Solved Windows Explorer Slow Sort

[gogreen]

When I sort files in programs like MS Word, Excel, and others, sort is lightning-fast. When I sort files in Windows Explorer, the process is painfully slow. Explorer tells me my searches are slow because index isn't running. I turn on Index when prompted to do so, but when I check it in Index Options, it always reports it's not running.


When I drill down to a folder, right-click on it, and click the Customize tab, I make sure the default setting of "General Items" is set. Still very slow sort. I've tried the other settings, too, but the slow sort continues.


Thumbnails appear very slowly, too, when I look in jpeg directories, for example.


I'm talking about folders with 250 to about 400 files. As I recall, Windows Explorer sort in XP was blazingly fast--at least for me. Same number of files, or more.


Windows 7 is up to date, and I'm using only a fraction of the total hard drive space. Plenty of RAM (see specs). How do I get that fast sort again?

 

[chrisf8657]

Check and make sure the Windows Search Service is running first. If it is, then run a CHKDSK. Then run a Defrag.
If you don't know how to do any of this, here you go:

Step 1. Check the Windows Search Service is running

1. Click Start
2. Click Control Panel
3. Click Administrative Tools
4. Click Services
5. Find the Service called "Windows Search"
6. Make sure it is running, and set to Automatic.
7. If not, start it and change the Startup Type to "Automatic"

Step 2: Run a CHKDSK (Check Disk)

1. Click Start
2. Click Run, and type in "cmd" (without quotes), and make sure to check Run with Admin privs.
   If Run isn't there, type in "cmd" (without quotes) in the Search box. An icon will appear saying cmd. Right click it, and select "Run as Administrator". You may have to enter an admin password.
3. A black box will open. Type the following: "chkdsk c: /f" (without quotes)
4. It will give you a message saying it cannot check the volume since it is in use, and ask you to allow it to do it on a reboot. Answer "Y" (Yes). After that, reboot the computer. You will see a blue background with white text doing a check on the disk. Don't worry, it will complete by itself in 5-15 minutes, and then reboot.

Step 3: Run a Defrag (MAY help your issue)

1. Click Start
2. Click Run, and type in "cmd" (without quotes), and make sure to check Run with Admin privs.
   If Run isn't there, type in "cmd" (without quotes) in the Search box. An icon will appear saying cmd. Right click it, and select "Run as Administrator". You may have to enter an admin password.
3. A black box will open. Type the following: "defrag c:" (without quotes)
4. Wait for it to finish.
5. I would highly recommend another program called Raxco PerfectDisk or Diskeeper - much better than the built in defrag tool, and quicker, FYI.

If you need more help if this doesn't fix it, let us know.
Chris

 

[gogreen]

Thanks, chrisf8657. CHKDSK is OK, and I recently defragged the hard disk. When I try to start Windows Search service, though, I get "Error 5: Access is denied." My account is the administrator's. Any idea what's going on here? Thanks again.

 

[gogreen]

Problem solved! In the Start search box, I typed "Search." And one of the options was what appears to be a troubleshooter. I clicked on it, and followed the prompts. Windows automatically solved my problem with searching and indexing. Apparently, I had problems with permissions.

Slow sorting, which led me to looking into searching and indexing, is now blazingly fast.

I'm mentioning this because in all my searching similar items in Sevenforums, I did not come upon this option--letting Windows solve the problem. I'm sure it's there somewhere, but I just didn't find it.


Could be a viable option for others with my problem, and for other problems for which there are built-in troubleshooters.


I'm now a very happy camper.

 

[hxl7]

Thanks again but these do not appear to apply. Here's why:

• Sorts in Explorer are fast
• My Windows Search service can't be turned on
• I get Error 2, not Error 5
• Chkdsk returns no errors
• Defrag runs fine
• In Explorer, when I type a search term in the upper right hand box, the search does run. But as stated above, Windows Search service can't be turned on and none of the Advanced features are available. And, in Outlook 2010, entering a term in the Search Inbox search field results in an endless loop search that never finishes and produces no results.

 

[gogreen]

hxl7: Did you try the troubleshooter? My problem with slow sorts and slow searches was that ownership, and therefore, permissions, of the affected files was incorrect. The troubleshooter fixed that automatically for me. Do try it if you haven't already!

 

[hxl7]

Thank you very much for the reply.
Yes, I used the troubleshooter but it could not fix the problem.

It only stated Windows Search was not turned on and the permissions on the search folders was improper.

However, I can't find the folders in question.

 

[gogreen]

Turn Windows Search on, if you haven't tried that.

Here are chrisf8657's instructions (see post, above):

Step 1. Check the Windows Search Service is running

1. Click Start
2. Click Control Panel
3. Click Administrative Tools
4. Click Services
5. Find the Service called "Windows Search"
6. Make sure it is running, and set to Automatic.
7. If not, start it and change the Startup Type to "Automatic."

 

[hxl7]

This is my main problem: I can't get Windows Search service to start.
Thank you.

 

[gogreen]

Have you become familiar with this? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html.

 

[chrisf8657]

gogreen, glad you got it solved. Haven't used those troubleshooters alot because they seem to not work 95% of the time - guess yours was an exception!

hxl7:
Check the Event Log in Administrative Tools and see what the error is for the Search service not starting. Is it the same as gogreen's Error 5, or another error?

 

[hxl7]

chrisf8657:
Thank you so much for your reply. I manually attempted to Start the Windows Search service. The Error 2 can't find file message immediately pops up.

Then I checked the Event Viewer and found the following:

1. Warning! Source: Search, Event ID: 1008, Task Category: Search service, "The Windows Search Service is starting up and attempting to remove the old search index {Reason: Full Index Reset}.

2. Error: Source: Search, Event ID: 1001, Task Category: Search service, "The Windows Search Service has failed to remove the old search index. Internal error <0,0x80070002>.

3. Error: Source: Search, Event ID: 7023, Task Category: None, "The Windows Search Service terminated with the following error: The system cannot find the file specified. Keywords: 0x8080000000000000

4. Error: Source: Search, Event ID: 7035, Task Category: None, "The Windows Search Service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 943 times. Keywords: 0x8080000000000000

Thank you for any suggestions about this.
Bill

gogreen:
Taking ownership of the files did not change anything.
I could not find the search folders to change ownership and permissions.
Does anyone know the names of the folders ?
Thank you.
Bill

 

[gogreen]

You do know that taking ownership of a file changes only the "owner" of the file or folder--it does not change the permission level of the file. Right?

If you're able, enter "search" in the Start search box, and click on "Change how Windows searches." Can you see a list of files and folders under "included locations"? This list contains the files and folders to be indexed. These are the files and folders you need to own. Then you'd change your permission level with them.

 

[clemenzina]

I'm posting here because my problem is that Windows Explorer is s-l-o-w to display drives on my network and also within the "master" PC. I have 3 laptops all running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

I record huge chunks of video from wildlife webcams on the "weaker" laptops and transfer the files over the wifi network to the "strongest" one for editing. Sometimes it takes ages for Windows Explorer to see the network, or it takes ages to open the required drive when it does see the network.

I've also had the problem on 2 different laptops where Windows Explorer opens showing only the Libraries (which I don't use, though stuff seems to get dumped into them by Windows), I partition my drives and all data is stored on D. Someone gave me the following 'code' to enter into WE's Properties and now it always opens at Computer, showing drives C and D in the right-hand pane: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /E,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

I don't understand indexing but under guidance from Dell I did something with it but I still sometimes get the green progress bar constantly filling up...

I wonder if you have any tips? The laptop I do the editing on is Alienware M11x-R3 with i7-2637M CPU, 6gb RAM and a 2gb video card.

 

[hxl7]

gogreen:

Thank you again for posting and trying to help.

When I entered 'search' in the Start search box, and clicked on 'Change how Windows searches,' I just get the Indexing Options window with the message 'Indexing is not running,' and of course then no files/folders list is present.

I still have not found a solution.

Bill

 

[gogreen]

If you haven't done this, try it. I apologize if you've been through this:

1. Type "troubleshoot" in the "Search programs and files" start box.
2. Highlight and click on "Troubleshooting," which is probably the first choice listed.
3. Click "System and Security."
3. Then under "Windows," click on "Search and Indexing" and go through the troubleshooter.

If your specific problem isn't listed in the choices of items to fix, click "My problem isn't listed above," and in the next screen type "cannot start search" or something similar and press enter.

I discovered that I could not get searching and indexing to work because ownership and permissions somehow became wrong. I fixed it this way. You may have to keep entering a few different descriptions before you hit one that works.

Again, I apologize if you've tried this unsuccessfully--I know how frustrating it can be!

 

[hxl7]

gogreen:
Again, thank you SO much for sticking with me on this. You're right ... it's exceedingly frustrating, especially since I've always been pretty good at finding solutions. But not this time. But I don't want to give up. I really want to find a resolution and not just because I need the function; I just really hate to walk away from unsolved riddles.
OK ... so, I tried the suggestion and actually that was one of the first things I tried, long ago, now. And today, the same thing happened as it did originally. At the end, I got the messages:
"Problems found
Incorrect permissions on Windows Search directories Not fixed
Windows Search service not running Not fixed "
Thanks for any further ideas...
Bill

 

[F5ing]

Try this: check to see if any of your protected system files have become corrupt:

Left click the Windows flag in the lower left corner of the screen. Type cmd, right click on cmd.exe and select Run as Administrator. You might have to click on Yes if the UAC security window pops up. In the command prompt window that appears type sfc /scannow and press enter.

You may have to run it multiple times to get an error free run.

If that doesn't solve it directly, then retry the troubleshooter and see if it can now fix the problem.

 

[hxl7]

sibbil:
Thanks so much for the suggestion.
Unfortunately, I tried this long ago and everything checked out fine.
Just now reran it and again, no problems are present - "no integrity violations."
Bill

 

[F5ing]

Can you try running that troubleshooter in Safe Mode?