My spotlight searching hasn't worked for quite some time and I've tried everything I could find on Google. I can't search for anything on my MacBook.. literally nothing shows up. I'll list the things I've tried and specs:
Early 2011 2.2Ghz MBP
4GB RAM
OSX 10.9.4
- disble/enable spotlight via terminal
- toggled hidden files and looked for ".metadataneverindex" couldn't find it
- repeated the previous, using terminal commands.. file not found
- put everything in the preferences/privacy "prevent indexing" then removed
- sudo mdutil -i on /
- sudo mdutil -E /
- sudo mdutil -a -i on
- zapping the PRAM
Based on what Trane Francks said in the comment below.. I built the DB and ran the line again. The second line is what it returned:
locate .metadata_never_index
/.metadata_never_index
I found .metadata_never_index as a hidden file in my root, so I deleted it and tried reindexing.. but its giving the "Indexing and searching are disabled" message still.
I've tried many of things and every time.. I get "indexing and searching disabled."
I just wanna be able to search my mac again!! Please help! Thanks.
Best Answer
FINALLY!! I got it working again!
Heres what I did:
In terminal I ran:
No database existed, so it prompted me to run:
It ran for a few seconds and I retried the locate command.. it found it in my root. I deleted it and tried turning on spotlight again, but still got the "indexing and searching disabled."
I checked the permissions of my SSD and my account wasn't even listed. I added myself to read/write. Then ran:
terminal returned "Indexing enabled."
Lastly.. I went to system preferences>spotlight>privacy.. dragged my SSD then removed it to reindex. 40 minutes later.. everything is back to normal! It had been a year since spotlight worked on my MBP. Ohhh the struggles I faced trying to find emails/files.
Thanks for the tips and suggestions everyone and Google!