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balbul's avatar
balbul
Brass Contributor
Sep 17, 2021

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 folde...
motosgamer's avatar
motosgamer
Copper Contributor
Oct 13, 2021

balbul I think I might have dug a bit more in the problem, I explain:

I have both, Intel and AMD pcs with win11 but the freezing issue just happens with AMD and it only occurs when I rename directories. The important thing here is that it is not a visual problem because I tried to rename the folders via cmd and the interface also freezes out.

As it seems the AMD processors are having issues with the memory in win11. Let's hope it gets fixed in the next update.

MNJONES1907's avatar
MNJONES1907
Copper Contributor
Oct 16, 2021
Ah! I have an AMD rig and yep, this is happening to me, as well. I am trying to rename a bunch of media files for Plex Media Server and, well, I guess I'll have to spin up a Windows 10 Virtual Machine. I really do not like the way File Explorer has been stripped down in Windows 11. Hell, File Manager in Win 3.11 was better than this mess. The whole ribbon is naked, it seems, and I had to download a patch just to regain the "move to folder" and "copy to folder" function. Then they took away having a clock on the lower right corner of each monitor, and I happen to play my full windows game on the far right window, so my clock is gone. (Yeah, first-world problem, I know). However, today, I discovered the bug with renaming these incorrectly named files, so I am very tempted to roll back to Windows 10 and be done with it. I tried an automated mass re-namer, but each file needs a human eye on it for certain decisions that I cannot automate. Other than the prestige of having the latest OS, I don't see a big enough benefit of having Windows 11, at this time. I'll go back to my original set-up of Win 10 with a Win 11 VM.
  • motosgamer's avatar
    motosgamer
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 26, 2021

    MNJONES1907 I now have the latest developer build and it seems like the problem has been solved. I also think that we should have the time in the second screen. Have you rolled back to w10? I think I will because some games running under dx12 just crush after a while.

    • MNJONES1907's avatar
      MNJONES1907
      Copper Contributor
      Oct 26, 2021
      Yes. Running Win11 in VM, this morning's update still throws rename errors, however intermittently, instead of full-time, as before. Dx12 has been an issue with some of my games anyway, with Win10, so I didn't even try with Win11.
      • SouthPoleCat's avatar
        SouthPoleCat
        Copper Contributor
        Nov 16, 2021

        My issue is a bit different. I have a new Dell XPS PC that came with Windows 11 installed. Everything works great. However, if I change the folder in Win Explorer, more specifically go up by one level (say from A/B/C to A/B) by pressing the up-arrow, WE hangs for a couple of seconds showing a spinning blue wheel. And then everything is working. This is a little nuance, but it is very annoying since I am used to a lot of folders switching and very fast. 

        I do not have a problem with renaming files.

  • balbul's avatar
    balbul
    Brass Contributor
    Oct 17, 2021
    Hi, thank you all for sharing the issue. I just want to give an update on my issue. Since the last win 11 update (around last friday), it got better. Now when i press tab after rename it does not freeze. So, instead of pressing enter or clicking anywhere to finish renaming files, i press tab then esc.
    • naushad_solanki72's avatar
      naushad_solanki72
      Copper Contributor
      Mar 01, 2025

      Hi, I did the same and hit the Tab, initially it works for three to four times but thereafter again it feezed. What should I do?

    • Fdeiuliis's avatar
      Fdeiuliis
      Copper Contributor
      Jul 20, 2023

      balbul 

      Just tried theTAB solution after the name change, worked beautifully, had issues from the beginning with Windows 11.
      THANKS

       

    • MNJONES1907's avatar
      MNJONES1907
      Copper Contributor
      Oct 17, 2021
      My issue is a little different, I suppose. While I am renaming a file, regardless of the extension type, file explorer will freeze and then close the rename box, reverting back to original file name. I haven't gotten to the point of tabbing to next file to rename yet. It ALWAYS takes 2-3 attempts to rename ONE file. By the way these files are local and not in the network file server, yet. I have spun up a Win 10 VM and the same files can be renamed without issue.
      • SteveRaut's avatar
        SteveRaut
        Copper Contributor
        Dec 15, 2021

        MNJONES1907 

        I had a similar issue with renaming folders: it says that a file in that folder is used by another program, which is NOT the case. But I found out the bug: I saved an image form a mail in outlook in that folder. I cannot rename that folder until I CLOSE COMPLETLY Outlook, which was NOT the case in W 10. This is definitely a bug that needs fixing.
        Same issue if you opened a PDF from that folder: even if you close the file, you have to close Acrobat all together to rename your folder. Not efficient at all, especially if at work you have several PDF's open that you want to keep open.

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