How to fix “Indexing is Paused” error in Windows 11 system

If you want quick access to your files, Windows 11’s indexing feature is essential, but the operating system will occasionally suspend it for no apparent reason.

The indexing feature in Windows allows you to locate your files and directories quickly and easily.
Your Windows search results would take a long time to complete if the tool didn’t exist.

Windows 11 users have recently complained that indexing has been suspended on their machines, preventing them from using the search feature.
If you are in a similar scenario, the troubleshooting methods below will help you quickly identify and fix the problem.

Restart Search Service

Since this issue is directly related to the Windows 11 search service, the first thing you should do is restart it using Windows Services.
Windows Services is a built-in tool that displays a list of all services installed on your system, as well as their statuses and startup types.

There are times when a feature in Windows 11 stops working due to a problem with the associated service, it may be disabled or stuck.
The most effective approach in these situations is to restart the service.

To do this, follow these steps:

To open Run, press Win + R at the same time.
In the text field of the Run dialog, type services. MSC and press Enter.
Find and right-click Windows Search when you’re in the Services window.
Select Properties from the context menu.
Select Automatic ( Delayed Start ) from the drop-down menu associated with the start type ( Automatic-Delayed Start ).
Then press Ok after clicking the Start button.
If the service is currently running, press the Stop button and then the Start button to restart it.
Alternatively, you can restart the search service from the task manager.
Go to the Services tab in Task Manager after you start it.
In the Background Processes section, find Search/WSearch and right-click on it. Select Restart
from the context menu.

Hopefully crawling will restart on your Windows 11 PC as a result of this.

Run the Search and Indexing Troubleshooter

Microsoft provides many built-in troubleshooting applications in each version of Windows that may be useful in these situations.
If you’re like most Windows users who run into problems from time to time, you’re probably already familiar with the SFC and DISM programs.

Windows also has its collection of specific troubleshooting tools, including those for audio, Windows updates, network, power, indexing, keyboard issues, etc.

If the search service is up and running, you can use the Search and Indexing Troubleshooter to fix the problem.
According to sources, Microsoft is aware of the indexing issues faced by Windows 11 users and has offered automatic patches that can be applied through the troubleshooter.

The indexing troubleshooter can be used as follows:

To launch Windows settings, press Win + I simultaneously.
Select System in the left pane, then Troubleshoot on the right.
Other troubleshooters should be selected.
Scroll down to the Other area in the next box and select the Run option associated with Search and Indexing.
Then, in the window that follows, select the issues you are facing and click Next.
The troubleshooter will then start looking for potential problems.
If any problems are found, you will have the choice to either apply the patch or ignore it anyway.
Select the Apply this fix option for the fix.

You can now restart your computer to see if the problem is resolved.

Reindex the browser

A crawling problem in your system could be the source of the problem.
This is most common on systems that do not fully meet Windows 11 requirements.
If you installed the latest version of the operating system on incompatible hardware, you should try rebuilding the search index to see if that helps.

The current contents of the index will be removed and the index will be rebuilt to its default state.

Here’s what you should do:

Start the Control Panel and look for indexing in the search box.
From the search results, select Indexing Options.
Click the Advanced button at the bottom of the next window.
Click the Rebuild button in the Advanced Options menu.
Click on the Ok button.
Windows will begin rebuilding the indexes immediately.

Depending on the data stored on your device, this process may take some time.
We recommend that you wait until the process is complete before using the search tool.

Let Outlook use the built-in search function

If you have indexing problems with Outlook, you can force it to use its built-in search instead of relying on Windows Search.

Since Windows does not have explicit settings for this, we will have to rely on a more complex tool called the Windows registry, in English Registry.
To be safe, we recommend that you back up your registry or use system restore software to create a restore point before proceeding, as Registry Editor is an administrative-level utility.

To open the Run dialog, press Win + R.
In the text field of the dialog, type Regedit and press Enter.
Navigate to the following location in the registry editor.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
From the context menu, right-click the Windows key and select New – > Key.
This key should be called Windows Search.
After that, double-click on it.
Select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value (New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value) from the right-click menu on a space in the right pane.
Rename to value PreventIndexingOutlook.
Double-click PreventIndexingOutlook and type 1 in the Value data field.
Close the Registry after clicking Ok.

Restart your computer after you’re done.
Run Outlook after the restart and check if you can use the search tool without any problems.