diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/textSearch.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/textSearch.ts
index 890eca5bd13a7b981955e0b1f7e094df6909f85c..51ede2e50f7dd1e231c97c45b26cb43cbdea54db 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/textSearch.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/textSearch.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import * as path from 'path';
 
 import * as ipc from 'vs/base/parts/ipc/common/ipc';
 
+import { onUnexpectedError } from 'vs/base/common/errors';
 import { IProgress } from 'vs/platform/search/common/search';
 import { FileWalker } from 'vs/workbench/services/search/node/fileSearch';
 import { ISerializedFileMatch, ISerializedSearchComplete, IRawSearch, ISearchEngine } from './search';
@@ -49,7 +50,10 @@ export class Engine implements ISearchEngine<ISerializedFileMatch> {
 		this.isCanceled = true;
 		this.walker.cancel();
 
-		this.workers.forEach(w => w.cancel());
+		this.workers.forEach(w => {
+			w.cancel()
+				.then(null, onUnexpectedError);
+		});
 	}
 
 	search(onResult: (match: ISerializedFileMatch) => void, onProgress: (progress: IProgress) => void, done: (error: Error, complete: ISerializedSearchComplete) => void): void {
@@ -102,7 +106,12 @@ export class Engine implements ISearchEngine<ISerializedFileMatch> {
 				}
 
 				unwind(batchBytes);
-			});
+			},
+				error => {
+					// An error on the worker's end, not in reading the file, but in processing the batch. Log and continue.
+					onUnexpectedError(error);
+					unwind(batchBytes);
+				});
 		};
 
 		// Walk over the file system
@@ -170,7 +179,7 @@ export class Engine implements ISearchEngine<ISerializedFileMatch> {
 		const channel = ipc.getNextTickChannel(client.getChannel<ISearchWorkerChannel>('searchWorker'));
 		const channelClient = new SearchWorkerChannelClient(channel);
 		const config: ISearchWorkerConfig = { pattern: this.config.contentPattern, id, fileEncoding: this.config.fileEncoding };
-		channelClient.initialize(config);
+		channelClient.initialize(config).then(null, onUnexpectedError);
 
 		this.workers.push(channelClient);
 		this.workerClients.push(client);
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorker.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorker.ts
index a186d58010773a85b13651631f8980c76737945d..d79b691ed7cd38ff2dfd5633a9a9c9f30af7ec13 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorker.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorker.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 
+import { onUnexpectedError } from 'vs/base/common/errors';
 import * as strings from 'vs/base/common/strings';
 import { TPromise } from 'vs/base/common/winjs.base';
 import { ISerializedFileMatch } from '../search';
@@ -25,6 +26,14 @@ interface ReadLinesOptions {
 // Global isCanceled flag for the process. It's only set once and this avoids awkwardness in passing it around.
 let isCanceled = false;
 
+const MAX_FILE_ERRORS = 5; // Don't report more than this number of errors, 1 per file, to avoid flooding the log when there's a general issue
+let numErrorsLogged = 0;
+function onError(error: any): void {
+	if (numErrorsLogged++ < MAX_FILE_ERRORS) {
+		onUnexpectedError(error);
+	}
+}
+
 export class SearchWorker implements ISearchWorker {
 	static CONCURRENT_SEARCH_PATHS = 2;
 
@@ -89,7 +98,7 @@ function searchBatch(absolutePaths: string[], contentPattern: RegExp, fileEncodi
 				if (absolutePaths.length) {
 					return startSearchInFile(absolutePaths.shift());
 				}
-			});
+			}, onError);
 		};
 
 		let batchPromises: TPromise<void>[] = [];
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorkerIpc.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorkerIpc.ts
index 9b30d5184370afa34dfc183e3a57d5c9fbf40ed5..045c725d4bb104b390db4684547ce2c20a4ee7f0 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorkerIpc.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/worker/searchWorkerIpc.ts
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ export class SearchWorkerChannel implements ISearchWorkerChannel {
 
 	call(command: string, arg?: any): TPromise<any> {
 		switch (command) {
-			case 'initialize': return TPromise.wrap(this.worker.initialize(arg));
+			case 'initialize': return this.worker.initialize(arg);
 			case 'search': return this.worker.search(arg);
 			case 'cancel': return this.worker.cancel();
 		}