What is "Error (0x80040509)" on Index Manager detail listing?

Question

Trial run on this software (file locator pro) and experiencing an error.

In the index manager I am clicking "show detail". Some of the files being indexed have the following message: "Unable to index: [long_file_path_omitted] - Error (0x80040509)".

Would this happen if the file is opened by another user? Or, is it another cause?

Also, noticing this error seems to severely impact indexing performance. I can see it plow through files rapidly until it hits a file resulting in this error code. There is about a one minute long pause and then the error message in the detail list. Trying to index about 3TB of word, excel, and pdf files.

Answer 1

There are a few reasons why it might occur, for example if the Word file was pre-97 Word. Is there anything unusual about the files that are failing?

One way to test the file is to try searching it in the FileLocator Pro classic interface and see if it can be searched, e.g.

File name:
Containing text: test
Look In:         [long_file_path_omitted]

Comments

If I do a non-index basic search, containing text I know is in the file, it finds the file without issue. I'm looking at some of the failed files and most appear to be version 97-2003 or later. This same error happens on multiple types of files, too. Not just word. See it on doc, docx, xls, xlsx, rtf, pdf.

I'm trying to find something in common with all of them and nothing readily stands out. Unless maybe the path length is a factor? Is there a limit on how long the path can be for the files being indexed? We regularly exceed the 260 path size limit.  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1880321/why-does-the-260-character-path-length-limit-exist-in-windows .

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Yes, file paths over that limit would cause a problem. If you search for the file in FileLocator Pro classic does the Text tab correctly show the contents of the file?

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It does display a plain text representation of what is in the file without issue. And, highlights the matching line where text was found. (On both classic and tabbed interfaces).

From what I can see in the results, the long paths are definitely not being indexed. So, this looks like a problem as well. Is there a fix or reasonable work around? Not sure I can feasibly rename over fifty thousand folders to something shorter.

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If FileLocator Pro can search them then it should be able to index them. Could you try creating a smaller index with just a subset of the files that can't be indexed to see if that helps?

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Talked with the user base that would be consumers of the searches. At this point it doesn't look like it would be very productive to be switching indexes all the time and repeating searches to accommodate shorter paths. This ended up being a bigger deal than the original 0x80040509 error.

Everything else about the product is excellent. But, we can't continue until those issues are corrected. Thank you for all your help!

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An index can include multiple locations in a single index, just use a semi-colon to add additional locations. However, there's not a quick fix for the paths over 260 chars but I'll update this QA when long paths are supported.