Forum Discussion
File Explorer in Windows 11 opens slowly, especially on computers with network drives
When opening File Explorer, the address bar takes a long time to load, and the green progress bar takes several seconds to appear—this is especially noticeable when the computer has a network drive or OneDrive mounted.
2 Replies
Hello!
Happy to help — and since I’m a developer, I can guide you through both normal and advanced fixes depending on what works for you.
1) Disable network discovery auto‑search
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Open File Explorer Options
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Go to “View”
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Disable:
Automatically search for network folders and printers
2) Disable Quick Access
This alone speeds up Explorer dramatically.
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Open File Explorer Options
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Set “Open File Explorer to:” → This PC
3) Check if the network drive is slow or offline
If the mapped drive is unavailable, Explorer waits for a timeout.
Try disconnecting it temporarily.
4) Reset the Explorer shell
Run PowerShell as admin:
Get-AppxPackage *windows.fileexplorer* | Reset-AppxPackage
If you want, I can also help you check SMB latency or DNS lookup delays — these often cause slow Explorer loading.
Consider editing the registry to disable certain features like "Automatic Folder Type Discovery," but do this only if comfortable with registry edits.
