Windows 10 File Explorer: "Working on it ..."

Question

Does anybody know how to get rid of the annoying "Working on it ..." Message in the Windows 10 File Explorer.

It stays there (on the right side) for a few seconds to many seconds when opening the file explorer.

OS Window 10
System Partition SSD
All other files which are used often are also on a SSD
(only one HDD for bigger files which are also not used often, exists)

So showing recent files should really be fast. Also I do not mind if there is an option to deactivate this feature.

Answer 1

Open Folder Options > Set "Open File Explorer" to "This PC". Try WinKey + E now. If it opens fine, then the problem is with Quick access cache, which can be cleared by deleting the file f01b4d95cf55d32a.automaticDestinations-ms from the following directory, using Command Prompt.

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

Note: The above procedure clears your Quick access links. You'll have to manually add the links again.

Answer 2

In my case, a couple of folder locations on remote file systems had found their way into the quick-access cache. These remote systems had become inaccessible, so my Windows Explorer was waiting for them to time out before rendering.

Deleting them from the Quick Access panel did the trick for me.

Another thing you can do, especially if you have lots of filetypes Microsoft recognizes in your download folder (stuff like jpg, docx, xlsx, etc):

Right click on your Downloads folder and choose Properties. Click the Customize tab. Choose Optimize this Folder for .... General Items. Click "also apply this setting to subfolders." Click OK.

Repeat for your Documents folder.

This will let the Windows Explorer handle your files without trying to generate snapshot images for your files.

Answer 3

Short version, the Windows Search service and the Windows Index are having issues.

Launch Control Panel and launch Indexing Options.

Click the Advanced button and you should see an error saying that there is no index.

Click the button to Rebuild the Index and give it 10 seconds and you’re done !!!!

Answer 4

The only thing I found to work was opening a folder (not from the one in the taskbar, but one on the desktop or other means). Below are those steps for Windows 10 Pro:

1. Open a folder
2. On toolbar go to View -> Options (far right) -> Change Folder and Search Options

3. Under Privacy click Clear next to Clear File Explorer History

4. Click OK and close the folder. Now open the folder from the taskbar.

THIS RESOLVES THE ISSUE SINCE A FILE THAT IS STORED FOR QUICKACCESS MAY NOT BE ACCESSIBLE.

Answer 5

I found a solution for this problem on another site. Just right click on the folder with the problem and go to properties. There switch to Customize tab and set the option "Optimize folder for:" to General items. Worked like a charm :)

Answer 6

I found that if, after I tried to open windows explorer the first time and it hung, I could right click the explorer and open a second windows explorer (while the first one was still hung) it opened fine. I then closed the hung one and used the second. This is only a temporary fix. Right now I'm doing the Re-Indexing under Indexing Options to see if this fixes it.

Ok... the re-indexing fixed it (at least for now)

Answer 7

I had the same issues. It turned out to be onedrive causing the problem. I fixed by right clicking onedrive icon in tray, and then clicking "unlink this PC". Once that was done, everything worked again, including thumbnails and folder options, and the 'working on it' hang up was gone as well

Answer 8

I had this issue. It only affected one user. I had previously changed my wife's 'Pictures,Music,Documents' etc folders locations to a drive that was no longer connected. Once I remapped them to a location that was valid it cleared up instantly.

Answer 9

the answer of Win32Guy worked for me, but the location was slightly different:

%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent Items\CustomDestinations

i deleted all the files in this folder and the problem was fixed.

Answer 10

Even after following the suggestions in the other answers my explorer kept being slow. My specific issue was the recently used files - because many of them were on network drives.

I've simply disabled the recent files-part.

1. Right click Quick Access
2. Click Options
3. Remove the marking in Show recently used files in Quick access
4. Click OK

Answer 11

What worked for me was deleting all of the files from the problematic folder (Downloads). Since I had Git Bash installed, I was able to run:

cd ~/Downloads
rm -rf *

If you don't have Git Bash, you can do:

1. Press Windows-R
2. Enter cmd
3. Enter cd Downloads. Make sure this is successful before going to the next step.
4. Enter dir to see the files in the current directory. Don't go on to the next step until you are sure you are in the right place and don't mind losing these files.
5. Enter rd /s /q . This removes all the files and subdirectories in the current directory.

The last command should give the error: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. That just means it didn't delete the directory you were in.

Of course, if your problem is in a different directory, cd there. In any case, make absolutely sure you are in the correct directory before running rm or rd.

Answer 12

None of the above solutions worked for me, but my fix was really simple: Move the predefined location of the Downloads folder:

Right-click the Downloads folder and choose Properties

Now click Move, create a new folder for the existing downloaded files to move to. For example, I created one called DownloadTemp

Now click Select folder then click OK on the following dialog box:

The files will be moved to the new location and the problem will hopefully be solved. You can either leave your downloads in this new location or reverse the process to put them back in the original Downloads folder.

I hope this works for you.

Answer 13

After a recent install of 10 on my P.C., the File Explorer view tab had sections that were greyed out, and I couldn’t preview any photos. The thumbnails and icon just would never come up. So, I searched and searched and attempted all of the solutions found…..but nothing. Until one day I started the Task Manager and saw a reset button on the lower right side of the window. I highlighted file explorer, hit the reset button and like magic, my thumbnails, icons and view settings appeared. This is the only fix I found. If it doesn’t work on the first try, just do it again; it usually doesn’t take more than three attempts.

Answer 14

What I did was

1. hold down the Left shift key, right-click on the File Explorer Icon, and select Properties.
2. Select the Shortcut Tab at the top
3. Change the contents of the Run drop-down from "Normal Window" to "Maximized"

This worked for me, I hope it helps others