File Explorer - Failure to Load Thumbnails, Infinite Green Loading Bar

Hi all,

In folders with lots of images, File Explorer thumbnails begin failing to display, and the green loading animation in the address bar starts and never stops.

I had this problem in Windows 10 but it was solved by the initial Windows 11 install, thankfully. But with the latest Windows 11 builds, the nightmare has returned. Not sure which build caused the behavior to return, but I'm currently on 23H2 22631.2050.

For me, it's easy to reproduce after opening a few folders in Explorer. Once it starts, any further folders become subject to the same behavior. Also, when this happens, right-clicking any file in Explorer hangs Explorer and I have to manually kill the process from Task Manager.

Super frustrating and really limits my ability to use the PC. Viewing files is pretty fundamental. I've had to resort to using QDir, a third-party file viewer, which has no problems with thumbnails. However, searching for folders in Start will obviously use Explorer, so I'd rather have File Explorer working.

I should note that this problem is affecting multiple computers, including my work computer, so I don't think it's any particular file or folder on any one system.

I've reported this problem many, many times to Microsoft using the Feedback app. What's super frustrating is that when reporting this problem, I cannot use the "Record diagnostics" feature in the Feedback app to record what's going on - whenver this problem happens, I get the "Couldn't start recording" error. It's as if thumbnails are coupled to too many things in the OS, and whatever this problem is affects more than just thumbnails.

Any advice or thoughts? At my wit's end. Thanks!

I am having a similar problem. I have to close explorer and open it again. Usually works after that. I am on the Beta channel Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.2050

OK.

I have an on-going problem with Windows Explorer. It began while I was running Win 10. But it still continues even after I upgraded to the current version of Win 11.

Explorer has worked for me for years. I stupidly ran CC Cleaner to try to sort out some unrelated problems. When I re-booted, Explorer, in icon mode, showed only empty frames around each .jpg file name, NO THUMBNAILS! After three weeks of trying, I can NOT get this to work again. I managed to accidentally delete some process in running explorer and even switching to Win 11 did not help.

Can anyone help me get this essential app running again?

Many thanks in advance!