Indexing Broken in Windows 11 (Painfully Slow At Best)

Anonymous
2021-12-05T01:10:52+00:00

Hello

I have upgraded to Windows 11 Pro on two different laptops, and both have the same issue with indexing. It is painfully slow and then usually resets itself after a couple of weeks.

Both PCs are high-end laptops with Core i9 mobile CPUs (1 x 6 core and the other 8 core). Both run 2 x NVMe 1TB drives. Both have 64GB RAM.

Both run MS Office and I use Outlook for email connected to same IMAP accounts on both. My docs, pics, music and work-related files are all stored on OneDrive and accessed from both PCs (OneDrive is set to keep local copies on both PCs for fast access).

Windows is being asked to index around 250,000 files and 80,000 emails and calendar appts. Windows 10 used to accomplish this task in 6-8 hours max.

Windows 11 takes nearly two days just to index the emails. It can take up to three weeks to index the lot and then some folders simply refuse to be indexed. Then, after a couple more weeks it will eventually lose the lot and indexing has to start from scratch again (on both PCs)

I have tried:

Disabling backoff via registry so indexing never pauses

Only adding one location at a time to let it slowly build up (e.g., add only Outlook and when that finishes add a folder)

Rebuilding the index

Storing the index in different location

Search and Indexing Trouble-shooter

Nothing fixes the issue

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Mick

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-06-19T12:11:05+00:00

    Hello guys specially the Microsoft ones, that is if anyone in that "Black Hole" is paying any attention.

    As mentioned on previous post I've got the index running after many attempts and the help of a Microsoft Engineer. Then I installed Update for Windows 11 X64 systems June 14, 2022— KB5014697 (OS Build 22000.739) and all Indexing fall apart again. Now n Windows 11 indexing simply frozens a 5 items.

    EVEN WORSE the Outlook 365 Enterprise Version where all my lawyer office data is stored is also completely frozen even having only 29.596 Items to Index.

    Each Law suit has a Unique Reference which is always quoted on the Subject field. Now as Search on Office 365 Outlook Enterprise Version does not work we cannot any longer find the Law Suit Reference we need in Outlook.

    As my Lawyers office pays for all the OFFICE 365 Enterprise Version Licenses we have we had the help of a Microsoft 365 Engineer who called us back to help in reply to an assistance request.

    Even him was dazzled for Outlook 365 Enterprise Version not working and could not resolve the problem.

    Al this ends up on a gigantic nightmare to all your users and an enormous disbelieve on your updates, hope you guys at Microsoft realize this,

    Why would you release an update which only causes severe problems??? I know that under your conditions and terms you at Microsoft cannot be responsible for the inconveniences this causes otherwise you would surely be more careful.

    Dr. Paulo Maia Gonçalves (PhD

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-06-18T21:05:57+00:00

    Hello guys.  I've got the index running after many attempts and the help of a Microsoft Engineer.Then I installed Update for Windows 11 X64 systems KB5014697 of 2022-06 and all collapsed again.Now nothing works neither the Windows 11 indexing or EVEN WORSE the Outlook 365 Enterprise Version where all my lawyer data is stored. Pure nightmare from you guys at Microsoft.

    Why would you release an update which only causes severe problems???

    Unthinkable!!!! Get this fixed NOW.Dr. Paulo Maia Gonçalves (PhD) Manuel Paulo S. B. Maia Gonçalves

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-06-18T01:10:20+00:00

    Replying again to warn people. My indexing has been fine since I fixed it. Just installed 22H2 update and it has messed with the indexing again, completely resetting it, and I am back to sqaure one with painfully slow indexing.

    Why would MS have an update wipe your indexing completely? Just baffles me.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-06-11T12:25:06+00:00

    Yes, I found a solution

    1. Create Windows 11 Installation Media on USB - Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com)
    2. Click on setup.exe from the USB
    3. Do an install keeping apps and files.

    When the install was finished indexing worked great.

    One thing I did before the install was to remove all the indexing locations (until "index these locations" is empty) and the click 'rebuild'. I did this to clear any previous indexing information. I have no idea whether this actually does anything but if you want to ensure you do exactly what I did maybe do this as well.

    Since then, the PC has been fine. It indexed all of my emails and files in 4-5 hours.

    Hi Mr. Mikey

    i tried to speed up indexing process as per your suggestion. But, no improvement noticed. Could you please suggest alternate solution.

    Thanks in advance

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-05-31T23:23:20+00:00

    Problem is my index takes 36+ hours to rebuild so I'm not sure how viable this is for me. Its about 2mil items including a large number of very large files.

    It's too bad there's no way (that I know of) to take a snapshot of the index & related files. Its possible keeping track of what is still to be indexed might make that impossible - unless that information is included somewhere in those files.

    I am seriously considering downgrading back to win 10 because of how much this impacts my workflow.

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