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5 Quick Ways to Turn off Indexing in Windows 10
Follow the steps below to successfully disable Windows indexing
8 min. read
Updated onJuly 25, 2024
updated onJuly 25, 2024
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First, let us say that this post doesn’t refer to theWindows Experience Indexbut rather to theindexingfeatureinWindows10/11,which is related to file search. Then, we’ll briefly go through itsfeaturesand explain how to enable or disable it.
For those who don’t know what exactly indexing does in Windows 10/11, here’s a short explanation: by turning on specific components of the index service, you can speed up file searches, or you can choose to disable it, in case you suspect it might be the culprit for your computer’sslow performance.
To access the indexing options service inWindows 10/11, open the search bar or press the Windows key and W together. Then, just type indexing there, and you will find it.
What is Search indexing in Windows 10?
The search indexing feature of Windows 10 aims to make it easier to discover files on your computer by creating an index of your files.
It’s similar to the index found at the end of a vast book; it makes it much easier and quicker to discover what you’re looking for since Windows doesn’t have to go through each file.
Indexing files are somewhat important, and in this article we’re going to cover the following topics:
Windows will take more time to search for files without an index if the files are stored on a hard drive, which is sluggish to read.
In addition, if you have a powerful central processing unit, you won’t need to be concerned with continual background indexing.
If, on the other hand, you don’t use search very often, have a slow CPU, and are working with an SSD, turning indexing off could be a smart option for you.
How can I enable or disable indexing in Windows 10?
1. Disable the Windows Search service
After your PC restarts, the Windows Indexing feature should be completely disabled on your PC. To turn it back on, undo the changes you made in this solution.
As you can see, Windows Search is responsible for content indexing, property caching, and search results for files, emails, and other content.
So, by enabling or disabling it, you will turn on or turn off the features mentioned above. You can easily stop or restart the service, in case you have problems with it.
If you’re dealing with theWindows Search Indexer’s high CPU utilization, you can fix it by following our guide.
2. Turn off Indexing using Command Prompt
After doing that you’ll stop the Windows Search service instantly and the Indexing feature should be disabled.
As you can see, this is a fast and simple way to disable Indexing, so if you’re an advanced user and you want to disable thisfeaturequickly, be sure to try this method.
If you are havingissues accessing Command Prompt as an admin, then you should check out our guide on how to fix it.
3. Change Indexing options
If you want to change your indexing options, you can choose which locations you want to index. By disabling certain locations from indexing, you might improve yourperformance.
By doing this you can optimize your PC and improve yourperformanceby disabling indexing for the directories that you rarely use.
4. Turn off Indexing for a specific partition
If you want to improve yourperformance, you can disable indexing for an entire partition orhard drive. After doing that, your partition and files on it will be indexed and you’ll be able to search through them.
5. Rebuild Search Index
Sometimes issues with indexing can occur, and your search might become slow or unable to find the desired files. If this happens, your Search Index is most likely corrupted, but you can easily fix that.
After doing that, you just need to wait for a couple of moments while Windows rebuilds your Search Index.
How to turn off indexing Windows 10?
Indexing will be turned off for all the files in your specific drive. If you are using multiple drives, you can repeat the same steps for each one of them.
Should I disable indexing windows 10?
The frequent writing to disk that indexing performs will ultimately slow down SSDs, therefore turning off indexing can increase your performance even if you have an SSD drive.
This is because indexing causes the disk to be written constantly. You will need to entirely disable indexing if you want to experience the full potential of Windows 10/11.
Most users don’t know what to do when theWindows search box goes missing. Readour articleto learn how you can get it back in just a couple of steps.
Windows Indexing is a usefulfeature, and we hope that this article helped you understand how to configure or turn off indexing in Windows 10/11 without the registry, which is another long story.
If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
More about the topics:windows 10
Radu Tyrsina
Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).
For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.
Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.
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