Windows Search (WSearch) won't start – Error 5 Access Denied

Question

Hi,

I'm having a Windows Search problem on Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (Build 26200.8875).

The WSearch service exists and is set to Automatic, but it always fails to start:

sc.exe start WSearch

[SC] StartService FAILED 5:
Access is denied.

Both dependencies (RPCSS and BrokerInfrastructure) are running.

I also get repeated Event Viewer errors:

DCOM got error "5" attempting to start the service WSearch

The interesting part is SearchIndexer.exe:

C:\Windows\System32\SearchIndexer.exe

The file exists, but even an elevated Administrator CMD cannot access its ACL:

icacls "C:\Windows\System32\SearchIndexer.exe"

Access is denied.

PowerShell Get-Acl also returns Access Denied.

SFC specifically detects an integrity violation for this file:

sfc /verifyfile=C:\Windows\System32\SearchIndexer.exe

Windows Resource Protection found integrity violations.

But /scanfile cannot repair it.

The CBS log also shows STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED while trying to repair/replace SearchIndexer.exe.

I already ran:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

which completed successfully, but WSearch still fails with Error 5.

What would be the safest way to diagnose why SearchIndexer.exe is inaccessible and repair Windows Search without changing system permissions incorrectly or reinstalling Windows?

Would Process Monitor (ProcMon) be useful here to identify exactly which operation is returning ACCESS DENIED?

Answer 1

Please run these commands from Command Prompt admin:

takeown /f "C:\Windows\System32\SearchIndexer.exe" /a

icacls "C:\Windows\System32\SearchIndexer.exe" /reset

icacls "C:\Windows\System32\SearchIndexer.exe" /grant *S-1-5-32-544:F

icacls "C:\Windows\System32\SearchIndexer.exe"

Post the output.