File Explorer – Stuck “Working on it” Error.

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Recently upgraded my W10 Home from 1803 to 1909.

I soon discovered my File Explorer, when opened, would display a “Working on it” along with a green progress bar that would never resolve, leaving File Explorer unusable.

Changing the “folder and search options” view from “Quick Access” to “My PC” as suggested by web searching, had no effect.

Everything I tried from my web searches couldn’t resolve this issue and I’m wondering if the group here has any insight.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

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As I understand it, the problem is usually caused by a corrupt ‘Quick Access’ cache… so just changing File Explorer’s default view from ‘Quick Access’ to ‘This PC’ won’t do anything except release any file locks on the cache.

Have a look at this How To Fix File Explorer ‘Working On It’ Message In Windows 10 article. So far you’ve done step 1 of 4.

Close *all* File Explorer windows except one then try the next 3 steps (2. Clear File Explorer’s ‘history’; 3. Delete the contents of the ‘Quick Access’ cache; 4. Change File Explorer’s default view back to ‘Quick Access’) and see if that resolves the issue.

Oh… and step 5… report back.

(Note: I’ve just started experiencing the same issue on my Win 10 1909 laptop… hence why I was researching it. I’ll report back too next time it happens.)

Hope this helps…

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Rick Corbett wrote:

(Note: I’ve just started experiencing the same issue on my Win 10 1909 laptop… hence why I was researching it. I’ll report back too next time it happens.)

Well, I’ve just carried out the steps in the article. I found I was able to delete all but 2 of the files in the ‘Quick Access’ cache (one of which was 1.8MB).

One of the files in the cache (2KB in size) was deleted but immediately reappeared; the other was not deletable. I had a look at this second file in Notepad++ and found it references my desktop (amongst other areas) so I’m not surprised that it was locked from deletion.

The good news is that I haven’t yet noticed any return of the ‘Working on it’ delay…

Note that deleting the ‘Quick access’ cache will remove any shortcuts you’ve pinned to ‘Quick’ Access so you’ll have to re-do them. I should have realised that beforehand… Oh well, it only took a minute or so to re-do them.

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Thinking about it… there should be no need for all the steps in the article. All you really need to do is to delete the ‘Quick Access’ cache once any file locks have been removed… so it’s scriptable.

I use AutoHotkey so knocked up this:

#SingleInstance force ; Force only once instance at a time

; Close Explorer process
Run, taskkill /f /im explorer.exe,, Hide
Sleep, 1000

; Delete cache
FileDelete, %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\*.*
Sleep, 1000

; Restart Explorer
Run, explorer.exe

MsgBox, 64, Quick Access, Cache deleted!

ExitApp

It now takes just seconds to do the same as the article.

A BAT (batch), VBS or PS script would do just the same, i.e. close the Explorer process to release any file locks, delete the files in the cache then restart Explorer.

Hope this helps…

1 user thanked author for this post.

GoneToPlaid

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My issue, though it’s symptoms are similar to File Explorer opening to “Quick Access”, lies instead with opening to “My PC”.

It could be said to just have File Explorer open to “Quick Access”, but where it opens is not the issue.  There are just times when you have to open “My PC” and I can’t get into it because of “Working on it”.

The article referenced here was one of several I found when I “googled” the issue.  Went thru all the steps and as mentioned, (2) can’t be removed.  But it’s my understanding that this approach works only if you’re getting the above mentioned symptom when File Explorer is opening to “Quick Access”.  Sad to say, mine is when trying to open “My PC”.

I’m deeply appreciative of all the suggestions!

 

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Explorer->View tab->Options->Change folder options->General tab
Change top pulldown from “This PC” to Quick Access”
Apply, OK

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bcallen wrote:

Sad to say, mine is when trying to open “My PC”.

When I cleared the ‘Quick Access’ cache I found that clicking on ‘My PC’ showed a progress bar moving across the top of File Explorer. When the progress bar completed, the contents of ‘My PC’ appeared. Subsequent clicking between ‘Quick Access’ and ‘My PC’ showed ‘My PC’ being re-drawn instantaneously.

Q1. What happens if you click on ‘My PC’ in the left-hand navigation pane and just wait for ‘Working on it’ to complete… or does it never complete?

Q2. What is your screen scaling set to (Settings > System > Display > Scale and layout) and what happens with ‘My PC’ if you change the screen scaling?

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@PKCano

Thanks!  This was mentioned in the above article and didn’t resolve issue.

 

@Rick Corbett

Q1 – As you’ve described and it never completes.  In addition, all navigation within FE ceases at this point.  You have to close and have it re-open in “Quick Assist” in order to get any kind of navigation as long as you don’t choose “My PC”.

Q2 – Screen scaling is set @ 100% (Recommended).  Changing it to the next option (125%) obviously enlarges everything but issue persists.

I consider myself computer capable but this issue has got me stumped.  I’ve got modern hardware (i5, 16GB Ram) and all my applications are up-t0-date.

The upgrade from 1803 to 1909 went flawlessly.  File Explorer was working without a hitch in 1803.

Once again, Many Thanks for your assistance.

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Perhaps see whether the issue is limited to your current user account?

Try creating another user account and opening File Explorer at ‘This PC’. If the same issue occurs with a new account then this points to the OS itself. If the issue is not present in the new account then this points to an issue with your normal user account’s profile.

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Yep, tried that one previously and it didn’t work either and I had created (2) accounts (admin/non-admin).

Initially it looked like it would work, then the next day I logged into one of the newly created accounts and the problem appeared, checked the other acct. and it was there as well.  Like I said, it’s a “doozy”.

Don’t want to rollback as 1803 will have no MS Support.  Though I create images, didn’t want, as my 1st choice, to reinstall a fresh copy of W10 and then transfer over 12GB of data.  Thought I’d appeal to a larger community than myself hoping for a simpler fix.

Greatly appreciate your time & patience!

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Q. Have you tried rebuilding the search index (in case it’s corrupt)? (See Fix File explorer Stuck on Working on it in Windows 10)

Q. Is there any chance that the ‘This PC’ view may be trying to locate one or more disconnected network drives?

Q. Do you use OneDrive?

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Q1. – Yes, I’ve seen this article and rebuilding the index didn’t resolve issue.

Q2. – Don’t think so.  6 months ago this laptop was on a corporate network and there were GPO mapped network drives (automatic not manual mapping).  I haven’t been on that corporate network in over 6 months and they haven’t been displayed in File Explorer since then.

I don’t think this is the issue as “My PC” didn’t experience the issue after leaving the corporate network over 6 months ago.  I use this laptop daily and issue was immediately identified after 1803 to 1909 upgrade was performed 2 weeks ago, as I needed FE to navigate the OS.

Q3. – Yes I do.  Ran across an article that addressed OneDrive so I followed it’s instructions.  Closing it didn’t resolve issue either.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

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Unfortunately I’m now out of suggestions except…

1. Watch what’s happening using Sysinternals/TechNet’s Process Monitor (run as administrator) to see if FAILURE shows up in the capture when attempting ‘This PC’.

2. Use Event Viewer‘s ‘custom view’ of Administrative Events or something like Nir Sofer’s FullEventLogView (run as administrator and filtered – using F9 – to show only ‘Critical’, ‘Error’ and ‘Warning’) to look at the system when it happens.

3. Carry out a repair install, i.e. an ‘in-place upgrade’ to install a fresh install of Windows on top of itself (to retain apps and data).

Hope this helps…

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Your assistance & graciousness is greatly appreciated!!!

I’ll “bite the bullet” and go the reinstall route.

Take Care & Stay Safe!

 

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[Zig]

bcallen,

I’ll “bite the bullet” and go the reinstall route.

ICYMI, see Fred Langa’s detailed instructions in the most recent AskWoody Plus Newsletter.

Zig

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Zig.

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@ Zig

Thank you!

Mod edit: Please use the [Thanks] button supplied otherwise we will all be reading thank you posts.

1 user thanked author for this post.

RTEsysadmin

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[bcallen]

Reporting back that I found the culprit.  Turned out to be an “.mkv” video file which was stored on my Desktop.   Only discovered this when I performed a “clean install” of W10 versus a “reset”.

When I performed a “reset”, retaining my files, the problem persisted.  It wasn’t until I “backed-up” all my files onto USB and then performed a “clean” (fresh) install did I find no problems at all with File Explorer “hanging” on “This PC” or “Quick Access”.

As I began restoring my files to each location (i.e. Downloads/Documents), I would check if File Explorer was OK and it was.  When I restored all my “Desktop” files (3.25GB) and checked, problem re-appeared.

When I tried deleting all the “Desktop” files, the OS wouldn’t allow me, responding with a cryptic error message.  I began deleting files by “halving” the total amount of files.  Once that was successful, I’d “halve” the next group and kept doing that to each group until the only file that remained was the “mkv” file.

I tried to delete the file and the OS wouldn’t let me.  I tried dragging the file to the Recycle Bin, it wouldn’t let me.  I decided to “reboot” and when I logged back on, the file was gone and so was my File Explorer issue.  I’ve been fine ever since.

I would like to add the “.mkv” file wasn’t malicious, as I passed it thru multiple malware tools (remember I still had it on a “flash drive”).

Strange I know, I’m just grateful to be fully functional.  I also would like to express my gratitude to the suggestions I received here on this forum.

 

Take Care All & Be Safe!

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by bcallen. Reason: Slight correction to post

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Elly, Paul T

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