OS-level tasks intermittent LONG pauses…

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I’m running Win 10 64-bit on a Dell XPS 8700 dual boot with Win 8.1.  Since 2006 it’s run solely on Win 8.1 with no issues.  Now that I’m running solely on Win 10, I’m seeing intermittent LONG pauses on OS-level tasks — right-click on file properties takes forever to show up and dismiss.  Window takes forever to show up when clicking on an app.

Checked all the drivers Dell shows for the 8700 and none need updating.  I’m perplexed — and ideas?!

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Some things to check:

Right click on the taskbar, open Task Manager. What’s running in the background using a lot of resources.

Do you have a HDD or SSD? How much free space is available?

In an elevated Command Prompt (cmd.exe as Administrator) run:
DISM /online /cleanup-image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
Did it show/correct any errors?

How much RAM in the computer?

Do you see the same problem if you boot into Win8.1?

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Resource usage is always less than 30%.

SSD:  Samsung Magician reports AOK.  At least 50GB free space.

Ran this: dism /online /cleanup-image /CheckHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844
Image Version: 10.0.19045.3086

No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>dism /online /cleanup-image /ScanHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844
Image Version: 10.0.19045.3086
[==========================100.0%==========================]

No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.

Ram: 16GB

I’m thinking the problem may be in file attributes.  Win8.1 owned all the files I’m accessing now under Win10.  Is there some ‘difference’ between the number, type and state of file attributes between the 2 OSs?

 

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Did you run sfc /scannow?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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I’ve had too many nightmares running sfc /scannow in the past — don’t ask!

It’s my last resort cuz I”m ‘almost’ sure it’s NOT the issue.

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MartyHs wrote:

I’m perplexed — and ideas?!

MartyHs wrote:

I’ve had too many nightmares running sfc /scannow in the past — don’t ask! It’s my last resort cuz I”m ‘almost’ sure it’s NOT the issue.

That statement is very telling; all the more reason you should run sfc /scannow.

The two DISM commands you ran only check the stored image, not the actual installation files, so they don’t tell you if you have corrupted system files.  They tell you that the image from which sfc /scannow will extract “clean” files to replace corrupted files found in the system file check had “No component store corruption detected.  The operation completed successfully.”

In my experience, if running sfc /scannow has given you “nightmares” in the past, that is definitely the place to start.  I would run, in this order:

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase

sfc /scannow

Things are not always what they seem.  “What to do when DISM is broken“

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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OK…when I said ‘nightmares’ it was because I’ve had sfc /scannow screw up customizations I’ve made, particularly to the start menu.  With that in mind, I ran:

sfc /VERIFYONLY and looked at the CBS log.  It had dozens of “Repairing file” entries ALL except one of which was a repair to the ‘Start Menu’!  Only one repair was for:

Repairing file \??\C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\\mscormmc.dll

So, I doubt seriously ANY of the ‘Start Menu’ potential repairs or the one above are related to the ‘intermittent’ OS-level hangs and ‘window fail to open right away’ issues.

But…I could be missing something non-trivial?

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Run Task Manager first, panel Processes, sorted by largest CPU time first, update speed normal. Then repeat the long pause experiments. The goal is to see if we can identify the process slowing things down.

Windows 10 22H2 desktops & laptops on Dell, HP, ASUS; No servers, no domain.

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This is a fine suggestion except the issues are ‘intermittent’.  I’ll try this but don’t expect a reply back for a year or so.  🙂

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DISM on its own will only clean up the source of the system files in the WinSxS folder. SFC will perform repairs (e.g. corrupt permissions) on the system files in the System32 folder (amongst others).

Have you looked in the Windows Event Viewer System and Application logs for any corresponding errors or warnings?

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There are several errors in the Event Viewer most of which I can see pertain to specific Apps.  The next time I encounter the problem, I’ll check the Event Viewer to see if it threw an error.  Thanks for the idea!

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OK…further inspection of faults in event viewer shows a slew of Event ID 10016 which are permission issues with the COM server and the current user.  My hunch is that all the files I’m now accessing from Win10 had their original permissions set by a different user under Win8.1.  The different user was me but with a Win8.1-based ID.

Is there a way to change ALL the permissions of a set of files to the current (Win10) user?

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Can you see what files/folders seem to be affected?

I can’t see why a separate Win 10 installation would be using permissions from another user. Was the Win 10 install an upgrade from a previous OS, or does your system have additional user accounts?

A quick, if often inconvenient, way to fix permissions on the same OS installation, is to create a new user account. If this works with all your apps, move your files over, and carry on with life!

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Win10 was a clean install downloaded from MS when it was offered free.  I have several other HDDs on the system which were used by 8.1 and now by 10.

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MartyHs wrote:

I’m running Win 10 64-bit on a Dell XPS 8700 dual boot with Win 8.1

Is that particular Windows 10 upgraded from that Windows 8.1 on the dual boot?

MartyHs wrote:

Since 2006 it’s run solely on Win 8.1 with no issues.

Windows 8.1 has only been around since October 2013

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Finger check!  Bought the 8700 and Win 8.1 in 2014.

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Good point, Windows 8.1 didn’t exist, it would still have been Windows XP in 2006. I think we have some wires crossed somewhere – not literally!

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Yeah, and they gave me a shock!  (Advanced age will do that)

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If the files/folders in question are purely data files (e.g. pictures, documents) and not program or system files, the SYSTEM should have full control of them to read/write/modify etc.

If you right-click on one of the files in question, select Properties, and then go to the Security tab, you will be able to see who has permission to access the files.

It is possible that one of the HDDs has some file system corruption or bad sectors. Testing them for read/write errors might be prudent.

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