Prevent indexing certain paths
- Policy ID
- PreventIndexingCertainPaths_1
- Scope
- Computer Configuration
- Supported on
- Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 with Windows Search version 3.01, or any version of Microsoft Windows with Windows Search 4.0 or later
- Source
- Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
- Category
- Windows Components › Search
Description
If you enable this policy setting, you specify a list of paths to exclude from indexing. The user cannot enter any path that starts with one of the paths you specified.
If you enable and then disable this policy setting, users can index any path not restricted by other policies, but their original list of paths to index is not restored.
Options
Registry
ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths View registry values
- (list values)REG_SZ