SharePoint 2013 Search not provisioning correctly

Did a clean install on another system and I'm now seeing the same issue that you are with the Search Service.  Usage Proxy still didn't start, but fixing that didn't fix the search service like it did last time.  I guess it was just a matter of timing.

I did find out one new thing.  If you read the installation guide online you'll find out that the prereqs installer doesn't install all the necessary hot fixes.  There are three additional hotfixes that should be installed AFTER PSconfig.exe but before you actually start building out the system.  Here are the links to download them.

http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Windows%20Server2008%20R2%20SP1/sp2/Fix402568/7600/free/447698_intl_x64_zip.exe

http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Windows%20Server2008%20R2%20SP1/sp2/Fix368051/7600/free/433385_intl_x64_zip.exe

http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Windows%20Server2008%20R2%20SP1/sp2/Fix354400/7600/free/427087_intl_x64_zip.exe

and here's the article where they are referenced.  Check step #6

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee805948(v=office.15)#PrepareServers

Paul Stork SharePoint Server
MVP Senior Solutions Architect: BlueChip Consulting Group
Blog: http://dontpapanic.com/blog
Twitter: Follow @pstork
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