F5F Stay Refreshed Software Operating Systems Windows 11 Cannot Open Any Folders Due to W11's File Indexing (and solution)

Windows 11 Cannot Open Any Folders Due to W11's File Indexing (and solution)

Windows 11 Cannot Open Any Folders Due to W11's File Indexing (and solution)

D
Devies
Member
Find
185
02-02-2023, 02:19 AM
#1
I recently encountered a problem with Windows 11's file indexing feature. I'm sharing this because I searched extensively for solutions and it took me about a day to resolve the issue. Background: I work as a data scientist with mainly low-resolution satellite images. My PC holds roughly 4 million images, each around 300x300 pixels, making the total storage size minimal. Recently, my company upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. The new version felt slightly unstable, so I left the machine overnight hoping it would resolve itself. When I returned, all programs opened normally, but opening folders by double-clicking left nothing happened. Right-clicking a folder opened Explorer normally, but after a moment it disappeared and then reappeared empty. Navigating to the Start menu worked, yet opening the C drive or any folder triggered a "Not-Responding" alert. Eventually, I removed the SSD, installed it on another Windows 11 workstation that had been running W11 for some time without issues. I ran virus scans with both Windows Defender and Norton, found no threats, and checked for errors—nothing was wrong. I copied all files from the new drive to the original machine, wiped the SSD, reinstalled Windows 11, and transferred files back. Everything functioned perfectly afterward. I left the machine overnight for updates. The next morning, the same issue resurfaced. Even worse, the workstation that still held the copied files began acting the same way. Interestingly, Ubuntu 22.04 machines with identical copies of these files didn’t experience any problems. The turning point came when I noticed a warning in the W11 Start menu: "File indexing is turned off." I adjusted the indexing settings, excluded large data folders, deleted the index file, and restarted the computer. Immediately afterward, everything worked flawlessly. It’s been nearly a week since this happened, and the W11 machine has remained stable. I’m still puzzled by the sudden change after the upgrade, especially since my old W10 machine handled thousands of files for nearly six months without issues. It’s concerning how a simple change could cause such widespread disruption. Microsoft, please address this! Honestly, without Windows-compatible tools like ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro, I’d likely switch to Linux permanently. TL;DR: If you’re on Windows 11 and can’t open folders, look up "Indexing Locations" in the Start menu, manually remove large files, and let W11 rebuild its index. It usually fixes everything!
Reply
Reply
D
Devies
02-02-2023, 02:19 AM #1

I recently encountered a problem with Windows 11's file indexing feature. I'm sharing this because I searched extensively for solutions and it took me about a day to resolve the issue. Background: I work as a data scientist with mainly low-resolution satellite images. My PC holds roughly 4 million images, each around 300x300 pixels, making the total storage size minimal. Recently, my company upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. The new version felt slightly unstable, so I left the machine overnight hoping it would resolve itself. When I returned, all programs opened normally, but opening folders by double-clicking left nothing happened. Right-clicking a folder opened Explorer normally, but after a moment it disappeared and then reappeared empty. Navigating to the Start menu worked, yet opening the C drive or any folder triggered a "Not-Responding" alert. Eventually, I removed the SSD, installed it on another Windows 11 workstation that had been running W11 for some time without issues. I ran virus scans with both Windows Defender and Norton, found no threats, and checked for errors—nothing was wrong. I copied all files from the new drive to the original machine, wiped the SSD, reinstalled Windows 11, and transferred files back. Everything functioned perfectly afterward. I left the machine overnight for updates. The next morning, the same issue resurfaced. Even worse, the workstation that still held the copied files began acting the same way. Interestingly, Ubuntu 22.04 machines with identical copies of these files didn’t experience any problems. The turning point came when I noticed a warning in the W11 Start menu: "File indexing is turned off." I adjusted the indexing settings, excluded large data folders, deleted the index file, and restarted the computer. Immediately afterward, everything worked flawlessly. It’s been nearly a week since this happened, and the W11 machine has remained stable. I’m still puzzled by the sudden change after the upgrade, especially since my old W10 machine handled thousands of files for nearly six months without issues. It’s concerning how a simple change could cause such widespread disruption. Microsoft, please address this! Honestly, without Windows-compatible tools like ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro, I’d likely switch to Linux permanently. TL;DR: If you’re on Windows 11 and can’t open folders, look up "Indexing Locations" in the Start menu, manually remove large files, and let W11 rebuild its index. It usually fixes everything!

Reply
Reply