Windows 10: Windows Search and Indexing Broken

Actually I managed to fix the indexing problem, but I got even major problem.

I did something very stupid. I tried to add Administrator by hand and apply to all subfolders and files. Then stopped it halfway. That was my mistake.

Then I found a free software called Permissions Time Machine. It's a great program that fixes permissions. There is an option to restore the default permissions. I chose to fix permissions for the whole drive c: It took me 10 hours.





As a result the permissions were fixed. Indexing was working. But because of my mistake earlier my start menu and cortana got ruined. They didn't work any more. I tried some solutions like fully reinstall windows apps through powershell and in the end lost them all. So I did a clean install of Windows.

 

Interesting find.. you've done the right thing, although you've inevitably some reinstalling/configuring to do.

Little point proceeding with a damaged OS.

 

You can forget it. Outlook searching simply does not work. it does not work on my HP workstation, my HP laptop, my macPro, my Ipad.

Try logging into exchange from webmail, then you won't have a problem

 

I just wanted to report that I spent a few weeks trying to get 'Windows Search' to run. I had the 'Error: 3' issue. I did an in place Windows restore of Windows 10 Pro and that did not solve the issue. DISM and SFC reported no problems. I then found this post and did the following.

I managed to run the Windows Search service.
I had to delete the Key RebuildIndex and change value of key SetupCompletedSuccessfully to 1.

That allowed the service to start but now I had the problem of 'Indxing Options' being missing from 'Control Panel.' So, I performed the following than rebooted. It solved my problem.

Disable and re-enable the feature through dism.dism /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:"SearchEngine-Client-Package"
dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:"SearchEngine-Client-Package"

 

Although I noticed this is an old thread, this issue is everywhere on the internet. Search in Outlook gets broken, all that is written in this discussion is occurring now, everywhere. I too went insane looking for a solution, and this thread helped me.

Therefore I decided to replay anyway. The "Permissions Timeline Machine Lite" finally fixed the Outlook Search issues for me. I kept getting "Incorrect permissions on Windows search directories" error and after I have copied the Admin rights to my own user account using the Permissions Time Machine application it worked again! Finally!

I thank you all and I have made an account just to let you know!

 

The links above to permissions time machine don't seem valid.

Here's one:
Download Permissions Time Machine Lite - MajorGeeks