Ensure the Search Content Access Account is Set as an Administrator Under UPS

Once both Search and UPS are setup on a SharePoint farm, in order to ensure that the Search Service Application is able to search the User Profile Service Application for users (people), we need to include the content access account in the list of Administrators.

1. Go into Central Admin –> Manage Service Applications.
2. In there, highlight the “User Profile Service Application” row (1), and then select “Administrators” (2).

   

3. In the dialog, add your content access account (1), then select the account (2), and give that account ONLY “Retrieve People Data for Search Crawlers” permission (3).