Solved Fresh Install Windows 11 24H2 with constant MS Windows Search Indexer process.

A few days ago I finished a new desktop PC build, where I installed a Windows 11 ISO image sourced via the media creation site.
All was going fine, with the base drivers installed, and I was gearing up to start all the other software installation.
The PC achieved idle temps of around 45C, which I was happy with for a Ryzen 9 7900x. I ran Cinebench 23 and 24 and consistently achieved max CPU temps of around +-85C.

As I started various utility app software when I noticed that the case fans ramped up and CPU temps hovered around 65C-70C. At that point, I incorrectly assumed that I may have incorrectly applied the thermal paste, so I went ahead and I reapplied the thermal paste to the CPU twice before I realised that is not the issue. I did a full antivirus and anti-malware scan, and nothing was coming up.

I finally looked in the Windows Task Manager's Processes tab and found that Windows Search Indexer was running constantly with around 7 - 15% CPU usage. This increased the CPU temps as well as the case & AIO radiator fans. It's been two days now and the PC only returns to the idle temps when I completely shut down Windows Search Indexer.

I've run the troubleshooter for the search function and that didn't help. I shut down the indexer and rebuilt it in order to delete any corruption, but this didn't help.

I ran the SCF /scannow and the various DISM commands from an elevated command prompt, and this has not stopped the indexer from running constantly.

I've even downloaded another Windows 11 ISO image and did Windows clean (running it while logged into Windows 11) and this didn't help.

At this point, I'm so annoyed by all this that I'm seriously considering a fresh install and reverting to Windows 11 23H2, which is installed on a different PC, and I've never experienced this behaviour. Even on other computers I installed earlier versions of Windows 11, has this been an issue.

Anyone who can suggest something else I can try (before a full clean install), I would appreciate it.

Hello @OverDose and welcome to ElevenForum.

It seems you are an "Insider". I don't know if you intended that or not.
But if you didn't... there are ways around that.
<---------- Latest non-Insider build.


First... here's ten cookies for filling out your computer specs.

Second... In my opinion, "Indexing" is not worth the hassle. I just disable it.








_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here's some other things that you may find useful...

Ghot said:

Hello @OverDose and welcome to ElevenForum.

Click to expand...

Hi @Ghot and thanks for the welcome, even though I've been around for a minute (last year sometime).

Ghot said:

It seems you are an "Insider". I don't know if you intended that or not.
But if you didn't... there are ways around that.

Stop Getting Insider Preview Builds on Windows 11 PC

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off stop getting Insider preview builds of Windows 11 on your Windows 11 PC. Flighting is the process of running Windows Insider Preview Builds on your device. When you run these early versions of Windows and give Microsoft feedback, you can help...

www.elevenforum.com

<---------- Latest non-Insider build.

Click to expand...

Errr... I don't think I'm an "insider", but let me recheck this version number and I'll correct this later. I'm not near the computer this was installed on. If am an "insider", they (who shall not be named) have succeeded in making me feel like an outsider over something I've confidently done many times before. if not, one less "problem". If I am, I'll look at the workaround you shared.

Ghot said:

First... here's ten cookies for filling out your computer specs.

Click to expand...

Thanks. At this rate, I'll even take those cookies as an interim measure.

Ghot said:

Second... In my opinion, "Indexing" is not worth the hassle. I just disable it.

Enable or Disable Search Indexing in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable search indexing for all users in Windows 10 and 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...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

There's mixed views on this, some strongly anti-disabling, versus those in favour of disabling (and using 3rd party apps like "Everything"). What are the pros and cons to disabling Search Indexing and using "Everything", just until the issue maybe has an update that fixes the perpetual indexing "bug"?

Ghot said:

Here's some other things that you may find useful...

Quickie Eleven Forum Setup Guide for new Members

Quickie Interface tour... Quickie set up... At the top right, click on your name, then choose "Preferences". Then go through everything on the left side. Quickie navigation... Click Forums and choose a subforum, OR... Click Forums, then New Posts or What's New Ranks, Trophies...

www.elevenforum.com

Macrium Reflect, AOMEI Backupper and Hasleo Backup Suite - GUIDES

How to use backup software... 1. When everything is working perfectly... make a full Windows backup. 2. Then, if something breaks... restore from the latest backup. 3. Then... try "whatever you were doing" a different way. If it still breaks Windows, then... go to step #2. 4. Repeat...

www.elevenforum.com

Windows 11 Tweaks - Leader Board.

These are tweaks I've seen asked for... many times. They are collected here for easy access. All of these and more can be found in the Eleven Forum Tutorials section. Make sure to read the "notes" in the various tutorials. At the bottom of the first post in all the "tutorials", there are...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll check these out once my fresh build stops trying to cook whatever is going on inside.

OverDose said:

What are the pros and cons to disabling Search Indexing

Click to expand...

That install is definitely "Insider". I can tell from the build number.
The latest non-Insider build is 26100.2314
(I'm going by the build number at the bottom of your 1st post)

I have no idea of the pros and cons, aside from the obvious. Indexing is supposed to make searches faster.
I remove Microsoft "improvements" as soon as MS invents them.
I honestly haven't seen any that I would consider an improvement.

Your mileage may differ.

Ghot said:

That install is definitely "Insider". I can tell from the build number.
The latest non-Insider build is 26100.2314

Click to expand...

I meant let me check what the actual build number W11 24H2 install I have is, as I suspect I've stated an incorrect number when posting here. I'll confirm this later on. I left the machine off as it was just writing about 100GB a day to the primary SSD, so I can't remote access it at the moment.

Ghot said:

I have no idea of the pros and cons, aside from the obvious. Indexing is supposed to make searches faster.
I remove Microsoft's "improvements" as soon as MS invents them.
I honestly haven't seen any that I would consider an improvement.

Your mileage may differ.

Click to expand...

Noted. At this point, the sound of jet engines when booting to my desktop is not fun.

Many of the regulars on here, use 3rd party search apps, which are supposed to be... lightning fast.

I believe @Bree uses one, he may stop by to comment.

Ghot said:

Many of the regulars on here, use 3rd party search apps, which are supposed to be... lightning fast.

I believe @Bree uses one, he may stop by to comment.

Click to expand...

No, not a search app as such. What you may be thinking of is that I use TreeSizeFree when I want to look inside folders that the system won't allow File Explorer to open, such as 'System Volume Information'. Rather than the risky business of taking ownership of system folders and changing permissions, I run TreeSizeFree as an administrator. It can then see inside these 'super restricted' folders.

One of the first things that I do on a clean install is disable Windows Search (via services.msc), uncheck "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" on the Properties page of all local hard drives (can take a bit if there is a lot of files on the drive, but if you've already done that on your Data drive you don't need to do it again), and install Voidtools Everything and the Everything Toolbar. This gives me a better search function that what MS installed that takes less system resources and is fast. The toolbar puts a search function on my Taskbar that I can use anytime.

I also add my NAS drives to that as well so I can search them easily, but that is an extra step that most people don't need.

OverDose said:

I meant let me check what the actual build number W11 24H2 install I have is, as I suspect I've stated an incorrect number when posting here. I'll confirm this later on. I left the machine off as it was just writing about 100GB a day to the primary SSD, so I can't remote access it at the moment.

Click to expand...

@Ghot - Ok, I just checked and am also on Windows 11 24H2 version 26100.2314, not the version stated in my original post.

Taliseian said:

One of the first things that I do on a clean install is disable Windows Search (via services.msc), uncheck "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" on the Properties page of all local hard drives (can take a bit if there is a lot of files on the drive, but if you've already done that on your Data drive you don't need to do it again), and install Voidtools Everything and the Everything Toolbar. This gives me a better search function that what MS installed that takes less system resources and is fast. The toolbar puts a search function on my Taskbar that I can use anytime.

I also add my NAS drives to that as well so I can search them easily, but that is an extra step that most people don't need.

Click to expand...

@Taliseian / @Ghot —Well, I've just disabled the Window Search Indexer, and as much as the Search Index has stopped showing up and causing CPU usage spikes, other processes like Powershell and Anti-Malware services keep causing similar 5 - 7% CPU usage spikes. Nothing hectic, but the CPU does not ever reach a steady 1% idle, as it does on my other system running 23H2 + Ryzen 9 5900x.

At this point, I'm figuring there's something "off" about the install or perhaps some Motherboard BIOS setting—I'm not entirely sure—so I'm going to reinstall Windows 11 24H2 version 26100.2314 again and keep a closer eye on it when this issue starts happening.

At this point, I'm not ruling out MSI Centre which I installed, when I started removing the recently installed app, I could not fully uninstall MSI Centre without MSI's Cleaner utility offered by MSI, which was a whole other topic.

I'll come back with any updates on this.

OverDose said:

At this point, I'm not ruling out MSI Centre which I installed, when I started removing the recently installed app, I could not fully uninstall MSI Centre without MSI's Cleaner utility offered by MSI, which was a whole other topic.

Click to expand...

Do NOT install any MSI motherboard utilities.
Any time you build a computer... don't install the motherboard utilities.

Once Windows is installed and running properly... AND after you have made a full OS backup... THEN you can play around with motherboard utilities. And when they mess up, you can just restore from your backup.


REVO Uninstaller can uninstall just about anything.
It offers to "Scan" for leftovers during each uninstall. Always use that tool and remove everything it finds.



Yes, I would do a clean install.
Disconnect the internet before reinstalling Windows.
Unhook all other drives except the one you're installing Windows on.

Ghot said:

Do NOT install any MSI motherboard utilities.
Any time you build a computer... don't install the motherboard utilities.

Once Windows is installed and running properly... AND after you have made a full OS backup... THEN you can play around with motherboard utilities. And when they mess up, you can just restore from your backup.


REVO Uninstaller can uninstall just about anything.
It offers to "Scan" for leftovers during each uninstall. Always use that tool and remove everything it finds.

Revo Uninstaller Free

Download Revo Uninstaller Free helps you to uninstall software and remove unwanted programs easily. Remove all uninstall leftovers and traces

www.revouninstaller.com

Yes, I would do a clean install.
Disconnect the internet before reinstalling Windows.
Unhook all other drives except the one you're installing Windows on.

Clean Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

Strangely, this is the first time I ever installed Motherboard utilities ever since doing various PC builds, and I do regret it.
But the MSI Centre puppy was uninstalled with Revo, and it didn't go away completely, as a remnant would still autostart when booting.
So fresh install it is then.

So, am happy to report that a fresh install of Windows 11 24H2, along with all the device drivers has resolved the problem. I'm still unsure what caused the original issue that led me to create this post, but the system processes when idle, are what I'm generally used to on all other builds I've done.
@Ghot - Thanks for your responses and the additional links you shared. I'll make a system image to preserve this state, just in case.

OverDose said:

I'll make a system image to preserve this state

Click to expand...

Nice. ^^