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
39 Replies
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. My installation of Windows 11 straight up tells me it is moving files when I rename a folder.
Why?
This is a dealbreaker for me. Back to Windows 10.That is most strange!
Since moving back to Windows 10, I have had zero problems with: renaming files, moving files to other folders, copying files to other folders, DX 12 gaming,. In addition, I have only had one instance of Windows Explorer freezing and crashing, but I was doing multiple things at once and I was likely the reason it went sideways. The only thing that Windows 10 does that I am not liking is it identifies one of my Western Digital 2TB HDD as a SSD, but that could be a BIOS issue. Windows 11 also saw that drive as a SSD. The drive is not a hybrid, so not sure what it happens, but web searches in the search engine of one's choice shows many others having similar issues and solutions are iffy; mileage may vary.
Since rolling back, I have never liked a Microsoft operating system better, especially knowing what we'll be stuck with after Win 10 is no longer supported.
- I found another reason for this behavior at least in my case. As in Win 10, here in Win 11 I also immediately installed "OpenShell" ("classic-shell" reborn) that brings in a "normal" and functional start menu. (I am yet to see a person who likes the "improved" start menu and taskbar.) Anyway, as soos as I uninstalled it, the problem was gone completely. It is almost like MS does not want people use this app that functioned perfectly ok in win10.
SouthPoleCat How do you uninstall 'Open Shell'? I can't find it to do that to try to stop Windows Explorer freezing for some time when moving/renaming files?
- It seems that I found a simple solution, at least to my problem when WE would pause for a few seconds when changing folders. Go to folders/options/view and UNCHECK "Launch folder in a separate process". Restart. That's it!
SouthPoleCat Yes, Explorer is broken. Totally. I re-installed Windows 11 to try it again, after my VM version started to become more stable after the last update and I found an optical drive work around in File Explorer. So, I thought it'd work better than earlier iterations. Nope. It's worse.
I updated to the latest update of 11 today, and now File Explorer is the most unstable it has ever been. I have rebooted 4x and I still get (Not Responding) and a white box where File Explorer should be. Each time, I'd try to start Task Manager and get the Task Manger is (Not Responding) and then the popup for Task Manager says, "The application is not responding. The Program may respond again if you wait. Do you want to end this process?" That's it. I'm done. I'm out.
