How to Reset and Rebuild the Search Index in Windows

Do you find Reset and Rebuild the Search Index in Windows? When you try to search in Windows 11, do you run into bugs or errors? There’s a chance that rebuilding the Search Index will help. When you rebuild the search index, the whole search database will be erased and remade with the default values.

This won’t be a problem for you if you haven’t added any new entries to the search database. If you’ve made changes to the search database before, you’ll have to make those changes again after rebuilding.

Steps to Reset and Rebuild the Search Index in Windows

• To run the search troubleshooter, right-click Start, click Run. Type the following command and click OK.
• In Windows 10, you can also launch the troubleshooter via Start → Settings → Update & Security → Troubleshoot → Search and Indexing
• In the troubleshooter window, click Advanced and select Apply repairs automatically if you want the tool to automatically fix your settings. If you just want to do a dry run, have the option unchecked.
• Select all the checkboxes that apply.

Manually Reset Windows Search and Rebuild the Index

1. Start the Registry Editor regedit.exe and go to:
2. Change the registry value SetupCompletedSuccessfully data from 1 to 0
3. Exit the Registry Editor.
4. Open the Services MMC (services.msc)
5. Restart the Windows Search service

What is a search index?

You may have seen an index before in books, which are a more traditional form of media. A lot of big (scientific) books have an index that lets you find information quickly.An index is usually at the end of the book. It has a list of key words that are ordered by their first letter. Each of the keywords leads to a page with useful information about that keyword.

For example, you might have a book with several hundred pages about animals. You would like to learn more about “cats.” You would look for “cat” in the index and read the pages that are mentioned. (p. 17, 89, 203-205).

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