The solution to the dysfunctioning Finder search is not working...

Question

Level 1

14 points

The solution to the dysfunctioning Finder search is not working...

Finder refuses to find files that I know are on the main drive. I tracked down a solution which is supposed to work as follows:

Go to System Settings

Select 'Spotlight'

Select 'Search Privacy'

Click the '+' button and add the main drive

Click 'OK' when asked "Are you sure you want to prevent Spotlight from searching in “Macintosh HD”?"

And it's at this point things go awry. An error message then appears:

Can anyone please assist? Cheers.

[Edited by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 15.6

Posted on Sep 14, 2025 06:26 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,142 points

Sep 14, 2025 06:33 AM in response to Stevie.G61

Once you add a drive to the Spotlight > Privacy panel, you must then remove the drive entry from that panel [-] within an arbitrary timeframe (e.g. 10 seconds) before Spotlight will begin to index that specific drive. Your steps omitted that critical action.

I have not seen that Privacy List Error using my local drives, so I wonder if you thought you could index a local representation of a third-party cloud (e.g. Google Drive, DropBox, etc.) — which you cannot, or this is a Windows NTFS drive that only has read-only access and a Spotlight index could not be written to it?

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Answer 2

Stevie.G61 Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 14, 2025 06:57 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks for the prompt reply.

The reason I didn't remove the drive entry from that panel [-] within an arbitrary timeframe (e.g. 10 seconds) before Spotlight will begin to index that specific drive is that the error message appeared. Selecting 'OK' for the error message simply sends me back to a point where no drive is selected and therefore doesn't need to be removed.

When a download I have active is finished, I intend to boot into Safe Mode to see if that works. Failing that it's an OS reinstall.

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

88,948 points

Sep 14, 2025 07:22 AM in response to Stevie.G61

To rebuild Spotlight Indexing, add + and then remove - the Macintosh HD.

see > Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

If you can not do that, startup in Safe Mode followed by a normal restart and try again.

see > Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

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