Vista Indexing "complete" -- NOT! (any tips?)

[turnstyle]

Hi all, I have a Vista box with Windows Live Mail (which means I have
lots of little files, as each email is now saved in a discrete file).

When I first set up this PC, and let the indexer complete, it
indicated something like 90,000 files indexed.

I recently restored the PC and copied the Windows mail folder back
over, and told the indexer to "rebuild" -- but it keeps stopping at
about 5,000 files when I know I have lots more in the user folder (ie,
~90,000).

In other words, the indexer doesn't seem to want to index the files I
copied over from the backup -- any ideas on how I can "force" the
indexer to index everything again?

Thanks, -Scott

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Turnstyle

You may need to reset the Indexing Options. Open Control Panel / Indexing
Options. Click the Modify Button and then click Show All Locations.
Checkmark the folders you want indexed.

 

[keepout]

Hi all, I have a Vista box with Windows Live Mail (which means I have
lots of little files, as each email is now saved in a discrete file).

When I first set up this PC, and let the indexer complete, it
indicated something like 90,000 files indexed.

I recently restored the PC and copied the Windows mail folder back
over, and told the indexer to "rebuild" -- but it keeps stopping at
about 5,000 files when I know I have lots more in the user folder (ie,
~90,000).

In other words, the indexer doesn't seem to want to index the files I
copied over from the backup -- any ideas on how I can "force" the
indexer to index everything again?

Thanks, -Scott

Indexing - search is a nasty little bug windows isn't talking about.

You shouldn't get it into your head that it has any use or that it will ever
find anything on your HD.

Indexed or not, it'll still take more time to locate something than you care to
wait. I've had it try to find something in 1 specific folder that I'd be
sitting there in explorer looking right at and the search couldn't find it.

Other Kool tricks with the search. It finds stuff that you deleted MONTHSago.
IOW: You'll spend more time adjusting, identify what to search, and rebuilding
than it's worth..

Just my $0.02 , get a 3rd party dual folder explorer like windows commander and
use it's built in search. It doesn't build indexes. it searches HIDDEN & System
folders. It doesn't shove non-existent folders and files at you in the results.
It doesn't choke on unknown files. It can replace windows explorer.
It loads faster, doesn't choke on every unknown file, allows dual folder
operations, move, copy, compare run file, edit file, view file synch folders
etc..

 

[turnstyle]

All the right stuff is checked, but it still won't index. It almost
seems like the backed up files (which had previously beed indexed) now
have an "alread indexed bit" set, and so it feels like now that I've
copied them back to the Vista box, the indexer just skips them.

Again, here's what I did:

1) built the Vista box, imported email into Windows Live Mail

2) let that index (when done, it had indexed ~90,000 files)

3) backed up the email and other files to a network share

4) restored the Vista box to an earlier image (ie, without the email
files)

5) copied the archived email files back over to the fresh Vista box

6) let that index -- now it keeps stopping at ~5000 files indexed (it
says "complete")

In the Index control panel, when I navigate to:
Users > {USER} > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Windows Live Mail
All those folders are checked.

However I also noticed that some folders in the index control panel
appear gray, and I can't check/uncheck those one. All of the folders
in the Windows Live Mail folder are gray -- oddly except for just
two,"Outbox" and "Sentinel"

Any suggestions?

Thanks, I appreciate the help -- it kind of ruins the indexer for me
if it won't index my restored email!

-Scott

 

[turnstyle]

Hey, I just discovered something!

Per my previous post, when I navigate to the Mail folder via the Index
control panel, everything is gray except for two folders, "sentinel"
and "outbox" -- additionally, some other nested folders also appear
black, but most are gray (the gray ones can't be checked or unchecked,
but seem to be set to checked).

Anyhow, I discovered that if I get Properties for folders like
"sentinel" and "outbox" and then click Advanced -- those have "Index
this folder for faster searching" checked -- and the others do not.

Is that setting (ie, in the folder's Advanced Properties) impact the
Index setting for that folder?

An ideas why, when I copied the archived folders back over, the "Index
this" check was set to off?

 

[turnstyle]

I'm guessing you turned those check boxes on?

I'm a bit baffled because I don't know what the "proper" settings are,
to compare against what I wind up with after I restore from the
backup.

As best as I can tell, if I back up the contents of the Windows Live
Mail folder, restore the PC to a "clean" image, and then copy the
backed up file into the Windows Live Mail folder, the "index this"
settings aren't what they had been, and the mail won't be included.
And then it's not clear what I'm supposed to change.

The expectation is that you can simply copy the contents of your
Windows Live Mail folder to back it up, and then copy that back in to
restore -- but that doesn't actually work if it winds up excluded from
the index.

Does anybody here use Windows Live Mail (my guess is that the same is
true of Mail)? If so, have you ever backed up your Windows Live Mail
folder, and then restored it? Do you lose indexing?

Thanks, -Scott

 

[turnstyle]

Thanks dzomlija -- but, as I understand it, for Outlook Express,
Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail you can simply copy the store
folder to back it up.

The problem (imho) with the method you describe is that it takes a
manual active step -- whereas you can automate backing up the store
folder -- my understanding is that this is a good way to do it.

The problems seems to be that when you restore that backup, the
"archive this" flags aren't set the way they had been, and so the .eml
files aren't getting indexed.

I think backing up the store folder is a "formally correct" way to do
it (in fact, I saw the Mail team talk about doing exactly that on a
Channel 9 video).

But the problem is how to properly restore that to retain the proper
index settings.

Anybody here back up the Mail store folder?

 

[keepout]

Quit spouting second-hand FUD that you heard at the water cooler at
work. Windows Vista Search is one of the features that makes it worth
switching to Vista.

Facts are facts. Denying it doesn't change it.

In a vast majority of searches that I perform, I can't type fast enough
to keep up with the results being returned, which returns the results
I'm looking for.

In your case, you're not getting the results you want because either
the folder you're searching isn't in the index, or you have not given
the indexer service time to complete. Leaving your computer on (and
idle) overnight usually does the trick.

The machine runs all day every day. The reason it can't find it is because it
doesn't work.

FUD. Just leave your computer on overnight and idle at least once a
month, and you'll not have this problem.

Please... You've been listening to M$ too long.

Why? Windows Explorer does all that, as is faster also than most 3rd
party tools I've looked at.

No it doesn't or I wouldn't make the suggestion.

I guess you get residuals from this M$ worship ?

 

[keepout]

Hey, I just discovered something!

Per my previous post, when I navigate to the Mail folder via the Index
control panel, everything is gray except for two folders, "sentinel"
and "outbox" -- additionally, some other nested folders also appear
black, but most are gray (the gray ones can't be checked or unchecked,
but seem to be set to checked).

Anyhow, I discovered that if I get Properties for folders like
"sentinel" and "outbox" and then click Advanced -- those have "Index
this folder for faster searching" checked -- and the others do not.

Is that setting (ie, in the folder's Advanced Properties) impact the
Index setting for that folder?

An ideas why, when I copied the archived folders back over, the "Index
this" check was set to off?

OTTOMH: security settings also transferred. I found a lot of stuff from my
external, and my F: 300 gig from another machine. What I had to do was delete
the odd users [usually some weird number] in the security settings. simplest
way was to select the folder. and go at the users for the folder that didn't
belong, delete them and apply settings to parent and child.
BUT.... You need to know which user number to delete. But I would guess since
the folders are new, there's probably only 1 user number.
Either delete that number, or grant it full access to all folders.

 

[turnstyle]

Simply backing up the store folder hasn't worked properly now, has it?

That actually does work, insofar as Windows Live Mail is concerned --
ie, I get all my email and folders back -- the problem is, instead,
limited to how the "index this" flag is treated through the backup/
restore cycle.

And the file "Archive" attribute bit has absolute zero to do with the
indexer, and even less do with whether a file is indexed or not.

Ack, sorry, I misspoke in that last post -- it's not the "archive
this" flag that gets changed -- I meant to say the "index this" flag
-- ie, for the folders of .eml files, that starts off as checked --
but after I revert the PC and copy the backup files, they are then
unchecked.

I've just about exhausted all options in this case. Can you attach a
screnshot of your "Indexing Options" window so I can se what you're
seeing?

Meaning in the Index Options control panel?

Here's what seems to be happening -- the Index Options control panel
offers a bunch of checkboxes for each folder.

Some folder names are listed in black, and some in gray. For the ones
in gray, the corresponding folder, if you right-click it and get
Properties > Advanced -- that's where the "index this" is now
unchecked.

The grayed items in the Index Options control panel appear to be
checked, but you cannot check/uncheck them, and it seems they are
actually behaving as unchecked.

BUT this is perhaps all moot -- my understanding is that it should be
totally ok to back up the mail store folder -- and I've heard so from
Microsoft -- if that's not the case, then I can see that it might lead
to problems.

Does anybody here back up their Mail folder in AppData?