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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.
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.
"Me too" to all the complaints about the search function in File Explorer. Snails would be ashamed to move so slowly. The fundamental purpose of File Explorer software is to explore files; if it requires a Microsoft MVP to give users a long list of possible fixes for such a basic tool as searching, the software is basically not fit for purpose. This really needs to be fixed.
I wish I knew. The problem is not getting better, it's getting worse, and I am seriously considering abandoning Windows 11 because of it.
For me I slowly accumulate video and photo files as I enjoy photography and videography. Once my SSD gets full I have to sort through all of the video and photos and decide which ones are worth keeping long term, edit the video down to what I really want/need, and then offload everything to a storage drive, of which I now have several, for long term storage.
The photos and videos are all stored in separate folders to keep things from blending together. Every single time I go into a folder, or back out of a folder, windows acts like it has to completely rediscover every file on the entire PC and build thumbnails of them, etc. I need the thumbnails as quick references, so turning off the convenience features etc. isn't really an option for me.
At this point, the only real way to navigate through the file structure is to constantly restart file explorer. That buys you about 30 seconds of normalish performance before it craps out again. I keep task manager up literally all of the time for this specific reason.
Microsoft, you need to fix this ****! It's been ages and you have done nothing. You broke windows explorer, it used to work just fine, just revert to the old code if you need to, or at least offer that as an option.
hi all
After looking into this further on the microsoft forums, the incredibly slow file explorer is linked to a ram leak in the Windows Explorer application itself. This has been apparent since the release of the OS. How on earth did Microsoft release Windows 11 knowing that there's such a big problem.
Can Microsoft please look into this!
From researching further, and attempting various things, I've found what was causing my own problem. For me, the problem was my computer had a drive mapped to a NAS/network location that I don't have turned on 24 hours a day. I mostly use my NAS for some backups and storage of old files.
When I turned the NAS back on, File Explorer appeared instantaneously when I clicked it. When I turned the NAS off, the delayed and sometimes erratic File Explorer behavior began. I then turned the NAS on, and no delays in File Explorer once again. I turned the NAS off, and the delayed behavior was back.
One of two possible solutions for now based upon what's causing it from reading others' solutions :
The suggestion of third party software was in the reddit links you shared. Some sort of software that supposedly reverts windows explorer back to a previous version that works better.
Regarding re-importation of a virus, it would have had to come from either a factory USB Windows 10 bootable media, the Ethernet and other drivers I loaded from my motherboard factory install DVD, or windows update files and Windows 11 upgrade files loaded from the server by Windows itself. That's literally all I did before the issue was there again. I did not import mu old files
Thinking of possibly buying a new USB drive big enough to download the the most up to date Windows 11 image directly from Microsoft and doing another clean install. I suspect something is not going correctly with the upgrade process from Windows 10 to 11. I'll try your most recent suggestion tomorrow after work, then the USB option if it doesn't wor Bed time here in Europe though.
