Many Windows 11 users complain that the indexing is painfully slow and takes weeks to index files and e-mails. In this article, I will show you how to fix Windows 11 indexing is painfully slow.
This is a long-running bug, and the primary fix involves deleting the registry key, causing this issue after disabling the Windows Search service. Here is how to do it:
- Type Services in Windows Search and open the Services App:
- In the Services window, right-click on Windows Search and select Stop:
- Now type Registry Editor on Windows and click on Open:
(Before attempting the steps below, I recommend you to back up your registry by clicking on File -> Export, then saving it.) - On the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\PluginResourceData - Right-click on the PluginResourceData folder and select Delete:
- Now reboot your PC.
You should see a much higher indexing speed when searching for files and e-mails.
You don’t need to worry about deleting the PluginResourceData key because Windows will recreate it. If the problem appears again in the future, delete this registry key, as explained above.
(Do you find the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime running multiple instances in Task Manager? I’ve written an article about if it is ok to uninstall Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.)
If this doesn’t work, try to prevent Windows from preventing the index of the content inside your PDF files.
How to Fix Windows 11 Indexing is Slow by Changing Index Properties
Another possible reason your Windows 11 indexing is taking too long is that Windows is trying to index the content inside your PDF files.
If this is the case, you can fix the slow indexing by disabling it (this will disable only the indexing of the content inside PDF files, not the indexing of PDF files.)
To do this, follow the steps below:
- Type Control Panel in Windows Search and click on Open:
- In the Control Panel, click on Indexing options:
- On Indexing options, click on the Advanced button:
- Go to the File Types tab, and click on the PDF file extension.
- Under How should this file be indexed, select Index Properties Only:
- Go to the Index Settings tab and click on Rebuild:
- Click Ok.
Now try to reindex your files and see if it is faster. If this also doesn’t work, you can try to switch to a better file indexer than Windows, like Everything.
To learn more about it, check my article on how to make Windows Search faster.
Conclusion
If your Windows 11 indexing is slow, you can fix it by stopping Windows Search on the Services App and then deleting the PluginResourceDatakey located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\PluginResourceData in the Registry Editor.
You can also try to go to Control Panel -> Indexing Options and change the PDF extension to Index Properties Only, then Rebuild your index.
If nothing else works, switch to Everything, which in my opinion, is way superior to Windows Search, and it is one of the must-have software for Windows.
