Windows – how to disable indexing service (permanently!), on Windows 2003 R2

indexingsearchservicewindows

We have a Windows 2003 R2 server, and its c: drive keeps filling up. When I look for what's taking the space, I see an almost-2GB EDB file:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb

with an even bigger cousin:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Projects\SystemIndex\SystemIndex.Crwl3.gthr

I've been told that this is the database of the indexing service. I went to Services, found "Indexing service", and disabled it. I also deleted the offending large files. I also made sure that the checkbox for "Indexing Service" was unchecked in the Windows Components Wizard (Add/Remove Windows Components).

But now, some time later (a couple of weeks?), I come back and find the files are back again. The Indexing service is still Disabled in the Services snap-in. The checkbox for "Indexing Service" is still unchecked in the Windows Components Wizard.

However there is a process searchindexer.exe showing in the Task Manager, with oodles of read and write I/O.

How can I get rid of the indexing service, permanently? (But safely…) There is nothing on the server that uses it, that I'm aware of.

Best Answer

OK, I think I found the answer. I discovered there's another service, named Windows Search, on the same server, and that service was "Started". So I disabled it. The searchindexer.exe process then disappeared.

I don't know why there is both an "Indexing Service" and a "Windows Search" service on the same machine, or how they're different, but hopefully things are fixed now.

I guess we'll know for sure after next time we reboot the server. Thanks again for looking at this question.

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