Indexing Options

[Odom Member]

Hi,

I was wondering if something knows this. On Windows XP you could install Windows Desktop Search and I could add a mapped network drive to be indexed. In fact, if I remember correctly, you could even add a UNC path to be indexed.

I cannot find this in Windows 7, either by UNC nor with a mapped network drive. Am I looking in the wrong places or is this simply not possible? Does anyone know?

Thanks

[Fish]

I'd like to know this too, because I have been unsuccessful in getting Windows to index my drives on my NAS. It wants to create an "offline backup" (a local copy), which completely defeats the purpose of network storage. I can't add my music and films (stored on my NAS) to my Libraries unless it is indexed, rendering Libraries completely useless for me.

[Odom Member]

That is my problem too. I have a NAS and have a folder with my movies, documents, etc... mapped to a drive in my Win 7. But this mapped drive I cannot add to the Index options.

[Singh400]

Hi,

I was wondering if something knows this. On Windows XP you could install Windows Desktop Search and I could add a mapped network drive to be indexed. In fact, if I remember correctly, you could even add a UNC path to be indexed.

I cannot find this in Windows 7, either by UNC nor with a mapped network drive. Am I looking in the wrong places or is this simply not possible? Does anyone know?

Thanks

Had the same problem with my Windows 7 and my WHS box. You need to add the folder(s) to the Windows 7 Libraries first.

My Windows 7 box wouldn't search my 'Music' folder on my WHS box untill I added \\Server\Music to the Music library.

[MarkusDarkus]

If you want to index a mapped drive simply right click it and select make available offline then it will be indexable AFAIK. The only other way is to configure the indexing service on the server.

[Odom Member]

I have a Qnap 409 Turbo NAS, it's not running a Windows OS on it, so I can't enable indexing directly on it.

I think Singh400 might be on the right track, I'll give that a go as soon as I'm home again.

Making the drive available offline, won't that keep a local cached copy? If so, I don't have enough space locally to cache all that data. But I'll look into it.

Thanks a lot for your replies :)

[Singh400]

I think Singh400 might be on the right track, I'll give that a go as soon as I'm home again.

You can add a UNC location via Group Policy, but when I did that it didn't help the situation. The files were still not properly indexed.

I found it odd that Windows 7 didn't supprt adding a UNC path to the index locations. But yet when I RD'ed into my WHS box and checked my index settings there, I could add a UNC path.

Libraries was the only solution to my problem.

[Odom Member]

This patch broke the single sign-on, or pass-through authentication on IE in our environment. If you're installing this in a company network, look out for that. On the other hand, we didn't really have an issue installing it, so far it installed fine on all of the machines that got it. Try also to have a look in the Event Logs, there might be something too.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Windows cannot index UNC / network share locations. Instead, it is preferred that the server run the Windows Search indexer or a similar index supporting the WS remote search protocol.

Unfortunately most standalone NAS drives do not fall into this bucket, which is why USB drives are generally preferred.

That said, you can still add a UNC path to your Music library, but you'll have to do it via an application such as WMP. You cannot do it via Explorer. Once you do this, some Library functionality will be disabled since it requires the included content to be indexed.

[Singh400]

That said, you can still add a UNC path to your Music library, but you'll have to do it via an application such as WMP. You cannot do it via Explorer. Once you do this, some Library functionality will be disabled since it requires the included content to be indexed.

Pretty sure I added mine via explorer...

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Pretty sure I added mine via explorer...

That will only work if it's shared on the server.

[Odom Member]

Well, I tried indexing the mapped network drive by making it available offline, but it is still not working for me. Either I'm doing something wrong, or there is just too much data that is kept to make the files available offline. If this means it's making copies of them locally, then there is no way this will work.

I now disabled everything again and cleared the offline files. It's a shame, having this work in XP with Windows Desktop Search, but not in Windows 7.

[Singh400]

Well, I tried indexing the mapped network drive by making it available offline, but it is still not working for me. Either I'm doing something wrong, or there is just too much data that is kept to make the files available offline. If this means it's making copies of them locally, then there is no way this will work.

I now disabled everything again and cleared the offline files. It's a shame, having this work in XP with Windows Desktop Search, but not in Windows 7.

Did you add "\\Server\Music" to the Music library? You didn't mention if you tried that yet.

[Odom Member]

Sorry Singh400, I forgot to get back to you on that.

I have a secondary HDD with my music and docs, then an external NAS where I sync the entire Documents and Music to. In addition, I have lots of digital pictures, movies, series, iso's, etc... on the NAS. This amounts to a few TB's. My NAS has a built-in media server for music (Twonky).

What I would like to have was to be able to search movies and series via de Start Menu. I can search my music via WMP, that's another way to do it, but it won't do it for series and movies

[Singh400]

Sorry Singh400, I forgot to get back to you on that.

I have a secondary HDD with my music and docs, then an external NAS where I sync the entire Documents and Music to. In addition, I have lots of digital pictures, movies, series, iso's, etc... on the NAS. This amounts to a few TB's. My NAS has a built-in media server for music (Twonky).

What I would like to have was to be able to search movies and series via de Start Menu. I can search my music via WMP, that's another way to do it, but it won't do it for series and movies

Again, libraries is the answer. I just created a Software and Films libraries and after a couple of seconds, the locations \\SERVER\Films and \\SERVER\Software were searchable from the Start Menu. See the screenshot below to see what I mean.

(click here if you can't see it)

[Odom Member]

Good morning Singh,

thanks a lot for the screenshot, I have the same resolution :D

Unfortunately I tried the exact same thing, and for me it is not working. I left the PC turned on for 48 hours, but even after that time it wouldn't find anything in the library. There is one thing still missing from your screenshot, you need to right-click on the mapped drive and make it available offline. Since for you it is showing 27GB, maybe that still fits in your cache. I have over a TB and I think that might be why it won't work for me.

My main disk is a 640GB WD and the pre-alloted space for offline files is 140GB. That might be too low for the offline files, as I saw it filled in no time when I enabled the "Make available offline".

I have some smaller sized shares, I'll try and give one of those a try this evening.

Thanks a lot for your help and patience (Y)

[Singh400]

Unfortunately I tried the exact same thing, and for me it is not working. I left the PC turned on for 48 hours, but even after that time it wouldn't find anything in the library. There is one thing still missing from your screenshot, you need to right-click on the mapped drive and make it available offline. Since for you it is showing 27GB, maybe that still fits in your cache. I have over a TB and I think that might be why it won't work for me.

Making it available off-line defeats the purpose entirely. Besides I've disabled the ability to make off-line copies. Nor are any of my server shares mapped in 'My Computer'.

My main disk is a 640GB WD and the pre-alloted space for offline files is 140GB. That might be too low for the offline files, as I saw it filled in no time when I enabled the "Make available offline".

My main disk is a Samsung F1 750GB, and I've just created a new library called 'TV' comes in at a huge 931GB, then I added "\\SERVER\TV Shows" and I can still search it fine from the Start Menu.

I have some smaller sized shares, I'll try and give one of those a try this evening.

Just a thought - you do have the files set to be indexed don't you? See image below...

[jnelsoninjax]

I just found an article dealing with what you want to do, located here.

[Singh400]

I just found an article dealing with what you want to do, located here.

This is getting very confusing. Does anyone know why I can add UNC locations (ie shares from my WHS box) to Windows 7 Libraries without any hassle at all?

[x-byte]

Didn't the latest Power Pack for WHS add library support?

[Singh400]

Didn't the latest Power Pack for WHS add library support?

Bingo! We have a winner. I guess the big difference is that I am running WHS + PP3, and Odom is just running a standard NAS box (ie; no WHS).

In that case I guess you are stuck Odom. But do take a look at the tool found by jnelsoninjax (Y)

[Odom Member]

Sorry for the late reply, it's been a few busy days.

I gave that tool a go, however it still doesn't make the folder indexable. I added a UNC path to the Video library, but this I could also do without that tool. So, I fail to see the point of having it. It doesn't really allow me to do something I couldn't already do before.

I guess I'm stuck :) ... or I can always re-install XP with Windows Desktop Search :laugh:

Thanks for all your help :) !!