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Search indexer initialization index failed - Event 71 (SharePoint Server 2010)

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Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

Alert Name:   Search indexer initialization index failed

Event ID:   71

Summary:   The key process that drives crawls and queries is mssearch.exe. This process hosts the crawl and query components for search. During search initialization, Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 displays the symptoms described while initializing the mssearch.exe process or a crawl or query component.

Symptoms:   One or more of the following symptoms might appear:

  • Crawl or query search activities that involve the component stall.

  • The system automatically retries every minute silently. If two events are thrown within 30 minutes, action should be taken.

  • This event appears in the event log: Event ID: 71 Description: Content index on <data> could not be initialized. Error <data>. <data>

Cause:   One or more of the following might be the cause:

  • Could not access index files on disk

  • Lack of available memory

  • Index corruption

Resolution:   Correct resources on the server

  • Resolve any issues with accessing index files. The location of the index file is provided in the Edit Query Component dialog. Ensure that the WSS_ADMIN_WPG security group account has Full Control access to the index files folder.

    To see the location of an index file:

    1. On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site, on the Quick Launch click General Application Settings.

    2. On the General Application Settings page, under Search, click Farm-wide Search Dashboard.

    3. On the Farm-Wide Search Dashboard page, under Search Service Applications, click Modify Topology next to the search service you need to configure.

    4. On the Topology for Search Service Application page, under Index Partition, click the query component that needs to be configured.

    5. Click Index Component and click Edit Properties. The location of the index file appears in the Indexing Directory section.

    6. Click Edit Properties.

    7. In Edit Query Component dialog the location of the index files is displayed in the Location of Index box under Location of Index.

  • Ensure that the WSS_ADMIN_WPG security group account has Full Control access to this location.

Resolution:   Restart the search server service

  • If low memory is the issue, stop and restart the Microsoft Search Server 2010 service (OSearch). In a Command Prompt window, run the command net stop osearch14 to stop the search service. Run the command net start osearch14 to restart the search service.

Resolution:   Fix the index corruption

  • If an index corruption event ID 74 or 93 accompanies this event, correct the issue by using the resolutions for the specified type of index corruption event.