Turn Off and Disable Search Indexing Service in Windows XP
Search indexing service scans through files and folders on the XP system and records information about them in index files in order to speed out the searching speed. For users with low end PC, slow computer, or seldom use XP’s built-in Windows search facility, it’s possible to disable and turn off search indexing to speed up system speed by freeing up CPU and memory which used to perform the indexing task, with the drawback of slower search speeds.
In Windows XP, it’s possible to turn off indexing of some or all hard disk drive (HDD) one by one or to disable indexing service altogether (which will turn off indexing on all drives). Searching is still possible after disabling of indexing, albeit more slowly.
Turn off indexing on particular hard disk drive
- Open up “My Computer”. Or open “Windows Explorer” and then expand Computer tree.
- Right click on the hard drive to disable indexing (i.e (C:) drive letter).
- Select Properties on the contextual menu.
- Click on General tab if it’s not already selected.
- Untick (unselect) the check box for Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching option.
- Click OK, and wait for the index removal process to complete, which may take a few minutes.
- Repeat the steps for other hard drives if applicable.
Disable the Indexing Service in Windows XP
- Open “Control Panel”, select “Administrator Tools”, and open Services applet. Alternatively, type services.msc in the Rn text box from Start menu, and then hit Enter.
- Scroll down and locate Indexing Service service, and then double click on it.
- Click on Stop button to immediately stop the indexing service if the service status shows “Running.
- Under the “Startup Type”, select Disabled to permanently disable the indexing service so that it won’t run again.
- Click OK.
Related Articles
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- Disable and Turn Off (or Enable or Turn On) Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in Windows Vista
- Disable or Turn Off Windows XP Security Center Permanently
- Disable or Turn Off (Or Enable and Turn On) Windows Vista Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) Protected Mode
- How to Turn Off and Disable Hibernation in Windows Vista
- How to Turn Off and Disable Windows Flip 3D Switcher in Vista
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Entries (RSS)
December 2nd, 2009 08:41
I followed the instructions listed here:http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/09/18/turn-off-and-disable-search-indexing-service-in-windows-xp/
I also stopped windows search service as mentioned in the comments following the article. In addition to unchecking the “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching” check box on the properties dialog for the C:\ drive, I did the same for two usb connected hard drives (J:\ and I:\ ). I’m not sure why I did that, thought it might shrink the windows.edb file so I wouldn’t have to delete it (which sounded a bit risky in my ears). The file of course didn’t shrink so I ended up deleting it and freeing up over 3 GB of space, yeehaw.
However, as soon as I had done this I could not access the usb connected hard drives. The error I got was “I:\photos is not accessible” “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” when I tried to open the photos directory on I:\
Here is where I enter the twilight zone…
I try disconnecting I:\ usb hard drive. But XP shows me that J:\ has disconnected and I:\ is still there. I disconnect both drives and restart the computer. I then connect one drive, and it lists up the contents of the other drive. I tried vice versa and the same thing happens. I try taking one of the hard drives to another computer and when I connect it there it lists up the contents of the other hard drive and gives the same error when I try and access any of the folders, even folders on the root that have the same name as folders on the other drive???
Somehow the usb drives seem to have switched file tables or something, extremely weird!
Even weirder, if I try and create a text file or folder on this drive, it works fine, accessing them, saving, whatever, all good, but everything else gives me an error.
Anyone have a clue what is going on and more importantly, how I can restore the correct folder listings to access my family photos ???
cheers,
linni
November 26th, 2009 17:56
Wrong service.
You need to stop Windows Search and set to manual.
Not the Indexing Service – searchindexer continues to run as Indexing Service relates to CSIV
You will be deafened by the silence.
October 30th, 2009 14:06
After Disabling Indexing Service, NORMAL windows Search DOESN’T SHOW any Results. EVEN FOR *.*
Absurd. Please help
September 25th, 2009 20:27
Thanks but it didn’t fix my problem but i found out a solution (4 my case)
i turned off Windows Search cause it also uses the search indexer. Now i don’t have crashed in game!
September 10th, 2009 04:45
thanx for your help ;your solution work and the search option is reactivated thanx a lot
August 26th, 2009 17:05
I have done both things to stop indexing. Turn off on drive C & Disable through Admin tools. The god damn thing still runs though. I even went into the CP and unchecked every single box under indexing. There are still 188 items indexed that I cannot UNINDEX. I can’t even uncheck them under the Admin Account. This sucks. What 2 do now… what 2 do now?
April 30th, 2009 16:12
hey thanks !
March 10th, 2009 17:43
thanks!
January 6th, 2009 15:58
thanks so much!
November 16th, 2008 12:16
Nice.. I got a DELL XPS Gen2 with a 2.34GB Windows.edb file.
Thanks.
September 19th, 2008 07:37
You need to enable viewing of hidden folders. open your my computer to go the menu Tools -> Folder Options, scroll down till you see hide hidden folders make sure its not ticked. similarly with show hidden system files make sure that is ticked.
Don’t forget to set this back to the original settings unless so you dont mess with your system files accidently.
Happy computing
HydroMan
June 16th, 2008 20:55
I cannot find a search folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\
A search also does not find the windows.edb file?
I use WIndows XP version 200 with SP 2
May 28th, 2008 21:07
Hi,
You can simply find this file and delete it: Windows.edb
located here normally : C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows
Also right click in this directory location once you deleted the file select New -> Text Document call it (Windows.edb) the same name including the .edb as the extension.
First you may also have to disable the option to hide extensions of know file types, you can do this from the same open explorer window. This can be found by selecting from the menu ‘Tools’ -> ‘Folder Options…’ select the ‘View’ tab. Find the option “hide extensions of know file types” and make sure the tick box is empty (untick).
This will recreate the index file as empty and should not cause any errors AND free up that loverly Hard Drive space you wanted to get back from windows. My search index file is almost 3 gigs with 500,000 files indexed and this worked perfectly for me.
Hydro Man
November 22nd, 2007 17:17
After the service deactivation, it is also possible to remove the old “Search Indexing Data”?
I have this question because I saw that my folder “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search” has a size of 900MB!!
Thanks
November 5th, 2007 02:28
Thanks man!
Saved my laptop
September 22nd, 2007 16:30
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