Windows 11 File Explorer EXTREMELY Slow Unless Restarted Every Few Minutes

Yes same issue even on the latest release of W11 with a high power machine.

Open windows exporer and if you are lucky you can navigate over folders with a few 10's of files for a while then the dreaded progress bar starts to appear.

Explorer is then always slow untill explorer is stopped and restarted in task manager.
Worse is that file rename and file delete dont show changes until you select refresh.
This has been going on for a while now, and I talk to other uers with radically different hardware platforms who all see these type of issues with explorer on desktop/laptop devices.

Slight correction, James. Microsoft MVP giving us a long list of possible fixes, NONE OF WHICH ACTUALLY WORK. None of the many possible fixes I have tried over the past few months has even put a dent in the issue. The only thing that makes it slightly faster is not using thumbnails at all, but I really need them for my use case. This issue is obviously endemic to Windows 11.

It's possible that there is a problem with third party drivers or something that contributes to the problem, but nothing I am using is at all rare or unusual, and the problem resurfaces immediately after clean windows reinstallation, so it would have to be one of the basic system drivers that get loaded up right after you clean install. The most exotic thing I had loaded by the time it came back was Chrome. LOL!

Yeah, the problem is mine does not do that, as in work like it should. I don't use One Drive, have well and truly fast enough hardware to run this with no issue and indeed it does run with no issue for a few seconds to a minute each time you restart the process. That alone demonstrates clearly that the hardware is not the issue, nor is the settings. It's something in the software that was changed from previous Windows versions, because this same hardware ran blazing fast on windows 10. The only delay I ever had before was when I was accessing a spinning platter storage drive, which is to be expected vs SSD.

Many people are having this problem, I've found literally dozens of help threads asking for assistance with this exact issue. Someone at Microsoft needs to start taking it seriously and find a fix. Changing settings does nothing at all for this issue, I've spent hours and hours trying suggestions from all of these threads, nothing works, even slightly.

Alan -

What third party paid software did I suggest? I don't see it and did not recommend it. If it's an ad in one of the articles, there are multiple warnings to ignore those and just read and follow the articles.

This is why I asked for detailed results, because having System File Checker find broken system files is a loaded smoking gun that I would have helped you with immediately, had you not just vetoed my post and would have reported back then as requested. I hope it's not too late now that you installed an important update while you had broken System files.

It's possible having corrupted System Files so soon after a Clean Install is due to infection reimported with files that harbored malware. Test for this now by running everything in this disinfection routine: Disinfect Windows 11 most thoroughly 2023. We do not take chances with infection, it must be removed and then System Files it broke fixed before proceeding!

If System File Checker cannot fix critical broken system files within three separate tries, then the next step is to run a minor, non-destructive Repair Install which re-installs Windows while saving your files and apps in place, brings it up to the latest version by the most stable method, takes about an hour and resolves most problems: https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-wi...

Keep me posted on your progress as I will be here to help until the case is resolved. _________________________

Linked tutorial is from a trusted Microsoft MVP

Hi Alan. I'm Greg, here to help you with this.

If this would persist after a true Clean Install where all partitions are deleted off the drive, the latest bootable media is used, and was close to this gold standard Clean Install: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki... then it must be caused by something that is being added or modified.

It's important the latest version was used and all Updates (including Optional under Advanced) are installed because a known issue with terribly slow Explorer was fixed in April 2022 via an Update and is included in Version 22H2.

Next suspect is modifications, so try removing those to see if it is fixed. Next suspect is something else installed like an app, older program or Windows Update.

Did you happen to notice when this behavior began? Was it right after the reinstall or did it start later. Do you happen to have a System Restore point during that period which you can try to get back before the problem started, then monitor everything subsequently installed to try to isolate the problem?

If none of those apply or help then let's try the fixes for known issues of Windows 11 Explorer becoming slow:

https://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-11/how-to-fix-...

https://www.systweak.com/blogs/fix-file-explore...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/q26...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/v0r...

https://techviral.net/fix-slow-file-explorer-wi...

https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-windows-11-file-e...

https://nimbletech.org/slow-file-explorer-windo...

If none of those help Go over Windows 11 with this Performance Checklist to try to find and fix problems:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

Feel free to ask back any questions. Based on the detailed results you post back, I will have other suggestions if necessary.

______________________________________________

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