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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Searching in Exchange Server 2010 OWA returns: “The action couldn’t be completed. Please try again.”

Problem

You attempt to search the inbox of a mailbox on Exchange Server 2010 with SP2 Outlook Web App (OWA) but receive the following message:

The action couldn’t be completed. Please try again.

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Logging onto the Exchange server and reviewing the Task Manager shows that the Microsoft.Exchange.Search.ExSearch.exe process is consuming high amounts of the CPU:

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Reviewing the Application logs show the following event ID 9842 logged:

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Function CISearch::EcGetRowsetAndAccessor detected that content indexing was disabled for database ‘MailboxStoreName’ because of error '0x80041820' from MSSearch.

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You’ve tried executing the Repair-ExchangeSearchSymlinks.ps1 script from http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/16afe88b-6c6d-49a3-8b03-2a2ece27f61a and then running Test-ExchangeSearch but still receive errors:

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You’ve also tried using the ResetSearchIndex.ps1 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa995966(EXCHG.80).aspx) script but still receive errors:

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Solution

After trying the common solutions suggested by forum posts without any luck, what ended up fixing this issue for me was rerunning the prepareAD and prepareSchema from the Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 setup.exe:

setup /preparead

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setup /prepareSchema

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Then restarting the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service:

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… and the Microsoft Exchange Information Store:

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at

37 comments:

  1. Email archiving solutionJanuary 14, 2013 at 1:03 PM

    Thanks for explanation, solution is not so hard at all! When there is someone who will explain it :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 4, 2013 at 9:31 PM

    Awesome! worked like a charm!

    ReplyDelete
  3. NLSApril 19, 2013 at 3:37 PM

    Anybody knows the reason? I get it repaired, but fails again after a while (usually an update, a reboot...). Happened to me with Exchange 2010 SP1, SP2 AND SP3! (in SBS2011)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2014 at 2:13 PM

      Maybe you have your db in a nas or in storage low quality. Disk spsce, ram, neteork problem

      Delete
  4. UnknownApril 23, 2013 at 11:36 AM

    This ideas and information do helps me a lot..


    Exchange email retention

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMay 9, 2013 at 7:02 PM

    I'd been battling with this for a while and your fix did the trick on 2010 SP3 thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousAugust 13, 2013 at 11:16 AM

    Will this work if I'm running SBS2011?

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownAugust 14, 2013 at 1:56 AM

    Pretty interesting post! Thanks it was interesting. FSD

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousAugust 30, 2013 at 4:58 PM

    I just ran it on SBS 2011 with SP3 and all the roll ups. Worked for me. Thanks...

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2013 at 2:46 PM

    I have SP3 as well and this was the only fix that worked for me. It appears the symlinks have to be downloaded but I didnt try that. Just prepareAD and Schema. THANKS!

    ReplyDelete
  10. TechThatWorksSeptember 24, 2013 at 3:44 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ThomasSeptember 24, 2013 at 3:45 AM

    I have had this issue since applying Exchange 2010 SP3. I really hope this can fix my issue.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gert van de PeppelNovember 8, 2013 at 5:16 AM

    Works with Exchange 2010 SP3 as well!
    Great solution, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. mariaDecember 14, 2013 at 2:03 PM

    Can you tell me what are the implication of running again setup /prepareschema and setup /preparead. Tnx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2014 at 2:17 PM

      Because ad and exchange are stricly correlated. Sometimes exchange not read correctly ad and viceversa. Ad preparare ad schema preparare adjust the correct data inside ad and exchange.

      Delete
  14. DavidMay 7, 2014 at 8:30 AM

    Thank you very much. It works!

    ReplyDelete
  15. NikMay 13, 2014 at 6:01 AM

    Worked like a charm with SP3. Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  16. BryanMay 19, 2014 at 2:39 PM

    Thank you, worked like a charm!

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousAugust 14, 2014 at 8:19 AM

    Did a stop start of the service on exchange information store and exchange search indexer and it worked.

    Thanks and keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousNovember 4, 2014 at 11:12 AM

    doesn't work... got "Content Indexing function 'CISearch::EcGetRowsetAndAccessor' received an unusual and unexpected error code from MSSearch.
    "

    ReplyDelete
  19. MatsJanuary 28, 2015 at 1:17 AM

    great article, however I can't run the setup /preparead or setup /prepareschema without getting the following error:
    Organization Checks FAILED
    Setup encountered a problem while validating the state of Active Directory:
    The Active Directory schema version (14734) is higher than Setup's version (147
    32). Therefore, PrepareSchema can't be executed.

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousMarch 23, 2015 at 7:22 AM

    I do not have the c:\exchange server 2010 sp2 folder.

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousMarch 23, 2015 at 9:22 AM

    Thank you! problem solved with setup /preparead and schema. Event Viewer
    CISearch::EcGetRowsetAndAccessor
    '0x80041820'

    ReplyDelete
  22. 6 of 7March 27, 2015 at 11:41 AM

    WOW. THANK YOU. This is awesome. I have Exchange 2010 SP3. I have the install files in a folder on the server, so this was an easy, quick fix.

    ReplyDelete
  23. AndersMay 20, 2015 at 8:31 AM

    Thanks! Microsoft has left some room for improvement here. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousAugust 31, 2015 at 1:29 PM

    Worked for me as well, thanks! If you're on Exchange 2010 Sp3, be sure to run /prepareAD and /prepareSchema from the SP3 setup files (not Sp2, which will throw the schema version error).

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousOctober 28, 2015 at 6:57 AM

    Exchange 2010 SP3

    run /prepareAD
    and /prepareSchema

    stop MS EXC Information STORE
    stop MS EXC Search Indexer

    start MS EXC Information STORE
    MS EXC Search Indexer

    TEST OK!

    Thank You

    Shaner (from Barrie)

    ReplyDelete
  26. UnknownNovember 26, 2015 at 5:37 AM

    This Microsoft article, "After Installing Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1, Searching via OWA or Outlook Online Mode Fails" didn't work (http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/06/30/after-installing-exchange-2010-service-pack-1-searching-via-owa-or-outlook-online-mode-fails.aspx).

    But thank you Terence for your easy to follow and perfectly functional contribution to resolving my issue!

    ReplyDelete
  27. CodeTronApril 17, 2016 at 7:34 AM

    Hi,

    Is it ok to run the commands on a working Exchange 2010 SP3 RU11 server?
    Does it delete the rollups? and It is obvious that I need to run the commands from the SP3 directory, correct?

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  28. CodeTronApril 18, 2016 at 2:11 AM

    I just reset the search databases and all working fine

    Resetsearchindex.ps1 -force -all

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  29. TobiasApril 29, 2016 at 3:09 AM

    Thank you so much! I've had the Problems with SP3 RU12. setup /prepareSchema runs into an error, but today the search works just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  30. RubyMay 12, 2016 at 10:37 AM

    Thank you. THis fixed my issue and i had tried everything.

    ReplyDelete
  31. JeffMay 17, 2016 at 11:29 AM

    This worked for me as well, thanks! I was ready to call M$ for this issue and tried your steps as a last resort before making the call.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Paul ShellNovember 24, 2016 at 8:20 PM

    Yes the SP3 commands work, already tried the 2 scripts. Works on EX2010 with SBS 2011. Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousApril 28, 2017 at 11:12 AM

    Hi Terence,

    I came across your post seaching for a solution and your stuff just worked.

    Many thanks,

    John

    ReplyDelete
  34. AnonymousMay 20, 2017 at 8:59 AM

    This worked for me. Exchange 2010 SP3. It was driving me crazy. THANKS!!
    Chris E.

    ReplyDelete
  35. chaozzNovember 13, 2017 at 7:26 AM

    This work perfectly for us. I downloaded Exchange 2010 SP3, extracted the EXE and ran the two setup commands. After restarting the two services the search was working again. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete