Spotlight does NOT work - tried EVERYTHING

Question

Level 2

280 points

Spotlight does NOT work - tried EVERYTHING

Running older Intel Mac Pro... Mountain Lion

Spotlight just stopped working - it returns nothing but webpage suggestions.

There are NO disks added under the Spotlight System Preferences.
Trying to add and then remove only results in the "Privacy List Error The item couldn't be addred because you don't have the appropriate permissions.
I've rebuilt permissions. No go.
I've killed SystemUIServer in Activities Monitor - nada.
I've used the info here on How to Disable (or Enable) Spotlight in Mac OS X Lion which includes the terminal commands for killing Spotlight, restarting again, and forcing reindexing. Nothing. Well almost nothing- I got it to re-index for a bit last night... But when you use Spotlight.... nothing.

I have an ugly suspicion it has to do with perceived ownership of the disks by the OS - anyone care to take me up on this? Here's why:

I you reveal the hidden files you see this:

When I "Get Info" (Command-I) I see these permissions... the disk first, and then the .Spotlight-V100 folder:

So why does the .Spotlight-V100 say that everyone has "No Access"? But looking at my Mac Mini these settings seem to be correct.

I tried changing ownership on the everyone to "Read" (which didn't work everytime I tried until I started writing this of course) but it just returns the same Privacy Access error when you try to add the disk to the Spotlight Preferences Privacy list again. I tried changing it to Read & Write... same thing.

Now inside the Spotlight-V100 folder is the VolumeConfiguration.plist file - I'm wondering if something in these preferences (which you can read unless you change the setting to "Read" where it is first set 'everyone' as 'no access') might give a clue - so here is the content of that file and I'll leave this for now to see if anyone has any clue what's going on here. Thanks

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<dict>

<key>Annotations</key>

<dict>

<key>Creation_Predicates</key>

<dict>

<key>false</key>

<key>fstype.hfs</key>

<true/>

<key>interconnect.sata</key>

<true/>

<key>is.alreadyindexed</key>

<key>is.automount</key>

<key>is.backupstore</key>

<key>is.backupvolume</key>

<key>is.bootablevolume</key>

<true/>

<key>is.cameramedia</key>

<key>is.diskimage</key>

<key>is.dontbrowse</key>

<key>is.ejectable</key>

<key>is.external</key>

<key>is.externalvolumes.defaultoff</key>

<key>is.externalvolumes.ignore</key>

<key>is.filevault</key>

<key>is.forcedefaultindex</key>

<key>is.forcefsonly</key>

<key>is.internal</key>

<true/>

<key>is.local</key>

<true/>

<key>is.lowdiskspace</key>

<key>is.mirrored.idisk</key>

<key>is.mobilebackups</key>

<key>is.network</key>

<key>is.quarantined</key>

<key>is.readonly</key>

<key>is.removable</key>

<key>is.rootfs</key>

<true/>

<key>is.safeboot</key>

<key>is.syntheticmount</key>

<key>is.tinyvolume</key>

<key>is.windowsbootablevolume</key>

<key>policy.location.volume</key>

<true/>

<key>self.appleinternal</key>

<key>self.server</key>

<key>status.neverindex</key>

<key>supports.catsearch</key>

<true/>

<key>supports.fileids</key>

<true/>

<key>supports.volfs</key>

<true/>

<true/>

<true/>

</dict>

<key>DefaultStore_EffectiveSearch</key>

<key>DefaultStore_RequestedSearch</key>

</dict>

<key>ConfigurationCreationDate</key>

<key>ConfigurationCreationVersion</key>

<string>Version 10.8.2 (Build 12C60)</string>

<key>ConfigurationModificationDate</key>

<key>ConfigurationModificationVersion</key>

<string>Version 10.8.2 (Build 12C60)</string>

<key>Exclusions</key>

<key>Options</key>

<dict>

<key>ConfigurationType</key>

<string>Default</string>

</dict>

<key>Stores</key>

<dict>

<dict>

<key>CreationDate</key>

<key>CreationVersion</key>

<string>Version 10.8.2 (Build 12C60)</string>

<key>IndexVersion</key>

<key>PartialPath</key>

<key>PolicyDate</key>

<key>PolicyLevel</key>

<string>kMDConfigSearchLevelReadWrite</string>

<key>PolicyVersion</key>

<string>Version 10.8.2 (Build 12C60)</string>

</dict>

</plist>

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 14, 2013 8:39 PM

Reply

Answer 1

A. Timleck Author

Level 2

280 points

Feb 14, 2013 8:41 PM in response to A. Timleck

Oh... one last clue maybe... I cloned disks at one point to regain the otherwise blocked space on one disk and DID move the start up disk from one disk to another... I have a sneaky suspicion that that might be the culprit - but how could i detect an "ID" of sorts that refs one disk and shows that this one's settings are not that disk that it "thinks" it is?

Reply

Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Feb 14, 2013 9:31 PM in response to A. Timleck

The permissions of those files are correct. Never change the permissions of any file unless you're absolutely sure you know what you're doing.

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.

Step 1

Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.

Enter "mdworker" (without the quotes) in the Filter text field. Select the most recent 50 or so messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).

If there are long runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.

When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.

Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Step 2

Do the same with the search string "mds".

Reply

Answer 3

A. Timleck Author

Level 2

280 points

Feb 15, 2013 5:42 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc,

Thanks for picking up my thread and offering your insights.

Going to Console and filtering for mdworker reveals no entries what so ever. I recognize mdworker as one of the key components of Spotlight so suggests it's not running. I also see that Console is posting repeated crashes for for

LaunchServices/5123589

here's the full entry:

2/15/13 8:28:20.942 PM ReportCrash[637]: failed looking up LS service ( scCreateSystemService returned MACH_PORT_NULL, called from SetupCoreApplicationServicesCommunicationPort, so using client-side NULL calls.

2/15/13 8:28:20.942 PM ReportCrash[637]: LaunchServices/5123589: Unable to lookup coreservices session port for session 0x186a0 uid=0 euid=0

2/15/13 8:28:20.998 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.metadata.mds[640]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault: 11

2/15/13 8:28:20.998 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.metadata.mds) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

2/15/13 8:28:21.107 PM ReportCrash[637]: Saved crash report for mds[640] version 707.3 to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mds_2013-02-15-202821_COMPUTER_NAME.crash

this certainly appears also to be Spotlight because running this in Terminal...

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

and the crash reports stop. Run this to reload Spotlight...

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

and the errors start again.

This is the crash report noted above - pretty sure this is what you want now - I see no mdsworker but mds errors all through...

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Process: mds [640]

Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadat a.framework/Versions/A/Support/mds

Identifier: mds

Version: 707.3

Code Type: X86-64 (Native)

Parent Process: launchd [1]

User ID: 0

Date/Time: 2013-02-15 20:28:20.498 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.8.2 (12C60)

Report Version: 10

Crashed Thread: 9 Dispatch queue: <MDSDiskStore 0x7fd02500ac00 shutdown:NO got shutdown notification:NO>

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)

Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000008

VM Regions Near 0x8:

-->

__TEXT 000000010514c000-000000010526c000 [ 1152K] r-x/rwx SM=COW /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadat a.framework/Versions/A/Support/mds

Application Specific Information:

[0x105b70000](Error) IndexGeneral in ssize_t fd_pread(fd_ptr, void *, size_t, off_t):pread(-1 , o:0, s:0) err:2

[0x105b70000](Error) IndexCI in _Bool store_stream_init(store_stream_t *, fd_ptr, _Bool):store_stream_init err:2

[0x105b70000](Warning) IndexStore in int db_restore_dirty_chunk_info(int, db_dirty_chunk_info *):Restore error: 2, recovering from shadow

[0x105b70000](Error) IndexState in int _SIOpenIndexFilesWithState(SIRef, uint32_t, _Bool, _Bool, _Bool, _Bool *, DocID *, CIDocCounts *):ContentInde

Thread 0:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86abe686 mach_msg_trap + 10

1 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86abdc42 mach_msg + 70

2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff84b22803 __CFRunLoopServiceMachPort + 195

3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff84b27ee6 __CFRunLoopRun + 1078

4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff84b276b2 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 290

5 mds 0x000000010515aa54 0x10514c000 + 59988

6 libdyld.dylib 0x00007fff8a4327e1 start + 1

Thread 1:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 2:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.libdispatch-manager

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac0d16 kevent + 10

1 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81ddea _dispatch_mgr_invoke + 883

2 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81d9ee _dispatch_mgr_thread + 54

Thread 3:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 4:: Dispatch queue: <MDSDiskStore 0x7fd026826400 shutdown:NO got shutdown notification:NO>

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac0ae6 fsync + 10

1 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x000000010537b38b fd_sync + 381

2 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001053a71d8 _CIMetaInfoSync + 157

3 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001053a73ad CIMetaInfoCreate + 377

4 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052dfbaa SICreateNewIndex + 1106

5 mds 0x0000000105182318 0x10514c000 + 221976

6 mds 0x0000000105181a7a 0x10514c000 + 219770

7 mds 0x0000000105173868 0x10514c000 + 161896

8 mds 0x00000001051cd47e 0x10514c000 + 529534

9 mds 0x00000001051b4962 0x10514c000 + 428386

10 mds 0x00000001051b4b21 0x10514c000 + 428833

11 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81b0b6 _dispatch_client_callout + 8

12 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c47f _dispatch_queue_drain + 235

13 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c2f1 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 52

14 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c1c3 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 249

15 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cab _pthread_wqthread + 404

16 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 5:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 6:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 7:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac0ffa read + 10

1 mds 0x0000000105155ced 0x10514c000 + 40173

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85027742 _pthread_start + 327

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014181 thread_start + 13

Thread 8:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 9 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: <MDSDiskStore 0x7fd02500ac00 shutdown:NO got shutdown notification:NO>

0 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052ecffc SISetTransactionCount + 212

1 mds 0x00000001051f951f 0x10514c000 + 709919

2 mds 0x00000001051fa08f 0x10514c000 + 712847

3 mds 0x0000000105172b82 0x10514c000 + 158594

4 mds 0x0000000105181eb1 0x10514c000 + 220849

5 mds 0x0000000105173868 0x10514c000 + 161896

6 mds 0x00000001051cd47e 0x10514c000 + 529534

7 mds 0x00000001051b4962 0x10514c000 + 428386

8 mds 0x00000001051b4b21 0x10514c000 + 428833

9 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81b0b6 _dispatch_client_callout + 8

10 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c47f _dispatch_queue_drain + 235

11 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c2f1 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 52

12 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c1c3 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 249

13 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cab _pthread_wqthread + 404

14 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 10:: Dispatch queue: <MDSDiskStore 0x7fd026820400 shutdown:NO got shutdown notification:NO>

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86abfb26 __fcntl + 10

1 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86abf0cb fcntl + 232

2 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x000000010537b303 fd_sync + 245

3 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001054164f7 dirty_datastore_locked + 263

4 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x000000010541e025 add_dirty_chunk + 195

5 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x0000000105417b48 page_alloc + 290

6 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x0000000105417987 db2_store_obj + 325

7 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052d730d si_create_indexmetadata + 213

8 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052e5933 SIInitIndex + 15244

9 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052e0bc2 SICreateNewIndex + 5226

10 mds 0x0000000105182318 0x10514c000 + 221976

11 mds 0x0000000105181a7a 0x10514c000 + 219770

12 mds 0x0000000105173868 0x10514c000 + 161896

13 mds 0x00000001051cd47e 0x10514c000 + 529534

14 mds 0x00000001051b4962 0x10514c000 + 428386

15 mds 0x00000001051b4b21 0x10514c000 + 428833

16 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81b0b6 _dispatch_client_callout + 8

17 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c47f _dispatch_queue_drain + 235

18 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c2f1 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 52

19 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c1c3 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 249

20 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cab _pthread_wqthread + 404

21 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 11:: Dispatch queue: <MDSDiskStore 0x7fd027807a00 shutdown:NO got shutdown notification:NO>

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac0fbe pwrite + 10

1 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001053a6f02 _copyFile + 981

2 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001053a70f4 copyFile + 12

3 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x000000010541213d db2_update_datastore_state + 163

4 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052dde36 _SIOpenIndex + 3670

5 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052e0ea8 SIOpenIndex + 282

6 mds 0x0000000105182396 0x10514c000 + 222102

7 mds 0x0000000105181854 0x10514c000 + 219220

8 mds 0x0000000105173868 0x10514c000 + 161896

9 mds 0x00000001051cd47e 0x10514c000 + 529534

10 mds 0x00000001051b4962 0x10514c000 + 428386

11 mds 0x00000001051b4b21 0x10514c000 + 428833

12 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81b0b6 _dispatch_client_callout + 8

13 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c47f _dispatch_queue_drain + 235

14 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c2f1 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 52

15 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c1c3 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 249

16 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cab _pthread_wqthread + 404

17 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 12:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 13:: Dispatch queue: <MDSDiskStore 0x7fd02300ee00 shutdown:NO got shutdown notification:NO>

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac0fbe pwrite + 10

1 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001053a6f02 _copyFile + 981

2 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001053a70f4 copyFile + 12

3 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x000000010541213d db2_update_datastore_state + 163

4 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052dde36 _SIOpenIndex + 3670

5 com.apple.spotlight.index 0x00000001052e0ea8 SIOpenIndex + 282

6 mds 0x0000000105182396 0x10514c000 + 222102

7 mds 0x0000000105181854 0x10514c000 + 219220

8 mds 0x0000000105173868 0x10514c000 + 161896

9 mds 0x00000001051cd47e 0x10514c000 + 529534

10 mds 0x00000001051b4962 0x10514c000 + 428386

11 mds 0x00000001051b4b21 0x10514c000 + 428833

12 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81b0b6 _dispatch_client_callout + 8

13 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c47f _dispatch_queue_drain + 235

14 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c2f1 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 52

15 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8d81c1c3 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 249

16 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cab _pthread_wqthread + 404

17 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 14:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 15:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 16:

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff86ac06d6 __workq_kernreturn + 10

1 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029eec _pthread_workq_return + 25

2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85029cb3 _pthread_wqthread + 412

3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff85014171 start_wqthread + 13

Thread 9 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):

rax: 0x00000000ffffffff rbx: 0x0000000000000000 rcx: 0x0000000000000000 rdx: 0x0000000000000082

rdi: 0x00007fd022829e00 rsi: 0x0000000000000001 rbp: 0x0000000105b6dfd0 rsp: 0x0000000105b6df50

r8: 0x0000000000000024 r9: 0x0000000000000000 r10: 0x00000001054b2ae8 r11: 0x00000001052ecf28

r12: 0x0000000000000100 r13: 0x0000000000000001 r14: 0x00007fd022829e00 r15: 0x00007fd022848c00

rip: 0x00000001052ecffc rfl: 0x0000000000010246 cr2: 0x0000000000000008

Logical CPU: 0

....................................

External Modification Summary:

Calls made by other processes targeting this process:

task_for_pid: 1

thread_create: 0

thread_set_state: 0

Calls made by this process:

task_for_pid: 0

thread_create: 0

thread_set_state: 0

Calls made by all processes on this machine:

task_for_pid: 308

thread_create: 0

thread_set_state: 0

VM Region Summary:

ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=147.5M resident=115.1M(78%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=32.4M(22%)

Writable regions: Total=174.9M written=6084K(3%) resident=7420K(4%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=167.7M(96%)

REGION TYPE VIRTUAL

=========== =======

MALLOC 127.8M

MALLOC guard page 80K

Memory tag=241 136K

Memory tag=243 (reserved) 30.0M reserved VM address space (unallocated)

Memory tag=244 320K

STACK GUARD 56.1M

Stack 16.1M

VM_ALLOCATE 8K

__DATA 12.1M

__IMAGE 528K

__LINKEDIT 53.7M

__TEXT 93.8M

__UNICODE 544K

mapped file 18.6M

shared memory 308K

=========== =======

TOTAL 410.1M

TOTAL, minus reserved VM space 380.1M

Reply

Answer 4

A. Timleck Author

Level 2

280 points

Feb 15, 2013 6:26 PM in response to A. Timleck

So reading through some other posts that you've contributed to Linc...

I have little doubt you'll find the index is corrupt. But then I can't use the re-index method suggested (dragging drives to the Privacy window in Spotlight prefs and then removing them again.). So I first quit the Spotlight server

sudo mdutil -a -i off

then went ahead and deleted the .Spotlight-100 folders on the three partitions. Then I restarted indexing using

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

It produced this messages in the Console

2/15/13 9:20:06.777 PM mds[754]: (Error) DiskStore: Unable to create/find index location 285FB7C8-F524-4AF8-AD02-6BA63AB587E4 0

2/15/13 9:20:13.776 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[16]: Session 100005 created

2/15/13 9:20:15.178 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[16]: Session 100012 created

2/15/13 9:23:51.278 PM WindowServer[164]: CoreAnimation: context hosting changed while locked!

which suggests to me it did create new indices after not finding the earlier ones since they were deleted. And now it is re-indexing.

We'll see where this gets us but I got this far before and it did little good. BTW, I also checked for 3rd party plug-ins in the Spotlight folder and nothing that wasn't very recent and intel.

Reply

Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Feb 15, 2013 6:40 PM in response to A. Timleck

I'm assuming you have adequate backups.

Delete the directory named ".Spotlight-V100" at the top level of each mounted HFS volume. You seem to know how to do that safely. Reboot and test.

If mds continues to crash, boot in safe mode and test, then reboot as usual and test again.

Reply

Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Feb 15, 2013 6:42 PM in response to A. Timleck

So mds is not crashing now?

Reply

Answer 7

A. Timleck Author

Level 2

280 points

Feb 15, 2013 6:53 PM in response to Linc Davis

Well this is a happy sight for a change...

No mds isn't crashing. I am checking the console log as it indexes and see some problem files being reported by mdworker. But Spotlight is def. back from the dead.

only an error for quicktime - keeps being repeated constantly

2/15/13 9:46:12.759 PM com.apple.quicklook.satellite[1049]: Failed to communicate with qtkitserver: Connection invalid

but that one is for "another day"

Thanks for the help and guidance Linc - much, much appreciated.

only an error for quicktime -

2/15/13 9:46:12.759 PM com.apple.quicklook.satellite[1049]: Failed to communicate with qtkitserver: Connection invalid

but that one is for "another day"

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Answer 8

Feb 15, 2013 7:13 PM in response to Linc Davis

Eaiser than deleting the directory is just doing a "sudo mdutil -E /" from the command line.

mdutil can probably shed all sorts of light on what's going on, and mdfind from the command line can indicate whether spotlight is working and there's an issue between the spotlight database and Finder or another service.

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Answer 9

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Feb 15, 2013 7:22 PM in response to A. Timleck

Those log messages are routine and don't necessarily indicate a problem. No log message is a problem in itself.

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