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 SBS2003, 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 and Windows Desktop Search is literally revolutionizing their business flow, postponing the time they have to buy third party document management programs or wrestle with the transition to Sharepoint.

 

I have to be missing something. Is there any way to index the contents of network folders in Vista?

Bruce,

 

Yes, I have the same experience with Vista and SBS 2003. There may be a solution in a future version of SBS but I don't know anything about that now.

Boy, that's really a big deal.

 

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It makes me wonder if Microsoft's promotional language is out of date.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/windowsvista/businesses/finduse.mspx That isn't really true, is it?

 

Arrggh!

Well, Windows XP Pro does the job very well. For most business I do not see a reason to upgrade to Vista.

My blood pressure is down again. 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/details.aspx?amp;amp;amp;displaylang=en&familyid=f7e981d9-5a3b-4872-a07e-220761e27283&displaylang=en

Great. Thanks for the URL.