Every thing you can do to make WSS search work !!!

If like me you are haunted by Event IDs 2424 and 2436 on your SharePoint server and you have no clue of what needs to be done join the club, WSS has least relation with the search configurations and if you get a search error you can do anything and everything mentioned in this article to get the error away ….

Taking reference from my earlier article WSS search does not work after service account password changes here are the additions

1. If this issue occurs when you have site running in the Host Header and the search stops working after the Infrastructure update is applied, apply the post infrastructure update or the Service pack 2, this is because the infrastructure update is know to break your AAM mappings check this: http://blogs.msdn.com/alimaz/archive/2008/07/27/known-issue-with-infrastructure-update-for-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0.aspx and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951297
2. Use KB 934838 which can update your credentials to use the updates account
3. Try to make the content access account as the farm administrator
4. Add the service account to the following groups

• Administrators
• IIS_WPG
• WSS_WPG
• WSS_ADMIN_WPG

5. On database server, configure the account as:

• "dbcreator" and "securityadmin" role of the database server
• "dbowner" of all SharePoint databases including configuration database, content database and search database

6. The alternate Access mappings should have the default running with http://servername:portnumber and in IIS host header should be configured with http port number and second entry as with host header of your site and port 80

7. In web.config set the <identity impersonate = “true”/>, this should help

8. The timer service account must be same as the search services account in the services console and should have permissions in the task folder locate this on c:\windows\task now this is a system folder and will not let you assign permissions, so you can run the following command from start > run > cmd > type the following attrib –s <folder name> this will remove the system attributes from the folder, after your done with giving the permissions you can run attrib +s

9. On Site Actions > site settings > Search Visibility > index all aspx pages

10. Look at the kb http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952172/

11. go to start > admin tools > component services > component services > My computer > computer > DCOM config > give permissions to the IISadmin and SPSearch components

Go to properties > security tab > edit all the 3 frames and add the service account

12. Now run the command stsadm –o enumservices and note down the output, especially for WSS search

13. Now run the provision the search follow tech net http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262031.aspx first stop and then start, you will have to provide a new database

14. To check if the search works, run the command stsadm –o spsearch –action fullcrawlstart

WSS search does not work after service account password changes

If you have a SharePoint 2003 version referred to as WSS, and you run into an scenario that search does not work reason being that the service account password expired on Active Directory.

First things first always remember to set the service account a condition to be on password never expires, Incase you miss it by mistake

Now as this happen you should

• shoot for KB http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934838 which works most of the time



• stop the Windows SharePoint search service from Central admin page > Operations tab > services on server and start it again proving the new username and password



• you can try the same from command line, follow article on http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287997.aspx



• The last step to try is rebuilding your configuration data base and providing the same service account



• because earlier when password was changed WSS config database was not updated of the change and it did not recognize the account so no search results appeared



• After you do the new config database you should run the stsadm –o spsearch –action fullcrawlstart



• And this will not start immediately you need to give it maximum and hour and then check the performance



• I am 100% sure this will work !!!!