Windows 10: Search can't find some files, says "These results may be incomplete"

When I "search my stuff" from the start menu, some files that I know to be indexed never show up in the results. And at the top of the search window, it reads: "These results may be incomplete, search is still indexing your stuff."

I've rebuilt the search index, which says it finished successfully, indexing 3000-something items, but the problem remains.

:)

 

These results may be incomplete..

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused. I will assist you with this.

I suggest you to follow these steps to check for updates.

• 
  Press Windows logo key
  
  +R, enter
  ms-settings:, and then press OK. This opens
  Settings.
  
• 
  In Settings, go to Update & security > Windows Update, and then select
  Check for updates. Install any available updates and
  restart your PC if required.
  

Also I suggest you to run the Search and Indexing troubleshooter
and check.

• Type troubleshooting in the search bar and open it.
• Click on "view all" on the left pane
• Run the "Search and Indexing troubleshooter" troubleshooter and follow the on-screen instructions.
  

Then try to re-build the indexing.

• Right-click on Start Menu. Click on
  Control Panel.
• Click on Indexing options.
• Click on Advanced. Click on Rebuild.
• Click/tap on OK
• You will notice the index being rebuilt. Click/tap on Close.

Hope this information was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.

 

These results may be incomplete...

If you follow Sangeeta's instructions and post in the Enterprise support.

Could you bring any answers back here?

On every similar issue I found the Microsoft Support stopped helping after telling people to rebuild the index and run the troubleshooter, this never fixes the problem.

Maybe the Enterprise support personal are trained better and have a real answer.

 

Agent Ransack is an excellent program for searching. Much better for finding stuff IMO. Give it a try. *Wink

 

Have you also checked out my favorite yet, seems to have some of the same features as the Pro on your favorite. *Smile
Its Called Everything. voidtools I might have already asked ya thou *sarc

 

Thanks. I'm trying "Everything" out. Seems pretty great. I'll probably stick with it.

But there must be some solution to this other than abandoning Windows search altogether, right? I just noticed this is also happening on another system of mine. Is this problem pretty common?

 

Not on my 2 windows 10 computers, but some folks have reported same problem as yours. When you grabbed Everything, You should have taken the latest BETA 64 bit ....its better than his last release version. Its far better than any windows search program. *Smile Small, fast, takes up VERY lil memory. Lots of features. *Smile and its FREE

 

Just wanted to revisit this issue, as there are some pretty essential items still not being found by the start menu search. Namely, system settings. For example, trying to find Windows Update by typing "update" is proving fruitless. All I get is "These results may be incomplete".

I'm having this issue on a few of my computers. Would really love to find a solution.

 

Hi, the origin is usually changing language settings. Language settings need to be consistent- it's not enough just to change the display language.

I recall I had this happen last year and did an in-place upgrade repair install (which also has the effect of resetting all language settings). However you should be able to reset all language settings back to default, check the problem has vanished, then carefully redo them.

I recommend you make use of System Restore to help you just in case.

 

A small question, when you open control panel, search 'search' and choose 'Change how Windows searches' do you see something like below pic?
Attachment 74390

 

I had the same issue when I first installed Windows 10 (clean install). Local users were fine no matter what the Language settings. However, domain users had "Results may be incomplete" until I made "English (US)" the primary language and changed my main language "English (Australian)" to be the secondary language.

However, I have just spun up a VM with Windows 10 to do some unrelated testing and the work around with languages doesn't work for the domain users. I'm am trying an upgrade of the VM to Windows Preview build to see if Microsoft has fixed the defect in an upcoming build.

 

I only have the one language (English, US), so not sure if that's the issue.

I've also noticed that it fails when trying to search from within Settings:




And yes, Indexing does say that it's complete, with a few thousand items.

 

Is this a domain user account or local account that you're having problems with?

 

Pretty sure I've only had problems with the domain users. My most successful approach so far has been to install as "English (United States)" then connect to the domain before attempting to configure language settings. Still very much touch and go though as to whether it will work.

Can't believe Microsoft hasn't fixed this !!!

 

I agree being able to search Settings is very useful, and it's worth getting search working for that alone.

If no changes have been made to any language settings including the speech language, I would suggest an in-place upgrade repair install as I said before- seems a sledgehammer approach, but it certainly resets the language settings, and allowed search to work again. If you've not used it before, it's fairly straightforward. (A lot faster of course with a SSD).

A frustrating issue.