Windows 10: Windows 11 - File Explorer Hangs Almost Indefinitely

I am having critical problems operating File Explorer on my Windows 11 Laptop. The specs are good enough to dismiss slow hardware as a problem. Could anyone give a solution to the problem? Here are the details:The Problem:- Windows Explorer hangs almost indefinitely until the process is ended or until the process is forced to quit when the "too long to respond" prompt is given. Patience is also an option, but it takes an extremely long time to load a directory, and it sometimes crashes before it can show anything.- It nearly prevents any form of accessing important files, including but not lim

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[Windows 11] File Explorer Hangs Almost Indefinitely

I am having critical problems operating File Explorer on my Windows 11 Laptop. The specs are good enough to dismiss slow hardware as a problem. Could anyone give a solution to the problem? Here are the details:

The Problem:

- Windows Explorer hangs indefinitely almost indefinitely until the process is ended or until the process is force quit when the "too long to respond" prompt is given.

- It nearly prevents any form of accessing important files, including but not limited to personal files, the downloads folder, and even drives other than the Windows drive (C:\).

What Triggers The Problem:

- Right-Clicking anything that is related to File Explorer (a file or shortcut on the desktop, for example).

- Attempting to access any directory other than "This PC" and "Quick Access".

Computer Specifications:

- OS: Windows 11 Home Laptop

- Version: 10.0.22621 Build 22621

- Processor: Intel Core i5 11th Gen, 6 cores

- Physical Memory: 32 GB

- Windows Drive (C:\): Solid State Drive (54.2 GB free of 256 GB)

What I've Tried:

- Restarting File Explorer via Task Manager

- Restarting the computer

- Updating Windows*

- Clearing File Explorer cache (via File Explorer Options history clearing and Disk Cleanup)

- Executing the command "netsh winsock reset" via Command Prompt as an Admin

- Various different combinations of settings for File Explorer Options

- Running CCleaner's Health Check**

- Running CCleaner's Registry Check

- Running Restoro***

- Clean booting by running msconfig

- Running System File Checker (A) and DISM (B) as an Admin in the following orders followed by a restart: A, B, AB, ABA

- Running the relevant troubleshooters

- Running Automatic Repair (Startup Repair) via an advanced startup

- Running File Explorer as an Admin

- Disabling non-Microsoft Shell Extensions

- Disabling non-Microsoft Shell Extensions and restarting

- Running the command "Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth"

- Deleting keys "BagMRU" and "Bags"

* - When attempting to install the already downloaded update by selecting "Download & install all", the double arc arrow symbol displays a circular caution sign and gives the prompt "We couldn't install the update but you can try again" with an install error code of 0x8e5e0408. Here are the updates:

- 2022-09 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5017389)

- 2022-09 Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 22H2 for x64 (KB5017271)

** - During the process of cleaning, the progress bar stops at about 40% and doesn't progress anymore. When attempting to cancel, CCleaner hangs and can only be closed by ending the process.

*** - I am trying to stray away from money-dependent solutions, which this was.

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UPDATE: Sumit has given a solution to the update problem and my computer has successfully updated! Unfortunately, however, the problem with file explorer is still ongoing. I'm going to see if I can tackle the problem with some other methods.

For the updating problem, use a Batch script (link to it provided at Sumit's answer) as an administrator to reset Windows updates.

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UPDATE: I've been able to use the desktop and 7-Zip as a limited alternative of File Explorer and have been able to use a program called "WhatIsHang" to generate a report when File Explorer hangs. I've attached the report to the drive link below:

whatishangReport.log

According to WhatIsHang, the problem may have to do with one or more the following files:



- C:\WINDOWS\System32\KERNELBASE.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows NT BASE API Client DLL

- C:\WINDOWS\System32\shcore.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, SHCORE

- C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\windows.storage.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Microsoft WinRT Storage API

- C:\Windows\System32\Windows.UI.FileExplorer.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows.UI.FileExplorer

- C:\WINDOWS\System32\combase.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Microsoft COM for Windows

- C:\WINDOWS\system32\explorerframe.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, ExplorerFrame

- C:\WINDOWS\System32\SHELL32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows Shell Common Dll

- C:\WINDOWS\System32\ole32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Microsoft OLE for Windows

- C:\WINDOWS\System32\shlwapi.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Shell Light-weight Utility Library

- C:\WINDOWS\system32\DUser.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows DirectUser Engine

- C:\WINDOWS\System32\win32u.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Win32u

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UPDATE: I tried a new method: Checking if the Windows Search service is running in the Services utility. Unfortunately, I was given an error message:

Services:

- Windows could not start the service on Local Computer. Error 1717: The interface is unknown.

I'll keep looking for more methods to fix this problem.

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UPDATE: I have new information for this problem.

- It may have to do with DWMGhost.dll and DWM.exe, but I have yet to test it as I don't exactly know how to.

- I started the PC in safe mode and File Explorer was operating fully, but when returning from safe mode, it resumed hanging.

- The issue may be associated with the Windows Search service, according to the Search and Indexing troubleshooter. The troubleshooter only specifies the problem, it does not go further in repairing it.

- Problems may be related to incorrect permissions as well, as the same troubleshooter fixed that problem on its first run.

- A third-party application, extension, software, or DLL may be causing the problem, but I can't pinpoint what.

- WhatIsHang identifies the hanging type as a "Single System Call Hang," which is the program waiting for a response from the system after calling to it for something.

- After opening a directory affected by this problem, it does not indefinitely hang, it just takes a very, VERY long while for the directory to load.

Maybe with this added information, the problem can be narrowed down.

 

Windows 10 hangs indefinitely on shutdown

Enable verbose boot/shtdown

Windows will display the name of the service or program that hangs during the shutdown;

1. open the policy editor => type gpedit.msc in the start menu;
2. Expand Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates, and then click System.
3. In the right pane, double-click Display highly detailed status messages;
4. Click Enabled > OK.
5. shutdown the computer and check the displayed messages.

 

File explorer hangs

Sorry I got nothing more to suggest then.

File explorer hanging is an image issue. So if you can't do a repair upgrade or reset your PC then you can contact microsoft support directly to see if they have further steps but I am sure they are going to tell the same thing i did.