diff --git a/vector-stores/spring-ai-azure-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/azure/AzureVectorStore.java b/vector-stores/spring-ai-azure-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/azure/AzureVectorStore.java
index 970ba14ca..d09b8dc71 100644
--- a/vector-stores/spring-ai-azure-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/azure/AzureVectorStore.java
+++ b/vector-stores/spring-ai-azure-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/azure/AzureVectorStore.java
@@ -332,8 +332,10 @@ public class AzureVectorStore implements VectorStore, InitializingBean {
 	@Override
 	public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
 
-		if (!this.initializeSchema)
+		if (!this.initializeSchema) {
+			this.searchClient = this.searchIndexClient.getSearchClient(this.indexName);
 			return;
+		}
 
 		int dimensions = this.embeddingModel.dimensions();