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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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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on a new computer i have again troubles with the explorer, this time i think it is due to a wrong/old account which is no longer active: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
    2024-11-09T16:16:43+00:00

    are you serious? What kind of solution is this?

    you are basicly saying this:

    Hi customer, i'm sorry that our software is malfunctioning. Please spend 40 hours trying solutions that likely won't work, because our software is built by gen z developers, but at least I get a salary by responding with blank information about our malfunctioning product.

    shame.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-08-07T17:13:59+00:00

    Yes. This is our experience across all our Windows 11 machines. File Explorer very sluggish navigation. Lighting fast on Win 10.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-04-14T07:27:13+00:00

    I have tried all of the helpful suggestions from other users, but nothing worked.

    In the end, a Windows reset was the only thing that solved the issue, but that is the “nuclear” option that required me to reinstall all of my apps and programmes.

    This is unacceptable from Microsoft!

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-01T05:01:29+00:00

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSvyfEykPB8

    Disabling Quick access fixed the issue for me!

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