The error message "The content processing pipeline failed to process the item" in Microsoft Search, SharePoint, or Windows Search typically indicates an issue with indexing, crawling, or processing content in the search pipeline. The ExpandSegments error suggests that the system encountered a problem breaking down the indexed content into searchable segments.
🔹 Possible Causes of This Error
1. Corrupt or Unreadable Content
- The file being indexed may be corrupted, improperly formatted, or an unsupported file type.
- Some PDFs, Word documents, or custom file types may have metadata or encoding issues.
2. Insufficient Permissions
- The indexing service doesn’t have permission to access the file or content.
- Check the user/group permissions to ensure that the search service account has full read access.
3. Search Index Corruption
- The SharePoint, Windows, or SQL search index may have become corrupted.
- Resetting or re-crawling the index can help fix this.
4. Large or Complex Files
- Extremely large files or documents with complex structures (tables, embedded content, unusual formatting) can cause segmentation failures.
5. Faulty Search Service Components
- The search service may have a misconfiguration, missing components, or outdated settings.
- Restarting the Search Service can sometimes fix this.
🔹 Solutions to Fix the Issue
🔸 1. Check Event Viewer for More Details
- Open Event Viewer (
eventvwr.msc).
- Go to Windows Logs → Application or SharePoint Logs.
- Look for additional error codes or messages related to the search service.
🔸 2. Restart Search Services
If this is a Windows Search or SharePoint Search issue, restart the services:
Restart-Service WSearch # Windows Search Service
Restart-Service SPSearch4 # SharePoint Search Service (if applicable)
For SQL Search:
EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_fulltext_service 'restart_all_services';
🔸 3. Reset Search Index (For SharePoint or Windows Search)
⚠️ Warning: This will clear and rebuild the entire index.
Stop-Service SPSearch4
Remove-Item -Path "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb" -Force
Start-Service SPSearch4
For SharePoint:
Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication | Reset-SPEnterpriseSearchIndex
🔸 4. Verify File & Permissions
- Check the file's location and ensure the search service account has read permissions.
- Try manually opening the file—if it’s corrupt, it may need to be removed or repaired.
🔸 5. Increase Processing Timeout for Large Files
If the error occurs with large or complex files, you may need to increase timeout limits.
For SharePoint
Set-SPEnterpriseSearchCrawlConfiguration -SearchApplication "Search Service Application" -TimeoutForRetrievingItems 300
For Windows Search Registry Tweak
Increase the processing timeout for search in Registry Editor:
- Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search
- Add a DWORD key:
MaxIndexingTimeout
- Set it to
60000 (for 60 seconds)
🔸 6. Exclude Problematic Files
If certain files are causing repeated failures, you can exclude them from indexing:
- Open Indexing Options in Control Panel.
- Click Modify → Uncheck problematic directories.
- Restart the Windows Search service.
🔹 Final Steps
✔ Check Event Logs for deeper error details
✔ Restart search services
✔ Verify file accessibility & permissions
✔ Reset the search index if corruption is suspected
✔ Increase processing time for large files
✔ Exclude problematic files if necessary
If the issue persists, let me know what platform you're using (SharePoint, Windows Search, SQL, etc.), and I can provide more specific troubleshooting steps! 🚀
