how to reset/restart Spotlight indexing??

Question

Level 2

219 points

how to reset/restart Spotlight indexing??

I just updated to 10.6.6 and now my Spotlight search turns up nothing. How do I reset it? I tried

% sudo mdutil -i on /

and got

Spotlight server is disabled.

I also can't do the thing where you add and then remove a volume to the Spotlight privacy preference pane - it says

Privacy list error
The item couldn't be added or removed because of an unknown error

What do I do??

thanks,

Mike

Intel Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Feb 21, 2011 8:19 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Feb 21, 2011 12:03 PM in response to Michael Levin

Try:

sudo mdutil -E /

and restart. If that doesn't do the trick, try:

sudo mdutil -E /Volumes/*

and restart. If still no go, download and install the 10.6.6 COMBO update.

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Answer 2

k.panic

Level 3

605 points

Feb 21, 2011 12:13 PM in response to Michael Levin

you can also try

sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100

That'll remove your spotlight index forcing a reindex of your drive. That's the gist of what adding your drive to the privacy pane does.
Just be careful with rm -rf.

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Answer 3

Michael Levin Author

Level 2

219 points

Feb 21, 2011 12:30 PM in response to k.panic

sudo mdutil -E / and /Volumes/*

both produced "Spotlight server is disabled"

sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100

gave no errors, but I don't see anything happening. Now that the spotlight database is deleted, how do I get indexing going again?

I'll try the combo update...

thanks,

Mike

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Answer 4

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Feb 21, 2011 12:34 PM in response to Michael Levin

*sudo mdutil -i on /*

should do the trick.

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Answer 5

Michael Levin Author

Level 2

219 points

Feb 21, 2011 12:36 PM in response to baltwo

baltwo wrote:
*sudo mdutil -i on /*
should do the trick.

gives

Spotlight server is disabled.

😟

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Answer 6

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Feb 21, 2011 12:52 PM in response to Michael Levin

Indicating that the mds processes is borked. Download and install the 10.6.6 COMBO update.

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Answer 7

Michael Levin Author

Level 2

219 points

Feb 21, 2011 1:14 PM in response to baltwo

baltwo wrote:
Indicating that the mds processes is borked. Download and install the 10.6.6 COMBO update.

I just did... Still getting

sudo mdutil -E /

I then tried something I just found on-line:

% cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
% sudo launchctl load -w com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

and it appears to be indexing. Let's see how it goes...

thanks,

Mike

Message was edited by: Michael Levin

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