Windows 11 file explorer is slow, lagging, hangs!

Anonymous

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

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Anonymous

I also experienced Lags with the Explorer:

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.
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on a new computer i have again troubles with the explorer, this time i think it is due to a wrong/old account which is no longer active:
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:

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:

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:

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
'Home' as startup-folder seems to also be slow, change it: https://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-set-start-location-file-explorer-windows-10/

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276 additional answers

Anonymous

2023-07-26T19:58:28+00:00

I really hope you are correct about the Explorer overahall coming soon. I have a somewhat different issue than everyone else. Explorere is somewhat slow on my end but I mainly find that I cannot delete or move files. I get a message saying I cannot delete or even move a file because it is in use. It's not. I haven't seen anyone else on here mention this problem but myself so far. We have tried everything. I have the correct permissions, etc.
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Anonymous

2023-07-27T15:06:02+00:00

use explorer++ , never hangs or **** on you. unbelievable how bad windows 8/10/11 has become
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Anonymous

2023-08-01T19:13:11+00:00

You are a total star!!!

Just by following just the below process it sorted my slow Explorer issue.

Clear File Explorer Cache:

Open RUN box

In the text field of the dialogue box, type the command mentioned below and hit Enter.

C:\Users%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

Once you are in the AutomaticDestinations folder, delete all its contents
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Anonymous

2023-08-03T08:54:56+00:00

This appears to have worked for my Asus Zenbook.
Thank you :-)
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