Privacy and Security Add or Remove Search Index Locations in Windows 11


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Search_Index_Locations_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove locations to be excluded or included in the search index in Windows 11.

Indexing the content of your PC helps you get faster results when your searching it for files, emails, or other local content.

The search index only includes your selected locations[/B] by default. These locations can be filtered for what file types (extensions), file properties, and file contents you want indexed.

You can choose to use Classic or Enhanced search indexing mode for where your PC will search for files.
  • Classic = Search only your Documents, Pictures, and Music folders plus the desktop.
  • Enhanced = Search your entire PC (may affect battery life and CPU consumption). PC must be plugged in for initial indexing.

If you select a removable media (ex: USB flash drive) location to be included in the index, it will only be included while the removable media is connected. If you disconnect the removable media, it will automatically be included in the index the next time it is reconnected.

The index will not include search results from any drive or partition with the A and B drive letter, even if you add their location to the index. This is because the A and B drive letters are reserved for floppy drives. Since a floppy drive is considered to be a removable device, it will not be indexed. Even if this is a hard drive you assigned with the A or B drive letter, it will still be treated the same.



Contents

  • Option One: Add or Remove Excluded Locations for Enhanced Search Index in Settings
  • Option Two: Add or Remove Excluded and Included Locations for Search Index in Indexing Options




Option One

Add or Remove Excluded Locations for Enhanced Search Index in Settings


You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

This option is only applied to enhanced search for all users.


1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Searching Windows on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Exclude_search_index_locations_Settings-1.png

3 Do step 4 (add) or step 5 (remove) below for what you want.

4 Add Excluded Folder or Drive

A) Click/tap on the Add an excluded folder button under Exclude folders from enhanced search. (see screenshot below)​

Exclude_search_index_locations_Settings-2.png

B) Navigate to and select the folder or drive you want to exclude, and click/tap on Select Folder. (see screenshot below)​

C) When finished added excluded locations, go to step 6 below.​

Exclude_search_index_locations_Settings-3.png

5 Remove Excluded Folder or Drive

A) Click/tap on the 3 dots button to the right of the excluded folder or drive you want to remove. (see screenshot below)​

B) Click/tap on Remove. (see screenshot below)​

C) When finished removing excluded locations, go to step 6 below.​

Exclude_search_index_locations_Settings-4.png

6 You can now close Settings if you like.




Option Two

Add or Remove Excluded and Included Locations for Search Index in Indexing Options


1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Searching Windows on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Exclude_search_index_locations_Settings-1.png

3 Click/tap on Advanced indexing options under Related settings. (see screenshot below)

Index_Options-a.png

4 You can now close Settings if you like.

5 Click/tap on Modify. (see screenshot below)

Index_Options-1.png

6 If you want to apply to all users, click/tap on Show all locations. (see screenshot below)

You must be signed in as an administrator to Show all locations.

If you do not click/tap on Show all locations, this will only be applied to the current user.


Index_Options-2.png

7 Perform the following actions to include and exclude locations: (see screenshot below)
  1. Uncheck folder(s) and drive(s) locations you do not want included in the search index.
  2. Check folder(s) and drive(s) locations you want to include in the search index.
  3. Uncheck subfolders(s) under a checked folder location to exclude the unchecked subfolder(s).
  4. Click/tap on OK when finished.
Index_Options-3.png

8 Click/tap on Close. (see screenshot below)

Index_Options-4.png


That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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@Brink is there any way to make it via reg settings option to add indexing location/drive permanently via reg file inserting into the iso so that user don't have to do that manually after clean install?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro Latest Retail Build
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self-Assembled Intel 12th Gen based Desktop PC
    CPU
    i5-125400
    Motherboard
    ASUS TUF GAMING B660 Wifi D4
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 32 GB [16GB x2 Dual Channel] @3200Mhz CL16
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5X OC Edition
    Sound Card
    Motherboard Realtek UDA DTS Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC 24 Inch LED
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1080 (Full HD)
    Hard Drives
    1. SSD: NVME M.2 2280 Gen3x4 WD Blue SN570 250GB
    2. HDD: Seagate 2TB @5400
    PSU
    Cooler Master Extreme 600W
    Case
    Gigabyte C200
    Cooling
    6 Arctic Chassis Fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech K295 Wireless M&K Combo
    Mouse
    Logitech Gaming G102 LightSync
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbps Fiber Broadband
    Browser
    Chrome+Firefox (Latest always)
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security (Latest always)
    Other Info
    MyDesk
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro Latest Build
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self-Assembled Intel 13th Gen based Desktop PC
    CPU
    Intel 13th Gen i5-13600KF
    Motherboard
    MSI MAG B760 Tomahawk WIFI D4
    Memory
    Crucial Ballistix DDR4 32GB [16GB x2 Dual Channel] @3600 CL16
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC
    Sound Card
    Motherboard Realtek UDA DTS Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hisense 43" 4K TV
    Screen Resolution
    4096 * 2160 (4K)
    Hard Drives
    1. SSD1: NVME PCI-e Gen4x4 Kingstone KC3000 [500 GB]
    2. SSD2: NVME PCI-e Gen4x4 Adata XPG S70 Blade [1 TB]
    3. HDD 1: Seagate 4 TB
    4. HDD 2: WD BLUE 1TB
    PSU
    Cooler Master MWE V2 650W Gold Fully Modular
    Case
    Cooler Master MasterBox MB540 ARGB
    Cooling
    Deepcool AK400 Zero Dark Edition (with 5 Arctic 120mm & 240mm Case Fans)
    Mouse
    Logitech G304 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbps Optical Fiber Broadband
    Browser
    Google+Firefox (Latest)
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security (Latest)
    Other Info
    MyDesk-Gaming
@Brink is there any way to make it via reg settings option to add indexing location/drive permanently via reg file inserting into the iso so that user don't have to do that manually after clean install?
I'm not aware of a way so far. :(
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
In step 6, Under "Change selected location" I'm seeing what looks like User Account SID numbers that are selected.
In addition to seeing "Data (C:\)", "Local Disk (C:\)" and "Microsoft Outlook", I'm seeing:
"csc://(S-1-5-21-(long string of numbers)-1002)/"
"csc://(S-1-5-21-(long string of numbers)-500)/"
"dp://(S-1-5-21-(long string of numbers)-1002)/"

Hovering the curser over them pops up the message "This location is unavailable. Uncheck it to stop finding items that used to be there."
I can easily unselect them but what's the proper way to clean this up system wide? Are there remnants in the registry related to these accounts?

I may have enabled the administrator account early in the windows installation process (maybe one of the steps to get past the 5 character username limit) but I think I disabled it when I was done. I also switched from a Microsoft login to a local login 2 weeks after the initial installation.

Let me know if there's anything else I should be looking for that needs to be cleaned up.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    i9-13900K
    Motherboard
    ProArt Z790
    Memory
    64 GB
In step 6, Under "Change selected location" I'm seeing what looks like User Account SID numbers that are selected.
In addition to seeing "Data (C:\)", "Local Disk (C:\)" and "Microsoft Outlook", I'm seeing:
"csc://(S-1-5-21-(long string of numbers)-1002)/"
"csc://(S-1-5-21-(long string of numbers)-500)/"
"dp://(S-1-5-21-(long string of numbers)-1002)/"

Hovering the curser over them pops up the message "This location is unavailable. Uncheck it to stop finding items that used to be there."
I can easily unselect them but what's the proper way to clean this up system wide? Are there remnants in the registry related to these accounts?

I may have enabled the administrator account early in the windows installation process (maybe one of the steps to get past the 5 character username limit) but I think I disabled it when I was done. I also switched from a Microsoft login to a local login 2 weeks after the initial installation.

Let me know if there's anything else I should be looking for that needs to be cleaned up.
Hello geobrick, :alien:

I'd just leave them unchecked, and not worry about it. Trying to remove them could easily break something.

-500 would be for the GUID for the built-in "Administrator".
-1002 would usually be for a second account (local or Microsoft).
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium

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