Policies for Windows Vista

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

This section outlines all the policy settings that are available for Windows Desktop Search 3.01 on Windows Vista.

  • Allow Indexing of encrypted files

  • Allow using diacritics (also in XP/Server 2003)

  • Indexer data location (also in XP/Server 2003)

  • Prevent indexing-email attachments (also in XP/Server 2003)

  • Prevent indexing files in Offline Files cache

  • Prevent Indexing Microsoft Office Outlook (also in XP/Server 2003)

  • Prevent indexing public folders (also in XP/Server 2003)

  • Prevent Indexing uncached Exchange Folders (also in XP/Server 2003)

  • Prevent displaying advanced indexing options in the Control Panel (also in XP/Server 2003)

Allow Indexing of encrypted files

If enabled, WDS indexes encrypted items, disregarding encryption flags (access restrictions still apply though) and decrypting and indexing the content. If disabled, the search service components (including the ones from 3rd parties) are expected not to index encrypted items and to avoid indexing encrypted stores. If you do not configure this policy setting, the local setting configured through the Control Panel is respected (the default is not to index encrypted content).

WDS 3.01 can index EFS-encrypted items only if those items have been made available to work offline using “Offline Files”. This is typically seen with Folder Redirection. WDS 3.01 cannot index local file system items that have been encrypted with EFS.

Default configuration: no default

Note

SKUs of Windows Vista that have the BitLocker drive encryption feature are indexed without group policy settings. The Bitlocker and indexing technology work seamlessly.

Allow using diacritics

If enabled, words that differ only in diacritics (accent marks) are treated as different words. If you do not configure this policy setting, WDS respects the local setting configured in Control Panel (the default is to treat these words as the same word).

Default configuration: no default

Indexer data location

This policy identifies the directory the indexer database is stored in. This directory must be location on a local fixed drive.

Default configuration: %systemdrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\

Prevent indexing-email attachments

If enabled, WDS does not index the content of e-mail attachments. Other indexing service components (including the ones from 3rd parties) are expected not to index e-mail attachments.

Default configuration: disabled

Note

Consider enabling this policy if you are concerned about the security or indexing performance of 3rd party document filters (IFilters).

Prevent indexing files in Offline Files cache

If enabled, files on network shares made available offline are not indexed.

Default configuration: disabled

Prevent Indexing Microsoft Office Outlook

If enabled, WDS does not index any Microsoft Outlook items: the user’s Outlook items are not be added to the index, and the user cannot see them in search results. The default behavior is to automatically index Outlook items.

Default configuration: no default

Prevent indexing public folders

If enabled, WDS does not index public folders in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or later. When this policy is disabled or not configured, the user has the option to index cached public folders in Outlook.

Other requirements: The user must be running in cached mode, with Outlook 2003 or later, and the Download Public Folder Favorites option must be turned on.

Default configuration: No default

Prevent Indexing uncached Exchange Folders

If enabled, mail items on a Microsoft Exchange Server are not indexed when Microsoft Outlook is run in uncached mode. The default behavior for WDS 3.01 is not to index uncached Exchange folders.

Default configuration: no default

Note

To index uncached Exchange items, this policy must be disabled. Versions of Outlook prior to 2003 do not support cached mode and so only local items such as PST files are indexed if this policy is enabled or left unconfigured.

Prevent displaying advanced indexing options in the Control Panel

If enabled, users cannot open the Advanced Options dialog from the Search and Indexing Options Control Panel.

Default configuration: disabled

See Also

Concepts

WDS 3.01 Troubleshooting Guide
Policies for Windows Vista