Q: Search field stopped returning results
I am trying to search amongst the files on my hard drive, using the window's search field, but it has stopped returning any results. When I run "mdutil -E /" in Terminal it always returns: "Error: Index is already changing state. Please try again in a moment." If I try "mdutil -s -a" it says:
/:
Error: unexpected indexing state. kMDConfigSearchLevelTransitioning
/.MobileBackups:
2015-10-05 13:58:34.351 mdutil[4049:667994] Metadata.framework [Error]: mdsCopyStoreAttributes failed: (8) (os/kern) no access
No index.
/Volumes/MobileBackups:
Index is read-only.
/Volumes/MobileBackups/Backups.backupdb:
Index is read-only.
When I run Cocktail app, it says that "Unable to detect Spotlight indexing status. ""Macintosh HD"" is not accessible, read-only or mdutil (/usr/bin/mdutil) is not working properly."
I've tried restarting, with no change.
I'm not sure what options I have if mdutil is not working? Many thanks in advance for any advice!
MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11)
Posted on Oct 5, 2015 6:05 AM
The following appears to resolve the problem.
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
Credit to http://www.sciencemedianetwork.org/Blog/20130321_Spotlight_fix
Posted on Oct 25, 2015 5:23 PM