Setup
I've got a MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017)
Problem
When I type in the name of an application, Spotlight doesn't show the application. When I do sudo mdutil -E /
, It says the following,
Error: unknown indexing state.
When I Select System Preferences, Click the Spotlight pane, select the Privacy tab and then click the Add (+) button and try to select anything, It says
Privacy List Error, the item couldn’t be added or removed because of an unknown error.
What I tried
I've tried https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/rebuild-spotlight-search-index-on-mac/,
and Spotlight re-indexing takes too long or doesn't work. sudo rm -R .Spotlight-V100/
says
No such file or directory
sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -seed -lint -r -f -v -dump -domain local -domain system -domain user -domain network
does a lot of stuff,
sudo rm -R .Spotlight-V100/
also says
Error: unknown indexing state.
sudo mdutil -E -i on /
says
Error: unable to perform operation. (-400) Error: unknown indexing state.
How it happened
When I tried to download the macOS Catalina update, the mac got stuck in an endless loop of trying to update and then failing, forcing it into recovery mode, I tried to stop the update by using this link, https://www.mklibrary.com/technology/macos-sierra-stuck-endless-rebooting-loop/ but nothing worked, so I had to fully reinstall macOS, Spotlight now doesn't show any files or applications at all. It only shows other stuff like emails, Dictionary suggestions, etc.
(Note, I've also made sure to check all the categories in system preferences)
I've tried,
sudo mdutil -a -i off
,
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist'''
sudo mdutil -a -i on
It worked, however, it stopped working again afterwards when my computer shut down.