In Windows 10, the default search function indexes your Internet Explorer history, the Start menu, and the entire user folder on the system partition. What if you want to add a network folder to the search index in Windows 10? For example, let's say you have a network attached storage (NAS) drive with a bunch of videos, pictures, and files that just don't fit on your PC?
Add File and Folder in Windows Search Option | Rebuild Search Index
In this article I will show you how to add a network folder to the search index. Then when you search for a file from Explorer, you will also get results that include files stored in the network folder.
Note: Technically, the Windows client will not add a network location to its local search index. Instead, it will pass that search query to the server, and the server will perform a search using its index. If you are trying to search a NAS device, it will perform the search in real time, so it will take some time for the results to appear. If you are searching a Windows file server, make sure that the search index on the server contains all the locations you want.
The first thing you want to do is share the folder that you want to include in the index. You should share the folder on your NAS or on the host machine, if for example it’s files stored on a Windows PC. As an example, I wanted to include some files stored on my Windows 7 PC in the Windows 10 search index. Here are the three test files that I want to include:
