Windows 11 File Explorer EXTREMELY Slow Unless Restarted Every Few Minutes

Here's a great deal on 32gb USB drive:

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Transfer-S...

Once you create bootable media on a flash stick, you can add other files to it as long as you don't delete any of the 7 files it places in the root.

the same happens to me, just after few hours. It happens on Window 11 22H2 (desktop) and 21H2 laptop. It's crazy, this is some kind of bug Microsoft hasn't adressed yet. How do we let them know?

It's even worse when trying to list a directory on Onedrive - it can take several minutes just to show a list of file names. I reported this months ago but there is still no fix, and I tried all the suggestions here. There seems to be a major bug in File Explorer. It tries to reindex every file EVERY time you open it and/or return to the parent folder after viewing a sub-folder.

Same here, similiar issues. I have tried everything to no avail. Typically, I can/have resolved most of my issues without ever even logging into MS, I just google the problem and I end up at these or similar forums, since MS has no desire to speak with the commoners (customers) they look down upon from the terrace of their castle... "Let them figure it out George, we can sit here and laugh and drink wine while they do it, and we will give badges to guys who dont even work for us, call them advisors, yes, thats what we will do.." I digress... So today, I log in, and I comment on my issue, because I can no longer try to fix.... More than anything, I want to express my frustration... No offense to the advisors for the record, I do hope you have a way to share this feedback with MS, at least for this issue, or this will all be for nothing...

You can start reading here...

I am not a complicated user, the issue is as simple as this... I offload my iphone pics manually about every 500 or so. I use the good ole fashioned fire wire, plug it into my iPhone, and then direct to my PC. I then use the MS software to copy the photos from the phone to a "To be Sorted" folder initially, that is stored in an External Hard Drive. After the photos have loaded, I let the PC index/compress and laugh at all my terrible photos. This process doesn't take too long, but I hate to wait, so I will then usually go and watch an episode of some Amazon flix as Netflix is also losing their luster, a bit like Microsoft I suppose... Once I return, all is good, the thumbnails tiny image of my photo within the temp folder will display their shiny new blue arrows, at which point I then begin sorting... NOW... At this moment, this is when it begins to happen... This is where MS11 begins to lose its breath, gasping for air, time outs, etc. I am not nearly as fast of a navigator as my kids, but even I move at light speed for this slomo version of windows. The moment I begin to delete a bad pic, move a set of 5, 10, 50 photos from the holding folder, the "I dont want to get up and go to work" issue begins. SUPER, SUPER, SUUUUPER Slow... So slow in fact, I could cook a steak while I wait for the folder to catch its breath again after any sort of change, again even those that have been previously loaded and indexed. And that green line, that "sands of time" line that moves slower than a tortoise with no legs, drives me nuts (sorry, not important here)... It takes me at least 20 times longer than it did with MSW10 to complete this process. If I then go into the drive post sorting the photos out, and try to do anything in my external folders, I get the exact same issue. Before you say it, for the record, I even tried to do this on the PC, without using the external drive, and the same slow disease shows up there too...

Just to confirm, I did not change a thing when I switched from W10 for the record, didn't unplug something, didn't download some mystery software.. I maaaay have ate too much cake that night, so we could start there if necessary.... But, frankly, I am tired of trying this and trying that, I didn't change anything, the only change was the Windows software. Now, here I am, I have tried countless recommended fixes, and who knows what possible issue that may cause down the road.. ALL OF THIS, on something that wasn't broken prior to moving to 11... Of the (estimating) 50 different things I have done to isolate or fix this dark speed issue, nothing has worked, nothing... I have spent way, wayyyy too many hours following the advice of MS Advisors, Certified MS professionals, etc, but the needle remains lost somewhere in the haystack. Disappointed in MS, multiple changes to this new platform meant to "upgrade" this or that", but I cannot remember a time in my life when I finished upgrading, and with time, patience and practice, thought to myself, "this is worse than what I had before..." Windows 11 was the first time I felt like I went backwards with this software.

I largely suspect this issue is much more common than a total of 6 people with logged in to click "I have the same question." To get to 6, you likely have 60,000 issues, maybe 600,000, possibly 6,000,000... At what point will MS actually come out from behind the curtain? We may never know.. AND, don't need to know, just slip it into an update like you do and make it go away... The Microsoft silence, is deafening... But, that has always been the case...

Finally, I do not disagree it is "something else" impacting the speed, so if MS is only looking at File Explorer, it is possible everything looks great. Unfortunately it is likely something elsewhere, outside of the app, but on the W11 platform, that is causing this issue. It is the only variable in the equation that changed... MS did a terrible job of quality assurance before they rolled this product out, again possibly the worst experience I ever had with MS... No more attempt to fix here, will likely just go back to 10 if nothing new comes up in the next few months, and now more reluctant than ever to upgrade.....

Ehhhhhhhh,

Matt

I have exactly the same issue and it is having a massive impact on my productivity because I perform a lot of file/folder operations.

It is making me regret my recent upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10.

How do we get this issue affecting so many of us addressed?