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on a new computer i have again troubles with the explorer, this time i think it is due to a wrong/old account which is no longer active: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
    2023-09-28T14:39:30+00:00

    Just a little bit faster but when changing folders, it pauses for a good 2-3 seconds.

    My specs are:

    CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8650U CPU @ 1.90GHz up to 3.6Ghz

    Memory: 16GB

    GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050

    GPU 0: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620

    Disk 0 (C:)

    SAMSUNG MZFLW512HMJP-000MV

    Capacity: 477 GB

    Formatted: 477 GB

    System disk: Yes

    Page file: Yes

    Type: SSD

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  2. Les Ferch 10,361 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-09-28T13:15:38+00:00

    I have exact same issue. Brand new clean installation of windows 11.

    See if the performance is okay using the old Explorer. You can access the old Explorer by opening the Control Panel and then clicking the up button a couple of times or by running control admintools.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-09-28T13:14:23+00:00

    Even though MS just issued a windows update that also included changes to File/Windows Explorer, it was not THE upgrade, which will replace it with a new Explorer interface, which is probably why they did not fix it. I wonder if they realize how irritating this bug can be. Its buffer seems to fill up with memory leaks when some extra-thread process hangs. This did not happen until they de-bloated the Search feature, which might still be trying to do something that can now no longer be completed. It is even used when we just change sort order.

    When things start lagging, I bring up Task Manager (Cntrl+Shift+Esc), scroll to the bottom of Processes, then restart the Windows Explorer listed near the bottom. Kind of a backyard fix, but it works. Better than rebooting (which we should do periodically, anyway).

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-09-28T10:30:52+00:00

    I have exact same issue. Brand new clean installation of windows 11.

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