Windows 10: Windows 11: File Explorer Search Freezes When Typing Quickly

Hi, I’ve noticed that on my Windows 11 laptop, the File Explorer search bar becomes unresponsive if I type a query too quickly especially long filenames or multiple keywords. It lags for a few seconds, and sometimes the whole Explorer window freezes temporarily before showing results. I've updated to the latest version and tried restarting Windows Search service, but the issue still happens regularly. Is anyone else facing this? Any known fix or registry tweak for this? Thanks in advance!

:)

 

window file explorer freezes while black strip comes above the explorer window

Hi Sunny,

Windows Explorer freezes may be due to third-party programs or virus infection. As an initial troubleshooting step, temporarily disable your antivirus programs. After that, replicate the issue if it will freeze. You can enable your antivirus program after
we troubleshoot.

If the issue persists, you can try refreshing/restarting Windows Explorer by following these steps:

• Open Task Manager by typing it in the Cortana search bar, then press Enter.
• Look for Windows Explorer, then right-click it and select End task.
• The taskbar will disappear at the bottom of your screen.
• On the Task Manager, look for any installed application like your browser.
• Right-click it and select the Open file location. A new window will appear.
  
• Click the File tab and select Open Windows Powershell, then select Open Windows Powershell as administrator.
• Type in explorer.exe and press Enter.

It should put the taskbar back at the bottom of your screen. Check if it will freeze again.

Keep us posted after performing the troubleshooting steps.

 

File Explorer freezes when hovering the cursor over the "create" section.

Hi Alex,

To better assist you, we'd like to know the following:

• Did you make any changes prior to this issue?
• Are you getting any error messages after File Explorer freezes?
• What troubleshooting have you done so far?

In the meantime, we suggest you restart Windows Explorer by following the steps below:

• Type Task Manager in search bar.
• Click Task Manager.
• On the pop-up window, under Windows processes, scroll-down to
  Windows Explorer.
• Right-click Windows Explorer, and click Restart.

We look forward to your response.

Thank you.

 

Windows Explorer not searching docx file contents

Hi all,

Recently Windows Explorer stopped finding .docx files when I search for a specific word. I know that these files contain the words that I am searching for, and I have tried lots of things:

• "Search in file contents" is enabled
  
• .docx files are set to have names and contents indexed
  
• I've tried rebuilding the index
  
• I tested the search on other file types, and it returns results for seemingly everything except .docx files
  
• I tried upgrading to Windows 11 to see if this would fix the issue, but it did not
  

I would really appreciate any suggestions, as being able to search file contents is very important for my studies.