Windows 11 File Explorer EXTREMELY Slow Unless Restarted Every Few Minutes

Anonymous
2023-01-30T20:51:39+00:00

Hello all. I have been researching this issue for a while, but none of the suggested fixes I have found and tried have had any effect. I've tried numerous setting change suggestions with indexing, File Explorer options, etc, but nothing has improved this issue even slightly. Even a complete clean install when I recently upgraded my SSD had no effect.

The issue is that my file explorer starts out normally fast when first opened. For example, opening my downloads folder(located on my desktop) and fully populating all thumbnails, etc, takes about a second the first time you do it. However, within a few seconds that speed is replaced by EXTREMELY slow performance. For example, if I open a subfolder under downloads, then attempt to return to the downloads folder, it will take 45 seconds to 2 minutes to perform the same action is just did in less than 2. During this time, CPU load never exceeds 10%, Disk usage never exceeds 1%, and Memory usage never exceeds 25%. The second or third navigation request within Windows Explorer will start the issue every time. It will stay this way until you restart Windows Explorer from the Task Manager, upon which it will be normal speed again for a few seconds, then immediately revert to the exceptionally slow behavior. It is so slow that the fastest way to navigate is to constantly restart the process every time you need to change folders. All other programs and features operate perfectly normally.

This is not a hardware speed issue, as Windows 10 ran perfectly fine on this machine. It's an i7 8700K with 32 Gigs of RAM on a Gigabyte Z390 with a Samsung Evo 980 M.2 SSD. This should be lightning quick at such tasks.

I could really use a hand here, this is a completely unacceptable situation.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-10-22T08:13:31+00:00

    Exactly so Alan. The problems have been ongoing for around a year now and none of the latest upgrades fix things. In another forum someone said that Explorer has a persistent memory leak which Microsoft have not been able to fix. Also half the taskbar icons disappeared after an update in February and cannot be made to reappear no matter what is tried, and .PNG file icons are still just blanks in Explorer. It really is an appalling state of affairs.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-10-22T03:11:06+00:00

    So, the new windows Explorer update came out. Not only did it not fix my issues, but it eliminated a feature I use all the time. Namely, the ability to drag and drop a file to a folder in the file structure in the address bar, especially a folder one level up from the current. Now I am forced to navigate back to the that folder though an intricate folder structure on the navigation tree, which should already be opened to my current location in the first place, just to move a file up one level in the folder structure. Seriously, W T H?

    Microsoft folks, you need to pay attention here. This is becoming untenable. I'm very close to just buying a Mac and just being done with this BS, and I am 100% sure I am not alone.

    Why does it take 5+ seconds to spin up my spinning platter storage drive in order to open a folder on my desktop, which is on an M.2 drive? Why do thumbnails take FREAKING FOREVER to load on a folder on my desktop, on an M.2 drive with 32 gigs of ram, a fast processor, and a high end motherboard? Why does file explorer completely lock up and have to be restarted if I use it for more than a few minutes?

    This is COMPLETELY unacceptable performance, and I've been searching for answers for damn near a year at this point. I've reinstalled windows clean over 5 times. I've tried every suggested fix in this forum thread and a ton of others from other sources. THERE IS NO FIX EXCEPT YOU FIXING YOUR SOFTWARE!!!!

    It was fine prior to around December 2022. Whatever you changed at that point, change it back. Otherwise, you are going to lose a lot of users, and royaly piss of a ton of people who have no other options.

    This is the most basic functions of using a computer, and has worked with zero issues for decades. How the hell are you getting it so wrong now, and more importantly, why is it taking so incredibly long to fix it, and actually trending in the wrong direction at this point? Seriously, this is bizzarro-world levels of bad.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-10-05T20:21:41+00:00

    That’s great. Glad I was able to help

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-10-05T19:59:12+00:00

    Thanks Brian, this worked!

    Press the Windows key.

    Type “SystemPropertiesAdvanced”.

    Click “Run as administrator”.

    Click “Settings”.

    Select the “Advanced” tab.

    Select “Change”.

    Make sure the checkbox “Automatically managing paging file size for all drives” is not checked.

    Select a drive (C:) that you want to have its paging file size system managed.

    Select System managed size option, click Set button.

    Click OK.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-10-04T05:30:40+00:00

    I had the same issue and fixed it by adjusting the pagefile to system managed size in the C drive.

    RUN SystemPropertiesAdvanced to access the pagefile data.

    Hope this helps

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