Forum Discussion
Win10 Windows Search stops indexing new files after a system update
Since rebuilding didn’t help, check whether Search is monitoring the affected location rather than rebuilding it again.
Open Indexing Options > Modify and confirm the folder’s actual path is included. Create a small .txt file with a distinctive name directly in that folder, then search for its filename. This avoids confusing a content-indexing problem with files not being indexed at all.
If that file is also missed, press Win+R, enter services.msc, and restart Windows Search. Create another test file afterward. Then run Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters > Search and Indexing, if available.
If it still says “Indexing Complete” without finding the test files, check Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application for Search-related errors around their creation time. Include those errors, the affected folder path and the update’s KB number in a support report.
The timing makes the update a suspect, but it isn’t enough to identify a known bug or recommend uninstalling a particular update.
I have spent the last day with exactly the same problem for my documents, downloads and other text files. I did all the steps suggested, plus more. I got it working by using a Restore Point to go back to a previous state.
But then when I did Windows Update the search stopped working again. I ran the troubleshooter, modified the indexing locations, rebuilt the index, restarted the service, looked at event viewer, verified the subfolders have the right security permissions, etc. etc. None of those helped.
Only going backwards in time to a restore point worked, and it looks as though Windows Update breaks it.