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Practical 365

You are here: Home / Exchange Server / How to Fix a Failed Database Content Index for Exchange Server 2013

How to Fix a Failed Database Content Index for Exchange Server 2013

February 16, 2015 by Paul Cunningham 75 Comments

Note: this tip applies to Exchange Server 2013 Mailbox servers that are not members of a Database Availability Group. For failed content indexes on DAG members refer to this article.

On an Exchange Server 2013 server you may encounter failed content indexes that are preventing end users from being able to run searches in OWA and Outlook.

A failed content index will be visible in the output of Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus:

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[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus * | ft -auto
 
Name             Status  CopyQueueLength ReplayQueueLength LastInspectedLogTime ContentIndexState
----             ------  --------------- ----------------- -------------------- -----------------
DB01EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      FailedAndSuspended
DB02EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      FailedAndSuspended
DB03EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      Healthy
DB04EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      FailedAndSuspended
DB05EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      Disabled


In the example above the content indexes for DB01, DB02, and DB04 are failed.

Other indications of a problem can be seen in the Application event log, for example:

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Log Name: Application
Source: MSExchangeIS
Date: 2/16/2015 11:09:26 AM
Event ID: 1012
 
Description:
Exchange Server Information Store has encountered an error while executing a full-text
index query ("eDiscovery search query execution on database 191987bf-5e9f-4ba4-b13b-3cadcb9e51f5
failed."). Error information: System.ServiceModel.FaultException`1[System.ServiceModel.ExceptionDetail]:
Internal error while processing request (Fault Detail is equal to An ExceptionDetail, likely created by
IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults=true, whose value is:
Microsoft.Ceres.InteractionEngine.Component.ProcessingEngineException: Internal error while processing request
at Microsoft.Ceres.InteractionEngine.Component.CieProcessingEngine.LogAndRethrowException(Exception e)
 
Log Name: Application
Source: MSExchangeFastSearch
Date: 2/16/2015 11:06:13 AM
Event ID: 1009
 
Description:
The indexing of mailbox database DB02 encountered an unexpected exception. Error details:
Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Core.Abstraction.OperationFailedException: The component operation has failed.
---> Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Engine.FeedingSkippedForCorruptionException: "Feeding was skipped for
'63fe7551-8100-4e3e-9a3e-4b14744eddb6 (DB02)' due to the state 'Failed', error code: 'CatalogCorruption',
failure code: '2400519', failure reason: 'Failed to initialize FastServer: Generation mismatch:
0 < GID[82381] [IndexName=63FE7551-8100-4E3E-9A3E-4B14744EDDB612.Single]'."
at Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Engine.SearchFeedingController.InternalExecutionStart()
at Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Core.Common.Executable.InternalExecutionStart(Object state)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Core.Common.Executable.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Engine.SearchRootController.ExecuteComplete(IAsyncResult asyncResult)


To rebuild a failed content index we first need to stop the search services on the Exchange server. Note that this may impact searches for other healthy databases, and the rebuilding process can also create a significant load on the server, so you may wish to do these steps outside of normal business hours.

Stop the following services:

  • Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller
  • Microsoft Exchange Search

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[PS] C:\>stop-service MSExchangeFastSearch
 
[PS] C:\>stop-service HostControllerService


Navigate to the location of the content index for the database. This will be the same folder that the database file is located in. For example, DB01 is located in F:DB01.

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[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabase DB01 | select EdbFilePath
 
EdbFilePath
-----------
F:DB01DB01.edb


The content index is stored in a folder named for the GUID of the database.

exchange-2013-catalog-index-location

Delete the folder. Repeat the same steps to delete the folder for any other failed content indexes you’re also dealing with at the time.

Then start the search services again.

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[PS] C:\>start-service MSExchangeFastSearch
 
[PS] C:\>start-service HostControllerService


The content indexes will be rebuilt, which can take quite a while to complete depending on the amount of data in the databases.

Eventually you should find that your content indexes are healthy again.

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[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus * | ft -auto
 
Name             Status  CopyQueueLength ReplayQueueLength LastInspectedLogTime ContentIndexState
----             ------  --------------- ----------------- -------------------- -----------------
DB01EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      Healthy
DB02EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      Healthy
DB03EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      Healthy
DB04EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      Healthy
DB05EX2013SRV1  Mounted 0               0                                      Disabled

Exchange Server Databases, Exchange 2013, Mailbox

Comments

  1. massimiliano says

    October 5, 2021 at 11:06 pm

    Thank you !
    Great solution

    Reply
  2. Mohammed Kothari says

    October 8, 2020 at 8:15 pm

    We’re having a good number of users who randomly cannot search in Outlook 2016 after upgrading to CU18. Search will take forever and then say “We’re having trouble fetching results from the server, Let’s look on your computer instead.” Looking locally then works.

    It always works in OWA or with outlook set to cached mode off, I have verified the index is healthy and enabled for our DB.

    Have rebuilt profiles/OSTs, created new profiles, disabled search indexing at the outlook level and rebuilt, disabled windows search and rebooted and re-enabled and rebooted, and all combinations you can imagine.

    Reply
    • David Ray says

      October 27, 2020 at 11:16 pm

      Mohammed,

      Having the same experience. Very frustrating and very little information about it out there. Somewhat comforting we are not the only ones. Happily my DAG is split across two sites and I have only done the backup site so far. Prod site is still on CU15 and works ok.

      /David

      Reply
  3. wissem abidi says

    August 29, 2020 at 8:59 pm

    what folder exaclty have to delete it bofore star this services

    (Delete the folder. Repeat the same steps to delete the folder for any other failed content indexes you’re also dealing with at the time.)

    Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller
    Microsoft Exchange Search

    Reply
  4. Melero says

    February 20, 2020 at 5:00 am

    Thanks Paul work great for me!!!!

    Reply
  5. Luis Garcia says

    September 3, 2019 at 9:13 am

    Hey Paul,

    I have followed your steps above and the status goes to “healthy”.
    The problem is, that a couple of hours later, is back to “failedandsuspended”.

    Any advice?

    I’m desperate, it’s been over a week and I haven’t been able to solve this issue.

    Please help!

    Reply
    • Luis Garcia says

      September 5, 2019 at 7:42 am

      I have now foxed the issue.
      Found in the event viewer that there was an error with space, eventhough I still have heaps of space, it said it has passed the 70% threshold. So all I did was to relocate some files out of the drive to have extra space in the exchange drive, then I followed the above steps again, and after several hours, this time it worked.

      Thanks a lot.

      Reply
  6. Richard M says

    March 7, 2018 at 9:13 pm

    That worked like a charm! Took 6 hrs to rebuild the index and at first the status was “Unknown”, then it changed to “Crawling”. Paul is the man!

    Reply
  7. jack says

    January 21, 2018 at 3:35 am

    Great article. Worked perfectly. Will show ‘failed’ state at first, then ‘unknown.’ Finally ‘crawling’ and then ‘healthy.’

    Reply
  8. Jay says

    May 5, 2017 at 12:51 pm

    Question.. after performing this fix I get a status of failed.

    While you guys are waiting for them to report healthy, is it showing as failed during the wait time? Or is it listed as unknown?

    Just need to know if I should sleep on it and check in the AM, or if it already says failed search for other options.

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      May 6, 2017 at 10:34 am

      There are some issues that if you just wait it will self-heal. If it’s broken after leaving it a day then you’ll need to look closer at what is causing the indexes to fail. A lack of file-system antivirus exclusions are one common cause.

      Reply
      • Jeremy Hines says

        November 26, 2019 at 7:10 am

        Yep, had to fix some anti-virus exclusions that had gone wonky. Thanks for the tip Paul!

        Reply
  9. Pradeep Kumawat says

    April 26, 2017 at 4:26 pm

    Thanks Paul. It saved my life. Your article helped me to resolve my issue.

    Reply
  10. TricePa says

    February 16, 2017 at 8:42 am

    Hi,

    i have too Exchange 2016 cu4 in dag, whenever i create a database, then add a database copy to the seconde Server, it’s ending with a index content FailedAndSuspending, and with couple of attempts of index content reseed, -catalog only etc… sometime its ending with an index content status “Healthy” but not everytime…

    Looks like cu4 sucks, angry!

    Reply
  11. SAM says

    February 14, 2017 at 2:29 am

    Content indexing of Lagged Database(it is set to 7) is showing Autosuspend in Exchange 2016. Replay lag time is increasing and showing in thousands.

    Reply
  12. Bart says

    February 2, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    Worked for me . Just a hobby server in a hyper-v. Thanks

    Reply
  13. El Khiyati Mhamed says

    January 25, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    great post

    Reply
  14. Katey J. says

    January 23, 2017 at 11:59 pm

    Hi,
    Thank you very much!
    I noticed that this problem also helps with problems with the admin audit log. My admin audit log was empty , and now I can see everything!

    Reply
  15. Kabatek Antal says

    October 5, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    Hi!
    After installing EX2013CU14 the database indexing if failed (all databases).
    I tried all solution what i found:
    Stop MSExchangeFastSearch and HostControllerService, remove index and start the service but doesn’t work.
    I tried also the ContentSubmitter group solution but doesn’t work.

    Once the indexing is “finished” the ContentIndexState is Failed and the MSExchangeFastSearch service is restart and the the ContentIndexState is Crawling.
    A few minutes ago the the ContentIndexState is Failed nd the MSExchangeFastSearch service is restarted.

    Reply
    • Mario says

      October 15, 2016 at 12:52 am

      Hi,
      just the same after Installation of EX2013CU14 on a single Server System. Three databases have the index status “failed”. When i end up the two Services MSExchangeFastSearch and HostControllerService i can delete the GUID folders for indexing.
      When i restart the Services then MSExchangeFastSearch service has Problems. The service starts and after starting it end up every 20 seconds.
      ContentSubmitter Group solution also doesn’t work.
      Any ideas?

      Reply
  16. Mike Scheidler says

    September 28, 2016 at 11:45 pm

    When I run: Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | Ft Name,contentindexstate, Contentindexerrormessage -Autosize

    I’ve got one database that is healthy and two databases that state the following:

    Content Index Status: Unknown Content IndexErrorMessage: Could not find registry value of Index Status for database

    If a create a brand new database, the status is the same. Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  17. Chuck Jones says

    August 24, 2016 at 7:45 am

    I am running through this now on our Journal DB, it’s over 1TB + and it’s in a “Crawling” state. The servers are Vms and we noticed that Sophos had on-access scanning so we turned that off on all exchange servers so I’m hoping this completes soon and doesn’t take a week.

    Reply
  18. Ehren Schlueter says

    July 23, 2016 at 2:46 am

    Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus * | ft -auto

    #If the ContentIndexState is Failed across all databases run the following code. This code block should remove only the GUID folders for all databases on the Exchange server. If you are satisfied with the outcome uncomment the remove-item command.

    stop-service MSExchangeFastSearch
    stop-service HostControllerService

    ForEach ($MDB in $(Get-MailboxDatabase | select EdbFilePath,GUID,name)) {
    $EdbFilePath = $($MDB.EdbFilePath.Substring(0,$MDB.EdbFilePath.IndexOf($MDB.name)) + $MDB.name)
    $GUID = $($MDB.Guid).ToString()
    $GUID = $GUID.ToUpper()

    $Item = Get-ChildItem $EdbFilePath -Directory

    If ($($Item.name).Substring(0,$GUID.Length) -eq $GUID) {
    Get-ChildItem $Item.FullName #| Remove-Item -Recurse -Force
    Write-Host $CopyStatus[$A].Name $CopyStatus[$A].ContentIndexState
    }

    }

    start-service MSExchangeFastSearch
    start-service HostControllerService

    Reply
    • Ehren Schlueter says

      July 23, 2016 at 2:49 am

      *Remove this line:
      Write-Host $CopyStatus[$A].Name $CopyStatus[$A].ContentIndexState

      Reply
  19. Jones says

    July 19, 2016 at 1:01 am

    This worked on all but one database index. We left it for a week now and it still says FailedAndSuspended on mailbox02 but it is healthy on mailbox01.

    Anything else we can try?

    We also tried reseedning from the healthy copy but that didn’t work either.

    Reply
  20. Risihkesh says

    May 26, 2016 at 2:30 am

    Hi Paul,

    I have a new mailbox database with Content Indexing Status as Unknown. When I created a copy of this newly created database its Content Indexing Status is also Unknown. Now when I try to active the Passive database copy it fails with the error as Content Indexing status is Unknown.

    Any suggestions on this?

    Thanks
    Rishi Jones

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      May 26, 2016 at 12:09 pm

      You can switchover databases when content indexes aren’t healthy by using the tip shown in this article:

      https://www.practical365.com/cannot-activate-database-copy-content-index-catalog-files-in-failed-state/

      As for the unknown state, you’ll need to check that the search services are running, that indexing is enabled for the database, look for event log errors, that type of thing. Or just wait longer, sometimes the server just needs some time.

      Reply
  21. Christopher Cho says

    April 19, 2016 at 6:44 am

    After 13 hours, the Content Index was still in the failed state. Another reboot, and restart of services did not fix the problem. (Of course Microsoft Tech Support was with me during this process.) We stopped our troubleshooting on Friday afternoon, and regrouped over the weekend.
    Come Monday, the Content Index was healthy again.
    Not sure how long the rebuild took place, but it’s over 13 hours but less than 72 hours.

    Reply
  22. George says

    March 17, 2016 at 9:27 pm

    Sth must have gone wrong with installation of Ex2016 . Weird thing is that on 3 different environments Default DB went to corrupted straight but another one was just fine.

    The problematic server error has been solved by …CU1 for Ex2016 …now magically all data bases have Healthy index 😀 !!!.

    Reply
  23. Andreas Kruppa says

    March 14, 2016 at 10:48 pm

    Thanks!
    Worked for me

    Reply
  24. George says

    March 7, 2016 at 10:52 pm

    Hi,

    This did not help in my case 🙁
    VMWare, no AV, Tried to create a DB o new HD, new server etc.
    1x Fresh EX2016 installed in environment as coexistence with EX2013 (2xEX,DAG).
    Migration in plan from EX13 to EX16.
    Even creating brand new DB (no mailboxes inside) – status go to failed.
    Tried several times solutions above.

    NodeRunnerAdminNode1-Fsis (0x7E50) 0x731C Search Search Component awa6j High DefaultClusteringPolicy: 86A4276F-4CC7-4749-91FC-F530749D010C12.0 at PrimaryController.SelectPrimary():82 Old primary was (null). Elected preferred primary (null) after having states of 1/1 nodes. Did have state from all members. Replication state(in sync Single; none left behind). Member states: at Single => IndexingState[Primary=,LastUpdate=02/22/2016 11:38:34,GenCompleted=-9223372036854775808,GenPrepared=0,GenCheckpointed=-9223372036854775808,GenAbandoned=-9223372036854775808,GenInJournal=-9223372036854775808,IndexVersion=15.4,SeedingState=SeedingState[SeedingTarget=,SeedingHandle=,SeedingSource=],IsInvalid=True,Sequence=3,NewInSyncCells=[],NewSlowCells=[],MemberCount=1,InvalidReason=(2400519) NoValidIndex: Failed to initialize FastServer: Unable to init fastserver] at Prim…

    02/22/2016 12:59:03.56 NodeRunnerAdminNode1-Fsis (0x7E50) 0x8B18 Search Search Platform Services aiy7a Medium Microsoft.Ceres.CoreServices.Remoting.WcfServiceProxy`1[[Microsoft.Ceres.CoreServices.Remoting.IInvokerService, Microsoft.Ceres.CoreServices.Remoting, Version=16.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35]] : Remote invocation retry after communication failure (service=Microsoft.Ceres.CoreServices.InternalServices.Node.INodeController method=HandleMessage location=net.tcp://hlex2016.hormannlegnica.local:3863/Fsis/IndexNode1/Services/InvokerService) System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException: Podczas odczytu z potoku wystąpił błąd: Potok został zakończony. (109, 0x6d). —> System.IO.PipeException: Podczas odczytu z potoku wystąpił błąd: Potok został zakończony. (109, 0x6d). w System.ServiceModel.Channels.PipeConnection.FinishSyncRead(Boolean traceExceptionsAsErrors)

    02/22/2016 12:59:17.24 NodeRunnerIndexNode1-Fsis (0x525C) 0x8A58 Search Search Platform Services aiy0s Medium NodeActivator : System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Unable to load file or find ‘file:///E:MicrosoftExchange ServerV15BinMicrosoft.Office.Server.Search.dll’ or one of its in-dependency. Unable to find file. File name: ‘file:///E:MicrosoftExchange ServerV15BinMicrosoft.Office.Server.Search.dll’ w System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) w System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPri…

    Reply
    • George says

      March 17, 2016 at 9:27 pm

      Sth must have gone wrong with installation of Ex2016 . Weird thing is that on 3 different environments Default DB went to corrupted straight but another one was just fine.

      The problematic server error has been solved by …CU1 for Ex2016 …now magically all data bases have Healthy index ? !!!.

      Reply
  25. Ma_riusz says

    February 14, 2016 at 6:55 am

    HI Paul,
    I have the same symptoms, I have done everything according to your instructions and unfortunately I still have errors

    Name : Mailbox Database 159XXXXX56
    IndexEnabled : True

    Name : Mailbox Database 159XXXXX00
    IndexEnabled : True

    Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name,*index*
    Name : Mailbox Database 1591XXXXXXEXCHANGE
    ContentIndexState : FailedAndSuspended
    ContentIndexErrorMessage : The content index is corrupted.
    ContentIndexVersion :
    ContentIndexBacklog :
    ContentIndexRetryQueueSize :
    ContentIndexMailboxesToCrawl :
    ContentIndexSeedingPercent :
    ContentIndexSeedingSource :
    ContentIndexServerSource :

    Name : Mailbox Database 1591XXXXXXEXCHANGE
    ContentIndexState : FailedAndSuspended
    ContentIndexErrorMessage : The content index is corrupted.
    ContentIndexVersion :
    ContentIndexBacklog :
    ContentIndexRetryQueueSize :
    ContentIndexMailboxesToCrawl :
    ContentIndexSeedingPercent :
    ContentIndexSeedingSource :
    ContentIndexServerSource :

    Is there another way to repair indexing?

    Reply
  26. H says

    January 26, 2016 at 2:04 pm

    This worked for me. But database status became crawling for hours , but at the end become healthy again.

    Thank you

    Reply
    • Tipza says

      April 20, 2016 at 6:18 pm

      Hi

      How do you monitor the status of this rebuild?

      Reply
      • Paul Cunningham says

        April 20, 2016 at 10:43 pm

        Here you go:

        https://www.practical365.com/monitor-rebuilding-content-indexes-exchange-databases/

        🙂

        Reply
  27. Alex says

    December 17, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    Hello Paul
    I foolowed your instruction.
    IndexEnabled is True for all Dbs

    Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus * | fl name, *index*
    ContentIndexState : Failed
    ContentIndexErrorMessage : An internal error occurred for the database or its index.

    for all databases
    Any Recommendation?

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      December 17, 2015 at 4:07 pm

      I’ve not seen that before. Perhaps a support call to Microsoft would be wise.

      Reply
      • Alex says

        December 18, 2015 at 8:23 am

        Hi Paul,
        Thank you very much for your reply.
        after 6 hours wait the status of all databases are healthy now.

        Reply
        • Adam says

          August 2, 2017 at 3:48 am

          Hi Alex/Paul,

          I believe I have the same issue here.

          My single 2013 exchange server has two DBs, neither are members of a DAG:

          [PS] C:\Windows\system32>Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name,*index*

          Name : XX0\SERVER
          ContentIndexState : Failed
          ContentIndexErrorMessage : An internal error occurred for the database or its index.

          Name : XX1\SERVER
          ContentIndexState : Failed
          ContentIndexErrorMessage : An internal error occurred for the database or its index.

          I have tried the index delete and service restart, and ensured that the CONTENTSUBMITTERS AD bits and pieces are in place, all to no avail.

          Can I ask what your fix was please?

          Reply
          • Adam says

            August 2, 2017 at 3:52 am

            To add, when I try to add another test DB I get:

            Name : test0\SERVER
            ContentIndexState : Unknown
            ContentIndexErrorMessage : Could not find registry value of Index Status for database
            {128355f1-cf90-47e6-baf1-13a6a08d2f3e}.

            Stumped!

          • Paul Cunningham says

            August 2, 2017 at 8:50 am

            Make sure you’re fully updated to the latest cumulative update. Make sure any file system antivirus product has the recommended exclusions configured. If still broken then I suggest opening an MS support case.

          • Adam says

            August 2, 2017 at 9:26 pm

            Thanks Paul, it does seem like I was a few CU’s behind. The initial CU17 install crashed and stalled all the Exch. services, but the second attempt eventually completed after ~120mins.

            The ContentIndexStatus is now ‘Crawling’ on my DBs; which is an improvement on before, and I’m now seeing *some* results when searching on OWA and mobile devices. (Where previously, these search queries returned nothing.)

            Thankfully, this looks resolved without the need for MS input. Thanks!

  28. Steven says

    December 9, 2015 at 8:54 am

    What would happen if the index continues to fail even after rebuild?

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      December 10, 2015 at 4:26 pm

      You’ll have to troubleshoot it further. Event logs on the servers. Double check your antivirus exclusions are set per the Microsoft recommendations.

      Reply
  29. Kosta says

    November 6, 2015 at 12:27 am

    Hey Paul,

    I did what you said but unfortuantely with the same result after a certain time:
    “Content index state: FailedAndSuspended”
    My other databases are Healthy.
    Do you know what else we could try?
    Thanks a lot.

    Kosta

    Reply
  30. Jason says

    November 3, 2015 at 2:58 am

    I’ve stopped the services, but I can’t delete the folder. I am getting a message saying it is open in another program? Any ides on what that might be?

    Reply
  31. baimei says

    October 22, 2015 at 10:44 am

    Hi Paul,
    When I run the following command

    Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name,*index*
    My output as below:
    ##############################
    Name : Executive2013MAIL2013
    ContentIndexState : FailedAndSuspended
    ContentIndexErrorMessage : Reseeding of the index is required.
    ContentIndexVersion :
    ContentIndexBacklog :
    ContentIndexRetryQueueSize :
    ContentIndexMailboxesToCrawl :
    ContentIndexSeedingPercent :
    ContentIndexSeedingSource :
    #################################
    What is the tmp.edb?
    For example, my file name is ‘Executive2013’, run: Get-MailboxDatabase Executive2013 | select EdbFilePath
    results: Executive2013.edb
    in this folder, I have many other files:
    .tmp,
    .chk,
    .jrs, and
    tmp.edb
    Executive2013.edb
    Should I Start the following services:
    • Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller
    • Microsoft Exchange Search

    ONLY delete the Executive2013.edb? then
    Start the following services:
    • Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller
    • Microsoft Exchange Search

    Please advise,
    Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  32. Steffen says

    October 21, 2015 at 11:11 pm

    Hello Paul,

    what if there is no Folder in the Database Folder? There is just the database and some logifiles. When i run this command
    Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name,*index*
    i get the ContentIndexErrorMessage “Could not find registry key of index Status”.

    What is the problem here?

    Thx in Advance Steffen

    Reply
  33. Julian Parry says

    August 5, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    Hi There, I have had to create a new mailbox database after a previous one failed – content index state failed and would not repair and mount.

    My question is, the arbitration mailboxes are still located in the dismounted failed database. Is it safe to move these to the new mailbox database?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      August 5, 2015 at 9:18 pm

      If you rehome them or create new ones you’ll lose all the contents of them that were in the failed database. Other than that, not sure what impact you might see as I’ve never faced that scenario. Can’t get the database repaired and mounted? Or perhaps restored from backup?

      Reply
  34. MAtt says

    July 23, 2015 at 2:54 am

    Only one was failed. Did what you said and now they are all failed.

    Reply
    • MAtt says

      July 23, 2015 at 2:55 am

      Never mind, it took a while for even an empty database to clear.

      Reply
  35. retalsw says

    July 22, 2015 at 4:43 am

    Worked for me. Thanks!

    Reply
  36. John Weber says

    July 17, 2015 at 5:50 am

    Thanks Paul.

    Reply
  37. Paul Cunningham says

    July 3, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    1) It might impact database failovers in a DAG. Not sure whether it would impact Transport. I certainly wouldn’t expect a Transport service to completely stop.

    2) Rename has basically the same outcome as deleting.

    3) TechNet has a document explain the exclusions that should be configured for any file-system antivirus product you’re running on the server. Symantec Mail Security is not file-system antivirus. That said, if you’ve got Symantec Mail Security installed and you’re experiencing frequent Transport issues then that may be the actual cause. Similarly, the file-system antivirus software you’re running (if any) could be the cause of both your index issues and your Transport issues.

    Reply
  38. Brendon says

    July 2, 2015 at 9:50 am

    I am having this same issue, I haven’t followed these steps yet, before I do I just want to confirm some things.
    1. Could this be causing Email outages? Possibly causing services to stop, i.e. Mailbox Transport Submission or Delivery. I’m experiencing some intermittent outages and wondering if this could be the cause.

    2. If I proceed with these steps can I just rename the folder GUID folder, incase something when wrong with recreating it (I do have indexing enabled). If things did go awry I’m thinking at the very least I could rename it back to it’s original. Just trying to mitigate risk of further down time.

    3. Paul C. Can you explain the AV exclusions in place comment? I have Symantec Mail Security installed could this software be causing the issue, if so what exclusions should I be looking into?

    Your feedback is much appreciated.
    Brendon

    Reply
  39. Ray says

    May 16, 2015 at 9:36 am

    I’m on 2010, but have had to do this several times now. Does anyone know possible root causes of why this keeps happening?

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      May 17, 2015 at 7:09 pm

      Antivirus software. Make sure your AV exclusions are in place.

      Reply
      • chanderpal singh says

        October 9, 2017 at 10:45 pm

        Hi Paul,
        I am also having the same issue and I have performed all steps but 2 DB are always getting failed however all other DB’s are healthy.
        Can you let me know how to troubleshoot in depth if deleting GUID folder and restarting search services and updating catalog doesn’t help?

        Reply
  40. daniel says

    April 28, 2015 at 9:48 am

    Hi There,

    Thanks for this guide,

    I am doing this on exchange 2013 without cag on one database.

    After deleting the guid folder and stopping and starting the service, i cannot get to recreate the index folder. The folder never gets created and im still on failed status for the last couple of days.

    Help much appreciated

    Many Thanks

    Daniel

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      April 28, 2015 at 11:03 am

      Is indexing enabled?

      Get-MailboxDatabase | fl name,index*

      Is there any reason why the index is failed?

      Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name,*index*

      Reply
    • Svend Christensen says

      September 8, 2016 at 6:39 pm

      Try stopping Exchange Transport Log Sarch service, as well, and start all three again

      Reply
  41. Tom says

    April 22, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    Thank you. This was driving me crazy.

    Reply
  42. Fawaz JABAKHANJI says

    April 17, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    What if it is Exchange 2010? Is there any different procedure?

    Thanks & BR

    Reply
    • Paul Cunningham says

      April 17, 2015 at 2:15 pm

      Basically the same but the service names are different.

      Reply
      • baimei says

        October 22, 2015 at 10:09 am

        Paul,
        What is the tmp.edb?
        For example, my file name is ‘Executive2013’, run: Get-MailboxDatabase Executive2013 | select EdbFilePath
        results: Executive2013.edb
        in this folder, I have many other files: xx.tmp,
        .chk,
        .jrs, and
        tmp.edb
        Executive2013.edb
        Should I Start the following services:
        • Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller
        • Microsoft Exchange Search

        ONLY delete the Executive2013.edb? then
        Start the following services:
        • Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller
        • Microsoft Exchange Search

        Please advise,
        Thanks a lot,

        Reply
  43. Alejandro says

    March 12, 2015 at 5:05 am

    Just had to do this after CU7. Thanks!!!

    Reply
  44. Andy says

    March 2, 2015 at 5:23 am

    Hi Paul. FYI – I find that the index always becomes corrupt when I extend the partition. The last time I had to do this, I stopped the Exchange Search services first and it did not corrupt. Worth a try 🙂

    Reply
    • Pavol Kokinda says

      March 2, 2015 at 10:09 pm

      Hi Andy, i do nothing with the partition and the Index is corrupt after some days

      Reply
      • JD says

        April 10, 2015 at 4:59 am

        Pavol, any solution? Im getting this a few times a month and about out of hair to pull out.

        Reply
  45. Pavol Kokinda says

    February 18, 2015 at 4:49 am

    Hi Paul, I have this error many times in month. But I have found no information about the cause. I’m running Exchange 2013 organization without DAG. Any comment is welcome.

    Pavol

    Reply
  46. Thomas says

    February 17, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    This will even work on DAG member servers when a mailbox database does not have any remote database copies.
    Another topic to mention is, that an Exchange administrator needs to be patient. The indexing is an asynchronous process which needs some time to complete for the first time (depending on the overall size of the database). Sometimes Exchange needs time provide you with a proper status.

    Reply
    • choroben says

      January 24, 2019 at 9:54 pm

      Paul, I moved my mailboxes into a database stored in in an external drive because i wanted to delete the one on the server drive because i wanted to create space. Unfortunately after moving the mailboxes I could not access the drive the following day since it was reporting errors. I had a clean backup of the database and when I restored it, the database is showing empty. It does not have any mailboxes. How can I solve this and get the mailboxes back

      Reply

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