Question:
Hi there, i’m having some trouble with my Vista search function. it has suddenly stopped working. When i use the search in the start menu, i get this message “search failed to initialize”. When i try opening the the “search window”, nothing happens when i press enter. Please help!
Answer:
Hi, Elliott. While I haven’t seen that problem and I can’t find any known solutions, this will probably work:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click System And Maintenance.
3. Click Indexing Options.
4. Click the Advanced buttons, and respond to the User Account Control prompt.
5. On the Advanced Options dialog, click Rebuild. Then, click OK.
I hope that fixes your problem. If not, let me know–there’s a couple other things we can try.
I’m having the same problem, however when i try to follow the steps you outlined and i open the Indexing Options menu, the Advanced button is greyed out… only the close button is active, and it says “Waiting to receive indexing status…” on top…
any recommendations?
i have the same problem… I did as you said, took a long time to index everything on my hard drive but it still didn’t work. everytime I use search or try to go somewhere from the start button by typing in, it says that search failed to initialize…
SAME PROBLEM! cannot search anymore! maybe virus? any solutions?
I am having the same problem. Windows search service refuses to start. I get a message ‘path not found’. Any ideas?
I tried to download the free antivirus4.0. from http://www.pctools.com/free-anitvirus. And it came up error 180-571 a0591d8a-3a2b-4d4e-93ef-5b90c78fd672. It won,t allow me to deleteit either, wasting my space. I don’t won’t to try and download it again until l can fix this one.
Also how do you delete blank pages that appear in word. I send a resume and they say some is missing due to blank pages arriving, but when l check, there are just blank pages appearing from nowhere. I scanned in 172 pages into documents and now have multitude blank pages. Ideas?
I just found out a solution for the problem( Vista Search Problem: “Search Failed to Initializeâ€),
first run the disk cheaking utility so that their are no errors on the hard disk..after that deleate all the user accounts.make a new account and transfer or back up all the documents.to the new user accounts (better make a new administrator account).and a reboot and problem solved….
I found another less drastic solution… Uninstall the update that installed Windows Search 4.0
I also am running vista, and my search does not work.
Ihave tried your solution and it does NOT work.
I have uninstalled the update service pack 2, and the search now works..????
How can microsoft put out a program that stops the search function?
Havn’t they tried it?
or
Do they just want to cause everyone to switch to APPLE products??
-=Bruce=-
Thanks, Vic!
Your ´less drastic solution´ worked for me.
WOW…I AGREE 100%
THATS THE LAST TIME I UPDATE THIS PC..NICE GOING MICROSOFT!!
RE:Vic- I tried the less dramatic way and it sill doesnt work
I am having the same problem. I can’t even find Windows search 4 and I have tried the suggestions, except for the one to delete user accounts. Any suggestions? Thanks
tried a few things like the less drastic and adding the index again and still nothing. . are microsoft even aware of this problem or dont they care now windows 7 is out !!
I had the same problem with the start menu “search failed to initialize” when searching for a file. I also could not I also found that there were numerous items missing from the control panel, so I could not click on indexing options.
I assume this had something to do with some updates that were recently installed, as all was working completely well before they were added. I also could not un install the suspected updates due to the installed updates box refusing to load.
I resolved all problems by restoring the computer to the date before the last batch of updates were installed.
I cannot say for sure which update caused the malfunction, but I suspect it was the SP2.
Further to my comment above, for anyone not sure how to restore:
START MENU > click ALL PROGRAMS
> click on ACCESSORIES
> click on SYSTEMS TOOLS
> click on SYSTEM RESTORE and follow instructions to restore to your required date