connors MS

Hi MrJavaGuy,

We've seen this problem before when WDS tries to index program files for some applications. You may be able to fix the issue by doing one of the following:

Set your indexing options to index E-mail and My Documents

Use custom indexing options and set WDS to index your email and only those folders where you keep documents you want to index (i.e. not program or system files).

If this works, please let me know. If you have the time I'd love to work with you to see if we can figure out exactly which file we're tripping over so we can fix it in the future.

Paul Nystrom - MSFT

Just to let JavaGuy know he's not alone, I've had exactly the same symptoms. I index my whole filesystem as well as a lot of Exchange Server based email and folders. Every time the indexing looks like it's about to finish (I've got about 375000 items), it jumps back up to 35000 to 40000 files left to index. The disk drive in my laptop gets so warm from the constant thrashing that it's uncomfortable to rest my hand on it.

btj-agilent

Same problem here. The index agent has been running for 2 weeks now and the status is still "building initial index". This must be a bug. BTW, I have Google index agent on the same machine and it works just fine only that I don't like the UI so I'd like to switch to the MS indexer however given this issue I'm planning to uninstall the MS indexer unless I see that this issue was resolved.

Thanks

MeirAmiel

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