Can you index a network drive in Windows 7 Search without Making the network folder offline? Yes! There is a Microsoft add-in to Windows 7 Search to enable network drive indexing. After installing the Windows Desktop Search: Add-in for Files on Microsoft Networks, you are able to click Control Panel -> Indexing Options -> Modify and you should be able to add your network drives.
Alternatively, you can index network drives without installing the add-in by making the network drive available offline (which will no doubt use a lot of space on the client PC) or by:
- Creating a folder on the local PC
- Create a subfolder
- Link a Windows 7 Library to the subfolder
- Delete the subfolder
- Start the command prompt (run as Administrator)
- Use mklink to make a symbolic link. Name the link the same as the folder that you created earlier
mklink /d c:\folder\subfolder \\server\subfolder - Add the UNC path of the library to the Windows 7 Search index (click Control Panel -> Indexing Options -> Modify)
I use the Windows 7 Library tool to easily add network folders to the Library – this is a easy GUI method without manually creating a symbolic link using the command line.
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