Windows 11 file explorer is slow, lagging, hangs!

Anonymous
2022-11-06T07:07:24+00:00

Hi,

I have a very strong PC with Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe, Intel i7-9700K, 32GB Memory and ASUS ROG Strix Z390-H Gaming.
When my PC was on Windows 10 there was no problem with File Explorer but after upgrading to Windows 11 I am facing a problem with file explorer slow, lagging, hangs even when just renaming a file.
Only full PC restart is solving the problem for a short time.

How to solve this problem on windows 11 please?

Thanks,
AG

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2022-11-28T14:17:19+00:00

I also experienced Lags with the Explorer:

  1. On Windows 10, i could solve them by removing external file-drives (SMB) from Quick-Access. I created a folder with Links to the drives instead and explorer was fast again. Probably the explorer tried to connect to these drives and for some reason failed, even though the connection was up and working.
  2. On Windows 11 on a new computer i have again troubles with the explorer, this time i think it is due to a wrong/old account which is no longer active:
    Image The problems came with the "Home"-Button, which was added at some point. Also the "Please sign in" only shows when selecting the "Home"-Button.

This might also be related to an account i am unable to remove:
Image
Clicking on 'Manage' opens the login-page for the first account and i can not find the old account in the first account to remove it.

Can your problem also be associated with one of the issues above?

Does anyone know how to solve the second issue by e.g. disabling the "Home" button, changing the account in the explorer or removing a no longer existing old account?

Updated Info / what i use:

  1. Don't use mapped Drives oder External Folders in Quick-Access. Keep all pinned-directories pointing to local files / folders. Instead, save them as files / links:

Image

  1. Disable OneDrive.exe in StartUp-Apps. If this still does not help, completely disable or remove onedrive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0 
  2. 'Home' as startup-folder seems to also be slow, change it: https://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-set-start-location-file-explorer-windows-10/
    Image

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-08-07T16:55:19+00:00

    AG, You hit it on the head.

    Almost all of the Windows 11 issues are solved by simply going back to Windows 10. LOL

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-03-12T17:00:13+00:00

    Try this, it worked for me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2WDrLurGRY

    It's reversible too (non destructive), you simply delete a couple of folders in the registry and then re-create them

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-10-17T17:15:44+00:00

    I have actually tested this extensively. In OneDrive / SharePoint locations in Windows Explorer is increasingly laggy as your amount of synced items increases. See image below that summarises folder loading time is based on number of items synced. I only had 1 account synced. Hope this makes sense......

    This was not an issue on Windows 10!

    ![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/c10c2f2d-e715-4be8-a2d6-fab441d19378?platform=QnA

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-18T22:40:58+00:00

    This also fixed my issue, thanks for posting it

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