Cannot add network folder to Documents library

[WANguy2k]

I'm a network admin. I've created a %username\documents folder for all users and applied the necessary security. For most users, I make this folder available offline and I am able to include it in their Documents library.

For the last two users I did this, but was unable to include folder in Documents, getting the error that it's not indexed. On the server, the drive and subfolders are all able to be indexed in the settings. The folder is successfully syncing to the computer. But I still get the error that the folder is not indexed.

I disabled syncing on the computer, added the formatdatabase reg key to the computer, restarted, turned on offline folders, set the folder to sync again, completed the sync, still can't add it to the Documents library.

Then, in case there was some kind of corruption on the files on the server, I deleted the network folder, turned off offline files on the PC, cleared the offline files cache, created a new documents folder on the server with the correct permissions, turned on offline files, synced the empty folder to the PC, and tried to add the new network documents folder to the documents library on the PC. Failed because the empty folder isn't indexed. Again.

Any Ideas?

 

[xwb]

Here's a wacky idea. Try putting in a dummy file. May be just one of those silly things that it wants something to index. Then once it works, delete the file.

 

[cdogg]

Just curious, but what if one of those two uses signs into a PC where it has worked fine for another user? That would tell you if it's a local operating system issue or a network-related one.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

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[cdogg]

Above, that should have read "one of those two users

 

[WANguy2k]

Fixed it.

I needed to turn on the Windows Search feature on to make this work. You can synchronize files without it, but apparently indexing needs Windows Search to work. Which is weird, because the Windows search service can be disabled and it still works.

I rolled out a group policy to disable the windows search service because people were complaining about their PCs slowing down during reindexing. This didn't affect the ability to sync network drives or include them in libraries.

On the two machines on which I was having the problem Windows search had been uninstalled from programs and features (which doesn't really uninstall it, just hides it in Windows features.)

Conclusion: OK to disable the windows search service, don't uninstall or turn off the feature.`