Milvus "collection not loaded" Error
Workaround available Self-hosted, Zilliz Cloud Updated November 15, 2026Based on 3 user reportsHow we research
Quick answer
Search needs the collection loaded into memory first. Create a vector index, call load_collection, and confirm with get_load_state.
Most likely fix: Index then load
How to fix it
Try these in order — the most common fix is first.
1. Index then load
- Create an index on the vector field with create_index (AUTOINDEX is simplest)
- Run client.load_collection(collection_name=...)
- Check get_load_state reports loaded
Did this fix it?2. Check after restart
- Call get_load_state again after a restart
- Reload if it says NotLoad
- If load keeps failing, check query node logs and memory
Did this fix it?
Symptoms
MilvusException (code=22) collection not loaded when you search or query.
Why it happens
- load_collection never called
- Collection released or reopened in released state (some Milvus Lite setups)
- Server restarted and load failed
This guide also covers
- milvus collection not loaded
- milvus load collection
- milvus code=22
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Other Milvus errors
- Milvus Query Node Out of Memory (OOM)
- Milvus "field dimension mismatch" Error
- Milvus Connection Refused / Timeout (19530)
- Milvus etcd and MinIO Dependency Errors
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