How to index and search files within a shared folder using Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 10?

Question

I could not find anything useful on that topic, so I am once again turning to you.

I want to be able to search files on a shared folder using Windows 10. The shared folder is on a file server running Server 2012 R2.

1. The shared folder should be indexed.
2. The search must use an index (fast, cheap) and not search the file system (slow, expensive).
3. The index must be made available by the server and not be created by the client (expensive if having many clients).
4. Must work out-of-the-box or with Microsoft-Tools. No 3rd-Party applications.

I found information that I could add mapped drives to the indexed paths list, but mapped drives do not show up in the selection. Besides, it would violate #3.

I know about the Windows Search feature in Server 2012. I haven't found information on how to use it in cooperation with the clients.

How would I achieve that?

Answer 1

Install the Windows Search Index Service on the server. Then, in the Control Panel, open the Index Options, and and the file shares to the indexed locations.

This should do it.

Pascal

Answer 2

I know this is an old question but I want to answer this as it is still relevant today.

When the server has the "Windows Search" feature installed through the server manager it will be capable of indexing files that it is sharing with the domain/network(in other words stored on its hard drives) and allow a windows 10 computer to utilize the index for search purposes. In the control panel of the server you can access the "Indexing Options" and configure the indexing locations (on the server hard drive that will be shared over the network), the indexing types (i.e. .PDF, .docx ...), content indexed(file name or file name and file contents), and other settings. It is a very strait forward implementation and I would agree that there is a lack of good documentation on this subject.

To answer your question, if you have correctly setup the search on the server then you don't need to do anything on the client to use the servers index assuming that the client is a standard installation and has access to the server shared folder.

Example:

• Install "Windows Search Service" by going to Server Manager -> Manage -> Add Roles and Features -> Select "Windows Search Service" on the features page -> install
• Create a shared folder at "C:\\Shared Folders\Company Files" with the required permissions to access the folder from a client computer
• Open "Indexing Options" and click modify to add the "C:\\Shared Folders\" to the indexing list and click advanced and select "Index Properties and File Contents" for searching inside the documents
• To access this folder over the network from a client computer go to "\\Server\Company Files" and the client computer will utilize the servers index to complete the search. You can monitor the progress of the index in the servers "Indexing Options". Note that you should not have the options "Advanced options"-> "File Content" selected on the client computer. Also it will take some time to complete the indexing and there is a way to remove the limit on the indexer for faster indexing of files.

ISSUE: there is a condition on windows server 2012 r2 essentials that I have not found the resolution to in which the client computer will not use the index on the server. The condition is if you are using the "Shared Folders" in the address like "//fileserver/Shared Folders/Company" instead of "//fileserver/Company" which will utilize the index on the server. I have created a new question to try to resolve this here

Answer 3

I know this is an old thread, but I ran into the same issue recently and figured I'd share what worked for us in case anyone else stumbles on this.

We also needed to search shared folders on a Windows Server (ours was 2016 at the time) without having each client build its own index — which ruled out a lot of options. After trying to work with Windows Search and hitting similar limitations, we ended up going with a lightweight internal tool called Find-e.

It runs on the server, builds the index once, and lets multiple users search it instantly from their own machines — no need for indexing on the client side. Definitely not Microsoft-native, so it might not fit the original criteria, but it was a practical solution in our case.