Windows 10: Windows 10 Explorer.exe high CPU and memory usage when copying files

I recently upgraded both my PC to Windows 10, and whenever I copy large amount of files (or analyzing large amount of files before copying), with explorer.exe uses a massive amount of CPU (~50%) and memory (~up to 3 GB). System process also uses a lot of CPU (fixed memory leak by disabling superfetch). Before the upgrade I ran Windows 7 without this issue. See attachments for screenshots.


System drive is Samsung 840 Pro SSD 256 GB. Data drive includes both SSD and HDD. Problem does not depend on which drive data is copied from/to, and persists when copying at 10 MB/s to an NAS.


Problem persists even after file copy task is cancelled. Only restarting explorer.exe fixes it, but then it happens again if I copy files again.


In Task Manager - explorer.exe - go to details - analyze wait chain:
If copying files locally: "explorer.exe is running normally"
If copying files to NAS via ethernet: "explorer.exe is running normally"
If copying files from SSD to SSD: "One or more threads are waiting to finish network I/O"


Have spent hours searching and tried a bunch of things that did not work:
-Updated graphics card and network card driver to latest from official websites
-Found and cleaned one malware using Malebytes Anti-Malware
-Turned off superfetch in services.msc
-Disabled Runtime Broker by turning off "Show me tips about Windows"
-Disabled sharing Windows Update with PC on Internet
-Manually increased page file size from 5 GB (determined by system) to memory size (16 GB)


Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

:)

 

HELP! explorer.exe keeps crashing. [Windows 10]

About every 10 to 20 seconds explorer.exe causes my disk usage to reach 100% and subsequently crashes and restarts. I haven't been able to access my control panel, the app store, or windows explorer without it crashing and closing whatever it is I'm viewing.
I've ended explorer.exe using task manager to see if it was something else that was causing the high disk usage but when I did that memory, disk, and CPU usage we're within a normal range.

 

WIN10 1703 update cause Explorer.exe high CPU usage

Hi,



Glad you reached out. First, we would like to know if Explorer.exe
is the only cause of high CPU usage. Because the common cause of high CPU usage are the following:

- Windows 10 Memory leak after the update.

- Driver incompatibilities after the update.

- Multiple startup applications

• 
  

We'll be waiting for your update.

 

It could be a file corruption problem. Are you transferring one large file or a group of separate files?


If it is several files, try transferring them individually. If the individual transfer is fast for some files then the file corruption issue could be the cause. All you need is one corrupted file for a full batch transfer of files to come to a grinding halt.

 

It was a large batch of files. It does not matter which batch and where it is copied from/to.

 

Same problem here.
1) Disabling Windows defender and indexing sped up copying 3 times.
2) After copying is done explorer.exe is stuck using about 40% of the CPU
3) Killing Explorer.exe instantly reduces CPU utilization to 1%.
4) I also have samsung 850 SSD

 

Hi

As stated before this may due to data corruption.


An option to consider to fix data corruption:

• Open an elevated Command Prompt (admin)
• Run sfc /scannow
• Do this 2 or 3 times or longer (until it finds no more errors)
• Make sure that each and every time sfc has finished running, you reboot immediately after

Edit: this is for @killless too (welcome to the forum *Smile )

 

I read lots of threads about high cpu usage by explorer, 95% of the users had samsung SSD 840 or 850. (and so do I)
My other Win10 computer does not have problems.

I did not install Samsung Magician and when I did Magician hanged.
Version 4.7 did not work either it failed to detect OS etc... As far as I know it does not support Win10 at this time.
Long after copying ended, files I copied were being read in the "backgroup", links were updated in recent files and roaming was going crazy...
Eventually CPU utilization dropped to 1%, all this activity went away...
Can I just copy files without Microsoft doing 100 other things I don't need?

 

Yes. By using a competent file manager like Total Commander / alternatives.

 

I have same problem. explorer.exe load 100% CPU when I browse file from computer on chrome.
Copy file, open image file too.
My SSD is Samsung 850 pro *Sad

 

Same problem, but with new details.
I kill Explorer.exe and replaced it with Explorer++.exe.
While transferring files from HD to external HD, the program eats all memory. Interestingly, it does not happen during a long transfer (= large file) but while a series of files is being copied. Pausing the copy eliminates the problem.
I thought of a virus hooked in the API, so I wrote a small C program to repeatedly read two TXT files. What happened? Nothing.
I'm out of guesses.
Check the image: