Spotlight problems
mdutil prints one status line per volume, and each means something different. Run the status check, match your line to the table below, and use the fix that goes with it.
Open Terminal and run the status check. It only reads, and changes nothing:
mdutil -s /For the startup disk this prints a volume name and one status line. These are the status lines inside the mdutil program on macOS Sequoia (15.6):
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
Indexing enabled. | Spotlight is indexing this volume. This is the healthy state. |
Indexing disabled. | Indexing was switched off for this volume. |
Spotlight server is disabled. | mdutil couldn't reach the Spotlight server process, mds. |
Indexing and searching disabled. | Both indexing and searching are off for this volume. |
Indexing and searching disabled because of ".metadata_never_index" file at root of volume. | A marker file on the volume tells Spotlight to leave it alone. |
No index. | Spotlight has no index for this volume. |
If yours says Indexing disabled on a volume you want searchable, the fix is one command (below). If it says Spotlight server is disabled, read that section before changing anything, because the usual internet advice for it is out of date.
The manual page for mdutil describes -i on | off as setting the indexing status for the volumes you name. To turn indexing back on for your startup disk:
sudo mdutil -i on /For an external drive, give its mount point instead, for example sudo mdutil -i on "/Volumes/<DriveName>". Then run mdutil -s on it again. The manual notes that indexing "may be delayed due to low disk space or other conditions", so give it time before deciding it failed. Our post on rebuilding the Spotlight index covers what to do if indexing starts and then never finishes.
You'll see this status after someone has turned indexing off on purpose. If that was you, disabling Spotlight completely explains what that changes and how to undo it.
This is the message for a volume where searching is off as well as indexing. The manual lists a -d option that "Disables Spotlight searches on the provided volume", and the manual's switch for indexing is sudo mdutil -i on; run mdutil -s afterwards to see whether searching came back too. A separate place to check is the Search Privacy list. Apple's guide says to open System Settings, click Spotlight in the sidebar (you may need to scroll), and click Search Privacy at the lower right. If the disk or folder is in that list, select it and remove it.
The last message is specific to a file called .metadata_never_index at the top of the volume. It tells Spotlight to leave the volume alone, and it is worth looking for on external drives. To see whether it is there:
ls -la "/Volumes/<DriveName>/.metadata_never_index"If you want the drive indexed, remove that one file: in Finder, press ⇧⌘. to show hidden files and move it to the Trash, or in Terminal run rm "/Volumes/<DriveName>/.metadata_never_index", which deletes only that named file. Then run sudo mdutil -i on "/Volumes/<DriveName>" and check the status again. If the drive belongs to someone else, ask first: the file may have been put there on purpose. If the drive is formatted for Windows, see also why an external drive will not index.
The message means mdutil couldn't talk to the Spotlight server, the background service named mds. Its manual page says only that mds is "the metadata server" that serves "all clients of the metadata APIs, including Spotlight", and that "there are no configurations to mds, and users should not run mds manually." In a 2013 report of this message, it came with an "(ipc/send) invalid destination port" error, which fits a server that wasn't running. To see whether it is running now (this only reads):
pgrep -lx mdsA line such as 379 mds means the server is up; no output means it isn't.
Old forum answers from around 2013 tell people to reload the service with a launchctl load command on a plist in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons. No current Apple source turned up for any command that restarts the server on a modern Mac, and the same threads report "Operation not permitted" errors on systems with System Integrity Protection. System files on a current Mac sit on a sealed, read-only volume, so this page gives no launchctl command and doesn't suggest turning SIP off.
What is safe, and costs nothing:
mdutil -s / and pgrep -lx mds again. It is the cheapest first step, though no source promises it clears this message.Everywhere keeps its own index of file names, so a broken, disabled or rebuilding Spotlight index doesn't affect it. Type part of a name, such as .pdf invoice, and the results come from that index. For words inside documents, add contains: with a name word, as in invoice contains:henderson; it reads PDF, Word .docx, Pages and plain-text files, among others, but not email.
mdutil printed it because it couldn't reach the Spotlight server process, mds. It differs from 'Indexing disabled', which just means indexing is off for that volume. pgrep -lx mds shows whether the server is running.
Run sudo mdutil -i on / for the startup disk, or give a drive's mount point such as /Volumes/<DriveName>. Then check with mdutil -s /.
Both indexing and searching are off for that volume. Check Search Privacy in System Settings > Spotlight, and look for a .metadata_never_index file on the volume.
Run mdutil -s / for the startup disk, or mdutil -a -s for every volume. Both only read the status and change nothing.
Everywhere keeps track of every file on your Mac, including the folders Spotlight hides and drives you have unplugged. Free for a day, then $19 once.
Version 2.20.3 · macOS 13+ · 4.7 MB · notarised