SharePoint 2016 - No search service instances found in the farm

Question

Not sure what happened but my Search Service Application Proxy is missing and I can't delete the Search Service Application.

Error when attempting to delete: Sorry, Something went wrong. No search service instances found in the farm.

I added the search service proxy back via PowerShell but it disappeared.

Search Service Topology is stuck on "loading."

Taken from ULS log:

Getting Error Message for Exception System.Web.HttpUnhandledException (0x80004005): Exception of type 'System.Web.HttpUnhandledException' was thrown. ---> System.Exception: No search service instances found in the farm.    
 at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.Topology.SearchTopologyUtils.DeleteAllActiveNodes(SearchServiceApplication searchApp)    
 at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceApplication.Unprovision(Boolean deleteData)    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.ServiceApplicationDeletePage.OkButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)    
 at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)    
 at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)    
 at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.HandleError(Exception e)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest()    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)    
 at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()    
 at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStepImpl(IExecutionStep step)    
 at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

How can I delete the SSA?

Answer 1

Please try to use the PowerShell to remove search service application.

Get the ID of the search Service application:

Get-SPServiceApplication

Then use the Remove-SPServiceApplication below to remove the search service application:

Remove-SPServiceApplication   searchserivceapplicationid    -removedata