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on a new computer i have again troubles with the explorer, this time i think it is due to a wrong/old account which is no longer active: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
    2023-12-27T02:31:24+00:00

    Thank you for the follow-up! You are right of course; when I remove the date field, I loose the ability to sort by content created date which is an issue.

    In the windows 10 explorer (went to windows 11 Control Panel and click up arrow a couple of times), sort by date created worked great - 1500 files in about 2 seconds. I guess I am still stuck as to having a meaningful sort ability, but at least I know how to stop the view from hanging on sort when I open a folder.

    But what is the speed like when you sort on "Content created" (for Office files) or "Date taken" (for Photos) using the old Explorer (via Control Panel)? Is that any better than the new Explorer?

    Hi,

    For a folder with around 1500 photo and video files, the sort speed on Date Taken using the old explorer (Via control panel) is 1-2 seconds. In the new explorer, it is 4-5 minutes (if it ever finishes). Sadly this is the default folder opening behavior as it is my default file sort).

    FWIW, I have tried many of the suggestions on the previous 18 pages, and these seems to have fixed the explorer opening slow or hanging on opens, and the problems of it being very slow to create a new folder or when renaming or deleting a file or folder, having to exit the folder and reopen it for the change to appear seem to not be happening anymore. But the sort on date taken, which I use a lot and is part of opening a folder, is not resolved. Interestingly, I don't have this problem with Date Created for office files, but I also do not have folders with so many files like i do photos.

    Any suggestions appreciated! Thank you!

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  2. Les Ferch 10,361 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-12-26T16:19:00+00:00

    Thank you for the follow-up! You are right of course; when I remove the date field, I loose the ability to sort by content created date which is an issue.

    In the windows 10 explorer (went to windows 11 Control Panel and click up arrow a couple of times), sort by date created worked great - 1500 files in about 2 seconds. I guess I am still stuck as to having a meaningful sort ability, but at least I know how to stop the view from hanging on sort when I open a folder.

    But what is the speed like when you sort on "Content created" (for Office files) or "Date taken" (for Photos) using the old Explorer (via Control Panel)? Is that any better than the new Explorer?

    Was this answer helpful?

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-12-26T07:40:33+00:00

    Please note that "Date" will display the "Date taken" for photos, the "Content created" date for Office documents, and so on. In other words it displays metadata from the files themselves, which requires opening every file to get that data.

    Whereas, Date modified and Date created are attributes stored in the file system, making their retrieval nearly instantaneous.

    But the penalty for displaying that metadata shouldn't be anywhere near what you described.

    I'd be interested to know if the same folder, with the Date column included, opens much faster using the Windows 10 Explorer. You can test that very easily. Just open the Control Panel (it uses the old Explorer) and click up arrow a couple of times. Then enter your folder path in the address bar or browse to it. Does it open much faster?

    Regarding setting the view... You can click the "Apply to Folders" button to set all other folders, of the same TYPE, to have the same view.

    You may also find it useful to use the tool WinSetView to set your preferred folder views globally.

    Thank you for the follow-up! You are right of course; when I remove the date field, I loose the ability to sort by content created date which is an issue.

    In the windows 10 explorer (went to windows 11 Control Panel and click up arrow a couple of times), sort by date created worked great - 1500 files in about 2 seconds. I guess I am still stuck as to having a meaningful sort ability, but at least I know how to stop the view from hanging on sort when I open a folder.

    any further suggestions?

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  4. Les Ferch 10,361 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-12-26T06:54:00+00:00

    Please note that "Date" will display the "Date taken" for photos, the "Content created" date for Office documents, and so on. In other words it displays metadata from the files themselves, which requires opening every file to get that data.

    Whereas, Date modified and Date created are attributes stored in the file system, making their retrieval nearly instantaneous.

    But the penalty for displaying that metadata shouldn't be anywhere near what you described.

    I'd be interested to know if the same folder, with the Date column included, opens much faster using the Windows 10 Explorer. You can test that very easily. Just open the Control Panel (it uses the old Explorer) and click up arrow a couple of times. Then enter your folder path in the address bar or browse to it. Does it open much faster?

    Regarding setting the view... You can click the "Apply to Folders" button to set all other folders, of the same TYPE, to have the same view.

    You may also find it useful to use the tool WinSetView to set your preferred folder views globally.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments