Question: There is a known issue with SVN repositories and the windows indexing service fighting over .svn metadata files. [Here for more details.](http://schleichermann.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/svn-tortoisesvn-cant-move-the-file-or-directory-is-corrupted-and-unreadable-windows-7/)

How can we set it up so there are **automatically** no problems having subversion repositories indexed by windows (Vista/Win7). *(We don't want to have to manually do something every time we add repo directory.)*

One idea is to setup Windows to automatically not index folders named ".svn", however I can not find a way to do this.

I know you can disable certain extensions, but that doesn't seem to work since the svn metadata files are in a folder.

Note: The

Answer: 
AFAIK, Windows Indexing service on Windows 7 only looks within the Users folder as default (correct me if I am wrong). If you have your SVN repositories within your personal folder, you can:

a) Putting your SVN repositories elsewhere

b) By excluding those folders from the index. [Here](http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Exploring-Windows-7s-New-Search-Features-Part2.html) you will find how to exclude a folder.
[Brute force method](http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdesktopsearchhelp/thread/7b4b895d-facc-462c-a1f2-51a735dc8bd1)

1. do a search for all .svn directory
2. select all (ctrl+a)
3. right mouse click properties
4. click "advance..."
5. uncheck the "Index this folder for faster searching"
6. apply the change

[WDS Group Policy](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732768%28WS.10%29.aspx) has an option for `Prevent Indexing Certain Paths`, but it isn't listed available for Windows Vista according to the feature chart.

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> Supported on: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 with Windows Search 3.01, or any version of Microsoft Windows with Windows Search 4.0 or later.
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