[SOLVED] Win 10 Build 2004: Slow green Explorer bar

dg27

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I updated from Win 10 Build 1909 to Build 2004 when I started experiencing strange behavior in Pro Tools.

Ever since I moved to Build 2004, Windows Explorer takes up to two minutes to load (I had never even seen the green progress bar at the top; in the past it just opened in a flash).

I think this is a symptom of some other issue. I've done all sorts of tweaks such as disabling Cortana (which I always do anyway), rebuilding the index then disabling Windows Search, changing some of the folder options, etc. Nothing seems to affect this issue.

Any advice on dealing with this issue would be appreciated.
 
Solution
right click start button

choose powershell (admin)

type SFC /scannow and press enter

once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:

Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter

SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

still slow in safe mode?
  1. go to settings/update & security/recovery
  2. under advanced startup, click restart now button
  3. this restarts PC in a blue menu
  4. choose troubleshoot
  5. choose advanced
  6. choose startup options
  7. click the restart button
  8. choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
  9. Pc will restart and load safe mode
used Magician to check...

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
right click start button

choose powershell (admin)

type SFC /scannow and press enter

once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:

Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter

SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

still slow in safe mode?
  1. go to settings/update & security/recovery
  2. under advanced startup, click restart now button
  3. this restarts PC in a blue menu
  4. choose troubleshoot
  5. choose advanced
  6. choose startup options
  7. click the restart button
  8. choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
  9. Pc will restart and load safe mode
used Magician to check ssd? https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

this might help - https://www.howtogeek.com/246087/how-to-speed-up-a-windows-folder-that-loads-very-slowly/
 
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Solution

dg27

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Thanks for your reply. This is useful.

Yesterday I did run sfc /scannow and also tried those folder options on HTG.

I'll try sfc again, as well as the repair.

Regarding Magician, I have the latest version and the firmware is up to date on all three of my internal Samsung SSDs, but the boot drive (an 840 Pro) doesn't support Magician's diagnostic scan tool, which I find weird. I did check and ran optimization on all three SSDs.

Thanks again.
 

dg27

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Update:
  • Ran sfc: no violations.
  • Ran Repair-Windows Image: Healthy.
  • Ran a diagnostic memory test: passed
I did change the folder options to show icons rather than thumbnails and that had no effect. (I leave it set to display thumbnails because I regularly need to browse my own photos related to writing I do for my own work.)

Another symptom of the strange behavior is that when I open a folder that contains images, the thumbnails take a long time to load: They appear as low res and then gradually come into focus. I've never seen this before.

  • One thought: I upgraded to Build 2004 after applying many updates to 1909 (all in the same update session). I'm tempted to roll back to 1909, see if everything is normal, and then update to 2004.
    • Does this make any sense?
Doing a clean install and getting all of the associated programs installed (95 + another 60 related to Pro Tools) and the OS tweaked generally takes about a week, which I cannot do at this time due to work commitments. This is why I'm focusing on fixing this rather than starting from scratch. Things work, but not as they should.
 

dg27

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Rolled back to 1909 in five minutes; all stable now.

I really think piling on a lot of updates to 1909 then upgrading to 2004 may have caused the issues.

Now I'll just have to see how PT behaves when I reinstall it.

Thanks for all your help.
 

dg27

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My first Win 10 install, Build 1909, was a clean install.

I'll likely hold off on going anywhere near any new build until I can take my machine offline for about a week.

The RAM is the maximum this machine supports.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 

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