Do I Have A Possible Memory Leak?

gunrunnerjohn · Aug 9, 2025

KevTech said:
I don't seem to have this issue.

Here is with two folders open program files (x86) and program files.

View attachment 141851

See my previous post, I started with less than 60MB. The test is to open and close some folders and see if the memory usage adds up.

KevTech · Aug 9, 2025

gunrunnerjohn said:
See my previous post, I started with less than 60MB. The test is to open and close some folders and see if the memory usage adds up.

That is what I did for about 15 minutes.
I do have Windows Search service disabled so perhaps that is why.

XxXxX · Aug 10, 2025

i have used this method for a many years on all my Windows systems
some say it doesn't work but i have found it helps with Explorer.

Unload .dll's to Free Memory from Windows Explorer.

Unload .dll's to Free Memory

Useful guides for Apple, Linux, and Microsoft platforms.

tweaks.com

your mileage may vary.
best of luck, Steve ..

TraderGary · Aug 10, 2025

I asked Copilot: Does Microsoft recognize the File Explorer memory leak? Will the File Explorer memory leak be fixed?

Yes, Microsoft is aware of the memory leak issue in File Explorer, particularly in Windows 11. Users have reported that opening folders—especially via command-line methods like Win+R—can spawn multiple explorer.exe instances that don't close properly, leading to excessive memory usage.

What Microsoft has done so far:

The issue has been acknowledged in community forums and by independent advisors.
Fixes have been rolled out in Windows 11 Insider Preview builds, especially in the Dev Channel, suggesting that Microsoft is actively working on resolving it.
Updates and patches are expected to address this in future stable releases.

What you can do in the meantime:

Restart File Explorer via Task Manager to clear memory buildup.
Disable non-Microsoft shell extensions using tools like ShellExView.
Run system scans (sfc /scannow and DISM) to check for file corruption.
Keep Windows and your drivers up to date.

If you're experiencing this issue, you're definitely not alone—and it looks like a fix is on the horizon.

kanenas · Aug 10, 2025

I keep on getting Explorer crashing (since Win 10 and now on 11).

I just analyzed a couple of Explorer dumps that happened two days apart.
Crash on the exact same spot!

I doubt it's a memory leak (I have 64 GB) but rather Explorer's handling of handles.
In both cases I had more than a dozen opened explorer windows (but different numbers in each case).
Explorer seems to lose control when the open windows increase in number. Third party explorer replacements don't seem to have this problem.

That's for Win 11 Pro 24H2 26100.4652.

Too lazy to delve into its code and too risky to try fix it myself but here it is for the curious (Error 0xC0000409).
I'm curious if other people get the same stack trace.

mngerhold · Aug 10, 2025

Ghot said:
This picture is 32MB (.png), for comparison...

Can you tell me the source of that image, please? I only get a lossy jpeg when I open it. Martin

kanenas · Aug 10, 2025

mngerhold said:
Can you tell me the source of that image, please? I only get a lossy jpeg when I open it. Martin

32MB? The one I captured and saved is a 127KB png.
If you right-click and save the posted image id downloads as .webp at 115KB and looks the same (for my eyes at least).

I uploaded it here too: https://i.postimg.cc/Cxm85Mch/explorer-409.png
You can download the original from the top left of the page.

Oops. I missed the reference to Ghot. You meant the image on the 1st page. Ah well, age does that... :)

win11raider · Aug 10, 2025

kanenas said:
I keep on getting Explorer crashing (since Win 10 and now on 11).

I just analyzed a couple of Explorer dumps that happened two days apart.
Crash on the exact same spot!

I doubt it's a memory leak (I have 64 GB) but rather Explorer's handling of handles.
In both cases I had more than a dozen opened explorer windows (but different numbers in each case).
Explorer seems to lose control when the open windows increase in number. Third party explorer replacements don't seem to have this problem.

That's for Win 11 Pro 24H2 26100.4652.

Too lazy to delve into its code and too risky to try fix it myself but here it is for the curious (Error 0xC0000409).
I'm curious if other people get the same stack trace.

View attachment 141866

Two days ago I experienced the exact same issue. Error 0xC0000409 after several GDIObjectLeak errors.

I had several browser windows opened and at that moment I was installing a game from GOG, which uses an installer based on InnoExtractor. Interestingly, on other occasions when I also had this Explorer issue, I had been decompressing several files with WinRAR.

Could these types of programs (file decompression) be influencing the Explorer problem?

kanenas · Aug 10, 2025

win11raider said:
Two days ago I experienced the exact same issue. Error 0xC0000409 after several GDIObjectLeak errors.

I had several browser windows opened and at that moment I was installing a game from GOG, which uses an installer based on InnoExtractor. Interestingly, on other occasions when I also had this Explorer issue, I had been decompressing several files with WinRAR.

Could these types of programs (file decompression) be influencing the Explorer problem?

No idea but it sounds possible, especially if the decompressor puts the extracted files in an open Explorer window.
As the extracted files get allocated by the system the Explorer has to handle their display, and since many come out very fast, the Explorer trips over its feet (or algorithms). Or something like that...

In my case (I was running some big programs that were loading a gazillion of DLLs), I think it was a matter of too many created handles the Explorer had to juggle.

Ghot · Aug 10, 2025

mngerhold said:
Can you tell me the source of that image, please? I only get a lossy jpeg when I open it. Martin

Just click on it, then click on it again to magnify, then right click and chose copy.
Then paste it in an image editor.

mccmw · Aug 10, 2025

gunrunnerjohn said:
As a comparison, I restarted the Explorer task, and I ended up with this as the memory used. I start with less than 60MB, but as I open and close folders, it keeps adding up. I've seen it be close to 2GB when I hadn't booted for about two weeks.

View attachment 141852

Yes...that is the common issue (online search for Explorer Memory Leak). The longer your machine is on, and the more you use Explorer, at least one of the Explorer tasks gets bigger. Closing Explorer does not return the RAM (i.e. the memory leak). The common solutions are 1) periodic reboots and/or 2) periodically restart the Windows Explorer process(es) in Task Manger. Mine have never hit the size of yours...the worst I've seen mine, after closing, is in the 250MB range. Still annoying when it should be 50 - 80 MB.

gunrunnerjohn · Aug 10, 2025

Yep, the longer you run and the more folders you open and close, the more memory that Explorer consumes. Like I said, it's not been a factor for me as my main systems have 64GB and 32GB. Long before the Explorer memory use becomes a problem, I have to reboot Windows anyway.

I'm glad to see that Microsoft is finally at least aware of the issue, I searched several months ago and there was no hint they had acknowledged the issue. :think:

RazorKat83 · Aug 10, 2025

KevTech said:
That is what I did for about 15 minutes.
I do have Windows Search service disabled so perhaps that is why.

I'm going to disable Windows Search service to see if that helps just a little bit.

RazorKat83 · Aug 10, 2025

gunrunnerjohn said:
Yep, the longer you run and the more folders you open and close, the more memory that Explorer consumes. Like I said, it's not been a factor for me as my main systems have 64GB and 32GB. Long before the Explorer memory use becomes a problem, I have to reboot Windows anyway.

I'm glad to see that Microsoft is finally at least aware of the issue, I searched several months ago and there was no hint they had acknowledged the issue.

I have 32GB of RAM in my Main PC.

TraderGary · Aug 10, 2025

gunrunnerjohn said:
Yep, the longer you run and the more folders you open and close, the more memory that Explorer consumes. Like I said, it's not been a factor for me as my main systems have 64GB and 32GB. Long before the Explorer memory use becomes a problem, I have to reboot Windows anyway.

I'm glad to see that Microsoft is finally at least aware of the issue, I searched several months ago and there was no hint they had acknowledged the issue.

With your 64GB and 32GB of RAM, it's hardly an issue! :yawn:

I have 32GB RAM and I never noticed it until reading this thread!

gunrunnerjohn · Aug 10, 2025

TraderGary said:
With your 64GB and 32GB of RAM, it's hardly an issue!

I have 32GB RAM and I never noticed it until reading this thread!

I was actually looking for something else with Task Manager when I saw this oddity. Then I went and searched on it and noticed others have the same issue. Finally, I tested my other machines and they all have the same issue!

torchwood · Aug 10, 2025

if you have a memory leak.... it will show in
msinfo32 software enviroment ..... event details

*radar pre-leak....... program name
will eventually cause a BSOD

RazorKat83 · Aug 10, 2025

torchwood said:
if you have a memory leak.... it will show in
msinfo32 software enviroment ..... event details

*radar pre-leak....... program name
will eventually cause a BSOD

I don't have "Event Details"

torchwood · Aug 10, 2025

apologies
last line

Windows error reporting

gunrunnerjohn · Aug 10, 2025

torchwood said:
if you have a memory leak.... it will show in
msinfo32 software enviroment ..... event details

*radar pre-leak....... program name
will eventually cause a BSOD

A memory leak like the Explorer leak probably won't show up anywhere but the memory that Explorer is using. Remember, a continuous memory leak from a running program is different than what Explorer is doing. Explorer apparently just drops some allocated memory without returning it to free space each time it is terminated. Lots of times a memory leak results in continuous shrinking of memory, a totally different scenario.

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