Windows 7 / Getting Started

Enabling the Indexing Service

The Indexing Service (Cisvc.exe) used in previous Windows platforms is still available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista as an optional feature that administrators can turn on if needed by following these steps:

  • Select Programs from Control Panel.
  • Under Programs And Features, click Turn Windows Features On Or Off and respond to the User Account Control (UAC) prompt that appears.
  • In the Turn Windows Features On Or Off dialog box, select the Indexing Service check box and then click OK.

The main reason enterprises might need to enable the previous Indexing Service would be for application compatibility reasons. For example, if enterprises develop applications that depend on Cisvc.exe, they can enable this service to support those applications. The Microsoft Office Visio shape-finding process also uses Cisvc.exe to index shapes. Therefore, if you need to search for shapes quickly in Office or Office Visio on some computers, you can enable Cisvc.exe on those computers.

Note Microsoft does not recommend running the older Indexing Service on computers running Windows 7 unless you have a compelling need to do so. The Indexing Service will likely be removed in a future version of Windows.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Managing Search
  2. Search and Indexing Enhancements
  3. Search in Windows XP
  4. Search in Windows Vista
  5. Search in Windows 7
  6. Understanding the Windows Search Versions
  7. Search Versions Included in Windows 7 and Windows Vista
  8. Search Versions Included in Windows Server 2008
  9. Search Versions Available for Earlier Versions of Windows
  10. How Windows Search Works
  11. Understanding Search Engine Terminology
  12. Windows Search Engine Processes
  13. Enabling the Indexing Service
  14. Windows Search Engine Architecture
  15. Understanding the Catalog
  16. Default System Exclusion Rules
  17. Understanding the FANCI Attribute
  18. Default Indexing Scopes
  19. Initial Configuration
  20. Understanding the Indexing Process
  21. Modifying IFilter Behavior
  22. How Indexing Works
  23. Rebuilding the index
  24. Viewing Indexing Progress
  25. Understanding Remote Search
  26. Managing Indexin
  27. Configuring the Index
  28. Configuring the Index Location Using Group Policy
  29. Configuring Indexing Scopes and Exclusions Using Group Policy
  30. Configuring Offline Files Indexing
  31. Configuring Indexing of Encrypted Files
  32. Configuring Indexing of Encrypted Files Using Control Panel
  33. Configuring Indexing of Similar Words
  34. Configuring Indexing of Text in TIFF Image Documents
  35. Other Index Policy Settings
  36. Using Search
  37. Configuring Search Using Folder Options
  38. Configuring What to Search
  39. Configuring How To Search
  40. Using Start Menu Search
  41. Searching Libraries
  42. Advanced Query Syntax
  43. Using Federated Search
  44. Deploying Search Connectors
  45. Troubleshooting Search and Indexing Using the Built-in Troubleshooter