Windows 7 Creating New Folder - Very Long Wait Time

[sgitlin]

I found the below problem on another forum and it explains the problem probably better than I could. I have the exact same problem as described, 30 seconds to a minute to create a new folder in Windows 7 Explorer, and then the same thing again after entering the name of the folder. I've also had the 'Refresh' problem described below. I have not tried using Command Line. All updates are installed. I'm running an HP Pavilion p6230f with Windows 7 x64, and 8 GB of RAM.

Any idea why this is happening?

Stew

I've been experiencing this very annoying behavior for awhile now where Explorer will hang for several seconds (sometimes as much as a minute or two) when creating new folders, renaming existing folders, and copying/moving files into a new folder. I noticed that similar issues were reported by a couple of other people, and tried the solutions they suggested (disabling any non-Microsoft shell extensions, disabling Windows Search, disabling AntiVirus, running chkdsk /r), but none of them have helped. Perhaps related to this, Windows Explorer has also been slow to pick up on changes when adding/deleting files in a directory, to the point where it's necessary to manually hit "Refresh" (or go up one level in the filesystem, and then back into the folder) to see the changes.

One other interesting thing I noticed is that these same operations all work normally if I use a command line to do them instead of the Windows Explorer application. From the command line I can create/rename directories and manipulate files just fine, and when I do it that way the changes are picked up in Windows Explorer almost instantly, without me needing to hit "Refresh" or otherwise force them to show up.

System Specs:
Asus G51VX-A1 Laptop
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (BuildLab=7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255), from MSDN
Intel Core2 Quad Q9000
4 GB RAM
80 GB Intel SSD (primary)
320 GB Seagate HDD (secondary)
nVidia GTX 260M graphics (1 GB RAM)
Windows Experience Index - 6.7

I also have several other systems (2 desktops, 1 laptop) that are still running the RC build of Windows 7, and they have never encountered this problem.

 

[tblount]

Do you have indexing turned on? See my speed tweaks blog listed below.

 

[sgitlin]

Under 'Indexing Options' it shows 1,000+ items indexed, and 'Indexing Complete'.

 

[tblount]

Under 'Indexing Options' it shows 1,000+ items indexed, and 'Indexing Complete'.

yes.. but when something changes on the drive it will have to re-index why not just try turning indexing off to see if it makes a difference? There is a speed link in my tagline.

 

[Saltgrass]

You might also try turning on Task Manager to see if some process is taking up CPU time or causing a delay.

 

[sgitlin]

I tried a cold restart and that seems to have solved the problem. This did not work when I tried this previously so I have no idea why it worked this time.

 

[tblount]

I'll bet that Microsoft will change indexing to OFF by default. The normal search finds anything I want fast enough. There is no use beating the hard dive motor and other moving parts to death to constantly be indexing.

Let's say a typical hard drive can make .. say 10 billion reads and writes in a lifetime... and it makes a billion a year. The drive would last 10 years, but if you have indexing turned on and doubling those reads and writes, the lifespan of the drive would be cut in half to 5 years. In 2002 we'll start getting "help me" messages here saying "Can anyone help me get my files off my hard drive, I wasn't backed up and it won't start?"