Search Indexing was turned off in Windows 10

One fine day, I saw this message Search Indexing was turned off when I opened my Windows 10 Start Menu. Now I had not turned it off, so why did I see this on my PC?

Search Indexing was turned off

You may have come across a process called the SearchIndexer.exe in your Windows Task Manager. This process is the actual service that manages the indexing of your files for Windows Search. Now if this process is not working or turned On, you get to see this message.

Enable Windows Search Indexing

To resolve this issue, do the following:

1] Next, Run services.msc and navigate to Windows Search service. Right-click on it and select Properties. Next, set its Startup type to Automatic (Delayed Start). Click Apply/OK and restart your computer.

This Windows Service, provides content indexing, property caching, and search results for files, e-mail, and other content.

2] Open Control Panel > Indexing Options. Click one the Troubleshoot search and indexing link that you see.

Run the Windows Search and Indexing Troubleshooter that pops up.

You can also run the following command in a CMD to bring it up:

msdt.exe /id SearchDiagnostic

This troubleshooter will troubleshoots problems with Windows search and indexing.

Doing these two things should help you resolve the issue.

If you find that your Search Indexer is not working correctly, you may want to check my tutorial on how to Troubleshoot Windows Search Indexing errors based on which the first MVP Fix It was released.