Vista & indexing network drives

According to Vista's help system in the final release, Vista does not index
the contents of network shares. It also doesn't appear to ask for help from
Windows Server 2003 indexing service, when those files are indexed on the
server. I have not been able to discover a way to do a fast search through
the full content of files in a folder on a server.

Is this really true? If so, this is a huge disappointment and a big step
backwards from Windows XP with Windows Desktop Search. I have many clients
running Small Business Server, with a central repository of company files,
and My Document folders redirected onto the server. Vista will index offline
files, I assume, but I can't run Company folders in offline mode on every
workstation. These are small businesses that shouldn't have to buy third
party search appliances.

I have to be missing something. How can I index the contents of network
folders in Vista?

I've been trying to find information online. As near as I can tell, indexing
network shares was removed from Vista at some point during the beta/RC cycle.
One comment by a developer suggests that the reason is that it doesn't scale
well for hundreds of users to be reaching into the same folders continuously.

That may be true, but I work with businesses that have 15-20 users who
immediately realized the power of finding company documents instantly with
Windows Desktop Search. This single omission will cause them to postpone or
avoid Vista.

It makes me wonder if Microsoft's promotional language is out of date. For
example, on the Vista web site: "Windows Vista helps organizations
effectively manage complex data collections and provides new search
capabilities so that users can quickly find almost anything on their computer
_or company servers_."
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...s/finduse.mspx

That isn't really true, is it?

Arrggh!

I agree. This was a huge letdown for me and my company. 20 users on 1
server, 8 on the second. It would have been great to have the network
drives indexed. As it is, it's still a nice search feature, but if the
network drives could be indexed....WOW it would have been nice.

--
"Hurricane" Andrew
Milford, DE

"Valisystem" <Valisystem@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:62C5A9BF-BED1-4F00-A772-C4B54649A4B5@microsoft.com...
> I've been trying to find information online. As near as I can tell,
> indexing
> network shares was removed from Vista at some point during the beta/RC
> cycle.
> One comment by a developer suggests that the reason is that it doesn't
> scale
> well for hundreds of users to be reaching into the same folders
> continuously.
>
> That may be true, but I work with businesses that have 15-20 users who
> immediately realized the power of finding company documents instantly with
> Windows Desktop Search. This single omission will cause them to postpone
> or
> avoid Vista.
>
> It makes me wonder if Microsoft's promotional language is out of date. For
> example, on the Vista web site: "Windows Vista helps organizations
> effectively manage complex data collections and provides new search
> capabilities so that users can quickly find almost anything on their
> computer
> _or company servers_."
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...s/finduse.mspx
>
> That isn't really true, is it?
>
> Arrggh!

Perhaps we'll see this out-of-band when Longhorn server arrives?
Ah, another Vista disappointment!

"Hurricane Andrew" <hurricane_andrew@verizon_no_spam.net> wrote in message
news:en8eJlmHHHA.536@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I agree. This was a huge letdown for me and my company. 20 users on 1
>server, 8 on the second. It would have been great to have the network
>drives indexed. As it is, it's still a nice search feature, but if the
>network drives could be indexed....WOW it would have been nice.
>
> --
> "Hurricane" Andrew
> Milford, DE
>
> "Valisystem" <Valisystem@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:62C5A9BF-BED1-4F00-A772-C4B54649A4B5@microsoft.com...
>> I've been trying to find information online. As near as I can tell,
>> indexing
>> network shares was removed from Vista at some point during the beta/RC
>> cycle.
>> One comment by a developer suggests that the reason is that it doesn't
>> scale
>> well for hundreds of users to be reaching into the same folders
>> continuously.
>>
>> That may be true, but I work with businesses that have 15-20 users who
>> immediately realized the power of finding company documents instantly
>> with
>> Windows Desktop Search. This single omission will cause them to postpone
>> or
>> avoid Vista.
>>
>> It makes me wonder if Microsoft's promotional language is out of date.
>> For
>> example, on the Vista web site: "Windows Vista helps organizations
>> effectively manage complex data collections and provides new search
>> capabilities so that users can quickly find almost anything on their
>> computer
>> _or company servers_."
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...s/finduse.mspx
>>
>> That isn't really true, is it?
>>
>> Arrggh!
>

It's taken me a while to put it all together. Vista can read the indexes
maintained by another Vista computer, and - more importantly - it will be
able to read the indexes maintained by a Longhorn server.

But I work with small businesses, and they're not going to be running a
Longhorn server for a long time - probably not until they upgrade to a
Longhorn-based Small Business Server, which is at least 18-24 months away.

I'm going to have trouble making the case for Vista in small businesses, I'm
afraid.


"Joe Zapert" wrote:

> Perhaps we'll see this out-of-band when Longhorn server arrives?
> Ah, another Vista disappointment!
>

Today Microsoft released an update to its UNC addin for Windows Desktop
Search that supports Vista, so Vista can index network shares exactly the
same way XP does.

Here's the KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918996

And here's the download page:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

I have installed this update to a Vista Ultimate RTM joined to a domain. I
can not find anywhere to add a unc location.

It looks like nothing changed after this update.

"Valisystem" wrote:

> Today Microsoft released an update to its UNC addin for Windows Desktop
> Search that supports Vista, so Vista can index network shares exactly the
> same way XP does.
>
> Here's the KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918996
>
> And here's the download page:
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Look under Search Tools / Modify Index Locations / Modify. You should see
mapped network drives listed - they aren't there until the add-in is
installed.

Theoretically, under Search Tools / Modify Index Locations / Advanced, you
should also be able to add a shared network resource by UNC name. I haven't
played with it much, but it didn't work when I tried it the first time. . .


"Kyle O''Brien" wrote:

> I have installed this update to a Vista Ultimate RTM joined to a domain. I
> can not find anywhere to add a unc location.
>
> It looks like nothing changed after this update.
>
> "Valisystem" wrote:
>
> > Today Microsoft released an update to its UNC addin for Windows Desktop
> > Search that supports Vista, so Vista can index network shares exactly the
> > same way XP does.
> >
> > Here's the KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918996
> >
> > And here's the download page:
> > http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Yup, I'm on an SBS2003 domain. When I installed it I had elevated my account
to domain admin rights, but I'm running day to day with user rights and the
service is behaving itself. Wonder what's going on?


"Kyle O''Brien" wrote:

> That service is installed and set to automatic. When I start it, it stops
> with no errors on the screen or event log.
>
> When this worked on your computer were you connected to a domain?
>
> I am logged on with a user account with administrator and domain admin rights.
>
>
>
> "Valisystem" wrote:
>
> > That's the place, so you must have some glitch that I didn't run into. FWIW,
> > the add-in appears to install a new service - "UNCFAT DMS". You might check
> > whether it installed and shows up on the list, just in case.
> >
> >
> > "Kyle O''Brien" wrote:
> >
> > > I found the "Search Tools" and that will take me to the same windows as
> > > "indexing options" in the control panel. When modify / show all locations is
> > > clicked i see "c: g: offline files" No M: Drive whick is my mapped
> > > netwrok drive.
> > >

Did you have to set anything in group policy?

"Valisystem" wrote:

> Yup, I'm on an SBS2003 domain. When I installed it I had elevated my account
> to domain admin rights, but I'm running day to day with user rights and the
> service is behaving itself. Wonder what's going on?
>
>
> "Kyle O''Brien" wrote:
>
> > That service is installed and set to automatic. When I start it, it stops
> > with no errors on the screen or event log.
> >
> > When this worked on your computer were you connected to a domain?
> >
> > I am logged on with a user account with administrator and domain admin rights.
> >
> >
> >
> > "Valisystem" wrote:
> >
> > > That's the place, so you must have some glitch that I didn't run into. FWIW,
> > > the add-in appears to install a new service - "UNCFAT DMS". You might check
> > > whether it installed and shows up on the list, just in case.
> > >
> > >
> > > "Kyle O''Brien" wrote:
> > >
> > > > I found the "Search Tools" and that will take me to the same windows as
> > > > "indexing options" in the control panel. When modify / show all locations is
> > > > clicked i see "c: g: offline files" No M: Drive whick is my mapped
> > > > netwrok drive.
> > > >