Prevent indexing certain paths

UserIntune-readyPreventIndexingCertainPaths_2

Supported on Any version of Microsoft Windows with Windows Search 4.0 or later

25H2 · 1.0

What it does

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. On a per-user basis, this policy setting will work only if a protocol handler referencing a SID-based user scope, such as MAPI, is specified. File system paths that do not reference a specific SID will not be excluded from indexing if these are only specified in the Group Policy under "User Configuration." To restrict a file system path from indexing, please specify the file system path to be indexed under the "Computer Configuration" Group Policy. 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.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Registry key: SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search

In Intune

No native CSP; import the ADMX (Intune-ready).

From Microsoft's Policy CSP DDF files (DDF v2 Files, February 2026), read 18 Oct 2026.

Options

Option	Type	Registry value	Allowed values
Prevent Indexing Certain Paths	List of values	`SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths`	Any

Configure and deploy

Choose a state and the option values; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · User · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths]

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Prevent indexing certain paths
# Name: PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: Search.admx

Clear-RegistryKeyValues -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths'

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.
The generated payload is incomplete because one or more ADMX element values were not supplied: PreventIndexingCertainPaths

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Search/PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Prevent indexing certain paths
# Name: PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: Search.admx

$keyPath = 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths'
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $keyPath) {
    $propertyNames = (Get-Item -LiteralPath $keyPath).Property
    if ($propertyNames.Count -gt 0) {
        $reasons.Add('Key should be empty: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths') | Out-Null
    }
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Prevent indexing certain paths
# Name: PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: Search.admx

Clear-RegistryKeyValues -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths'

History 5 retained releases

22H2 · 1.015 Jul 2024
- Already present in the first release ChangeIntel keeps.

4 later releases left it unchanged.

Template

Internal name: PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2
Namespace: FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21
Template file: Search.admx
Release: Windows 11 25H2 · 1.0 · file set de4e49983ebd651f…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="User" clientExtension="{7933F41E-56F8-41d6-A31C-4148A711EE93}" displayName="$(string.PreventIndexingCertainPaths)" explainText="$(string.PreventIndexingCertainPaths_User_Explain)" key="SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" name="PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2" presentation="$(presentation.PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2)" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:Search" />
      <supportedOn ref="FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:4OrLater" />
      <elements>
        <list id="PreventIndexingCertainPaths" key="SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\PreventIndexingCertainPaths" />
      </elements>
    </policy>

Editor controls

<presentation id="PreventIndexingCertainPaths_2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
        <listBox refId="PreventIndexingCertainPaths">Prevent Indexing Certain Paths</listBox>
      </presentation>

Supported platforms and category

FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:category:Search
<category displayName="$(string.Search)" name="Search" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents" />
    </category>
FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:definition:4OrLater
<definition displayName="$(string.4OrLater)" name="4OrLater" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:WindowsComponents
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsComponents)" explainText="$(string.WindowsComponents_Help)" name="WindowsComponents" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:category:Search
<category displayName="$(string.Search)" name="Search" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:Search">Search</string></strings>
FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:definition:4OrLater
<definition displayName="$(string.4OrLater)" name="4OrLater" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="FullArmor.Policies.3B9EA2B5_A1D1_4CD5_9EDE_75B22990BC21:4OrLater">Any version of Microsoft Windows with Windows Search 4.0 or later</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:WindowsComponents
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsComponents)" explainText="$(string.WindowsComponents_Help)" name="WindowsComponents" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents">Windows Components</string><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents_Help">Contains settings for operating system components.</string></strings>