There are some common SharePoint Search Service Application erros which you might encountered when you are wokring with the service. Administrative status Paused for:Index reset Administrative status Paused for:External request, Index reset Administrative status Paused for:External request You may find these erros when you navigate to Central Administration and Manage service applications then Search Service Application you can find service error details in the Search Service Application: Search Administration page Common Resolution for Those problems If you see those erros first you can do a quick workround and see whether its resolved. Stop following services in all nodes in the farm. (actually this is needed for notes which search components are running , but if you couldnt find those do it for all servers) You can goto servics by type services.msc in run window (Windows + R) Stop “SharePoint Timer Service” Stop “SharePoint Search Host Controller