Forum Discussion
Windows 11 File Explorer freezes when renaming files
Hi, my file explorer lags (or freezes for few seconds) every time i rename files and happened in any folder or files in any drive. Specifically, it happens after i'm finished renaming a file or folder and pressing enter/tab/clicking anywhere, then it freezes. When i click again anywhere on the explorer it says not responding and the hourglass cursor appears for a good 5-10 seconds, then it goes back to normal. This happens from the very beginning i updated from windows 10 to windows 11 dev, now it's updated to insider preview and it still happens.
Things i tried, but no effect:
1. Closing onedrive
2. Closing all apps
Things i tried and solved the problem:
reverting back to windows 10 
But i like windows 11, so really appreciate if someone can solve this.
Thank you in advance.
My PC:
AMD Ryzen 9 3900x
32GB RAM DDR4
Samsung SSD NVMe 512GB
Radeon RX 5700
42 Replies
Yeah, that freeze bug is pretty common in some Windows 11 builds — it’s usually caused by OneDrive or thumbnail cache conflicts. Try this:
1️⃣ Open CMD (Admin) and run:taskkill /f /im explorer.exe del /a /q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" del /a /f /q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\thumbcache_*.db" start explorer.exe
2️⃣ Then disable OneDrive Files On-Demand under Settings → Sync → Advanced.
If it still lags, install the latest cumulative update — Microsoft quietly fixed this in newer builds.Yeah, that’s a known glitch on some Windows 11 builds — it’s usually tied to Explorer’s context menu or OneDrive shell integration. Try disabling “Show frequently used folders” in Folder Options or run sfc /scannow; if that doesn’t help, rolling back the latest cumulative update often fixes it.
I've noticed this problem for years in Win 10, still present in Win 11, that renaming or moving PDF files would cause the application to freeze for 10-30 seconds. I had noticed this mainly in Explorer and thought it was due to a Shell plug-in. I have tried uninstalling Adobe Acrobat reader (I only use reader) to no avail. I just noticed the same issue using a custom bulk-rename .NET application I wrote, invoked through PowerShell. Thus, plugins aren't in play; this gave me a new idea. I Stopped and Disabled the Windows Search service, and the problem went away immediately! (I was easily reproducing the issue using bulk rename before, and no repro after stopping the service.)
The same effect can be achieved by unchecking "Allow this file to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" (in Properties -> General -> Advanced) on the offending file(s). Note: Don't be fooled if this is unchecked on the containing folder; it can be unchecked there but still checked on the file. This might be a solution if you want to use content search but don't need it on certain files. However, the property seems to be set automatically when you extract from archive or download a file, even if done into a folder with the property unset, so this approach may entail an ongoing battle.
I'm going to leave the Windows Search service disabled. Since that seems to be the culprit, it makes sense that it could affect more file types than just PDFs.
I suffered from this for months, and I finally found the solution: folders were locked due to File Indexing (Searchprotocolhost.exe). The solution simply is just to either disable file indexing and use something else as "Voidtools Everything", possibly using Flow launcher as well instead of start menu, or just try rebuilding the index.
- I think I found the answer to Windows 11 files freezing when renaming files.
In my case, files were freezing so often, I resorted to constant use of LockHunter and/or IObit Unlocker to unlock my files on daily if not hourly basis! What an annoying problem!
In any event, both programs showed me that the “searchprotocolhost.exe” process was the constant culprit behind my locked files. The solution that worked for me is to stop indexing files on my desktop which is where I normally drag and drop files to re-name.
To fix this the way I did, do the following:
1) Go to the taskbar and click on the search bar. Enter: “indexing options”. The indexing options dialogue box will appear.
2) Click “modify” and then drill down and add folders like the desktop to EXCLUDE from indexing and then save.
That’s it.
I’m not sure if this is a fix for all, but it definitely worked for me. I was so annoyed by this problem, I made a vow to alert the public when I found a solution so here it is!
Hope this helps others like it helped me! This solved the problem for me, if anybody else is still running into this issue (this site was #1 on google when i searched the issue)
https://www.windowstricks.in/2020/06/windows-explorer-freeze-when-renaming-a-file-and-saving-files-folders-on-windows-10.html
Basically, Open File Explorer, (In windows 11 latest) click the three dots
Select 'Options'
at the bottom of the window there is a clear button, check off all three boxes above it and hit clear
Problem solved!!!
Could probably automate this in a batch file somehow and/or run it on startup maybe?KAOS_Incorporated this didn't work, this usually happens to me when creating a zip file, or right clicking on a file. I don't know if it's a problem with one drive or anything else
This is definitely a problem with One Drive. I tried everything mentioned on this thread and the only thing that worked was to remove One Drive. I have issues at work with renaming files where you start to change a file name, it highlights the entire file name, and I end up changing the whole thing. This can happen 3 or 4 times in a row. One Drive has major issues, Microsoft!!
- I also had this issue with my writes to an SSD binding up unexpectedly. I optimized the write buffering and caching for better write performance and data protection--problem solved.
Same problem for me. It sometimes hangs for 5 plus minutes, seems to be a function of the number files in the folder
I tried Win 11 again and the missing functions and gaming instability on my gaming pc are unforgivable. I rolled back to 10. I'll stay with Win 10 until Microsoft stops supporting it in 2025. Then I will consider my options.
- I uninstalled OneDrive completely and now Windows Explorer seems to be absolutely fine.
Jessicajil Unfortunately I need OneDrive as it's my primary method to keep/backup my business documents.
With that said I found that I had a bunch of files in my recycle bin in OneDrive and my documents folder set to always be local, so it had all those recycle contents locally. My procmon analysis showed for some reason OneDrive constantly referencing those files in recycle bin (not during active sync or anything, just doing normal activities in Explorer). Anyway I purged all my recycler contents both online and offline and now it seems my Explorer issue has gone away <shrug>.
MatthewMcDonald_ews not a solution for me
- So I'm having similar issues since upgrading to retail Win 11. Everything I do in Explorer causes micro freezes for like 5-10 seconds, such as renames, right clicking files, etc.
I was running Procmon for a minute or two while replicating the issue and did a Process analysis and it showed OneDrive was doing 5 times the amount of file events over Explorer. I shutdown my OneDrive and that resolved all my issues. As soon as I reopen it, my explorer window goes unresponsive. I wonder why this is and why closing it did not work for OP.
