Windows 10: Windows 10 Freezes when dealing with large (75GB) MOV files

When dealing with large video files (.MOV QT ProRes) that are 60-100 gigs in file size Explorer on Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise (v1607) will often freeze and come to a grinding halt. Physical memory is gobbled up by Explorer, and then all the Virtual Memory.

Doing a search from Explorer in a folder that contains these large files will cause the freeze 100% of the time. I can replicate this issue on any Windows 10 machine that my company owns (I've tried half a dozen). I downloaded different 4 ISO's directly from Microsoft yesterday and have them each in a VM, I can replicate the issue on two. The two that don't have the issue are the "N" versions of Win10 Pro/Ent (they don't include Windows Media Player and "related technologies"). Also, all versions of Windows 7 do not have this issue. I have dozens of machines here I can test with.


The obvious explanation would be that Windows 10 is trying to generate thumbnails for these large MOV files that it does not understand. However I have disabled this feature (and besides, Windows 7 and the "N" versions have the same feature). The next obvious thing I thought of was that the Windows Search service or Cortana was interfering. But I have disabled them, along with my a/v and everything else I can think of. The problem remains.

I suspect it is trying to read the metadata on these large files, and failing horribly. Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I can try to fix this situation?

:)

 

Explorer on Windows 10 freezes when dealing with large (60GB+) .MOV files

Thanks, that worked perfectly!

I had some rather large m2ts files that were causing the same problem. Your solution fixed it!

 

Explorer on Windows 10 freezes when dealing with large (60GB+) .MOV files

Thank you for your suggestions Vanessa but unfortunately they were not helpful. This issue is not related to Disk Defragmentation or A/V. Note that I am System Administrator and I am using a dozen physical and virtual machines to methodically test this issue.
Also note these source files reside on enterprise class storage, but I can replicate the issue from local storage as well.

An update: Today I downloaded fresh ISOs of Windows 10 directly from Microsoft and installed them in virtual machines. I am here to verify that
I can replicate this issue on any freshly installed copy of Windows 10 Pro x64. However, I have discovered that "N" versions of Windows 10 do not have this issue:

- Windows 10 Pro "N" does not have the issue

- Windows 10 Enterprise "N" does not have the issue

Note: "N" editions do not include Windows Media Player, and "related technologies"....





So.... I am making slow progress towards narrowing down this issue, but still welcome suggestions from advanced users. The question is: which one of these "related technologies" did not exist in Windows 7 and is causing such a serious issue with large
MOV files in Windows 10? Or to ask it differently: How is Explorer different in Windows 10 Pro "N" compared to Windows 10 Pro?

 

Any OS is going to choke when you try to pull that large of file in File Explorer. It has nothing to do with Windows 10. You should not be letting thumbnails show, because it is just going to continue to cause headaches.

 

Incorrect. Please read the original post, there you will see a list of OS that do not 'choke' when dealing with these files. It is only a specific version (there are many) of Windows 10 that has this issue.

 

Sorry but I have already read what you posted and the answer stays the same. There is not any other answer to give to you and no it has nothing to do with Windows 10.

 

LOL do you think video editors that run Mac OS with 100gb 4k and above videos have issues moving them around with Finder?

I don't think so =P

Windows 10 is probably trying to do something stupid like you said, something ridiculous like caching the entire 75GB into RAM or something. Perhaps it's superfetch?

 

Try using Teracopy, this software allows you to transfer large files without choking. If for some reason the drive looses connection or stalls, you can restart and it will pick up where it left off not from the beginning.

 

Exactly....

OSX, Windows 7, Windows 10 Pro "N", and Windows 10 Enterprise "N" all do not have this issue. It is only the regular Win10 Pro and Enterprise versions that have this bug. So, how is the "N" version of Windows different you ask? You can read about what the "N" versions exclude here . You'll note they exclude various DRM and codec "features" - the exact kind of thing that could cause the issues I am describing. Coincidence?

Thanks for the robocopy/teracopy suggestion but that is not a solution for me. I need Windows 10's Explorer to be able to manipulate these files properly just like Windows 7 and OSX can.

More suggestions welcomed!

 

Mac OS, Linux, BSD variants do not have the same problem as Windows, because of the file structure and the coding of the OS.

Microsoft will keep causing this headache, as long as they keep recycling old code into their OS to appease the IT crowd that have computers that have to run NT4 or Win2000 for a olds school CNC or monitoring system.

Windows File Explorer chokes if you even try to bring up a folder with 5 gb on it.

 

Yes they do have the same issue, because once again it is the problem with Windows using old code to read the file indexing to keep the MBR and Partition table updated. Even Gates stated that the shortcoming of any OS, is always going to be when the OS tries to index and keep the Partition table updated. Indexing was more of a bandaid to make 100% Microsoft networks behave. But when 7 SP1, 8.x and 10 were created, they are coded to keep updating the File Explorer information for housekeeping purposes, so you end up with a code traffic jam.

I have no issues with Mac OS, just like everyone else that uses it or Linux, is because both were coded properly for the Kernel, along with how everything is done at the back end, not inside of some gui.

 

Your posts are extremely unhelpful and filled with incorrect information. It is new code that is causing this issue. Windows 7 does not have the problem. If you don't understand someone's issue you should feel free to not reply to it.

 

To dennis298549759
I cannot test it because I don't have videofiles of that size but you may try this:

- install MPC-HC or VLC player (both can play MOV files)
- set it as default program for all media files
- then try to work with large videofiles.

There is a small chance that components of these programs may handle Explorer calls instead of system libraries - but it is only my guess.

 

Problem may be with Windows/Microsoft media foundation. Try to disable it and use other codec sets like k-lite (also it includes tool to disable parts of media foundation and includes custom thumbnail generation)

 

What happens if you remove Windows Media Player from Win 10 Pro?