Win 11 still very slow after Repair Install

Should I do another repair install? Or do I need to do a wipe/reinstall (someth8ing I would prefer not to do.)

A few days ago I did a Windows 11 repair install to fix an install that was "very sick." I did get some improvements, but I still have these issues

• Moving a file or folder to another folder (on a fast NVMe physical drive) now takes many seconds. I get these boxes that show "99% complete" that take a a minute, or more, to clear.
• I often get an hourglass and a dimmed screen when I try some operation in File Explorer.
• Some programs no longer start, even though they started again right after the repair install.
• Windows seems to take a LOT longer to boot up.

I have never had any confidence (from personal and anecdotal experience) in the success of any of the Windows 3 R's options - Repair, Recover, and/or Restore

First thing to do is make sure all your personal data and program settings (that can be done) are backed up including all your favourites/bookmarks and all your passwords

Then I would check the veracity of the drive with CrystalDiskInfo

Then run 2 basic options
- start command prompt in Admin mode
- run DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
- then run sfc /scannow

If nothing shows up, and/or there's no improvement, then I'd be prepared for a clean install

EDIT
What's the storage capacity like? How much free space on the system drive?

@x509

A repair install In-Place upgrade, only fixes Windows problems.
If you have a 3rd party program or driver causing the problem, the In-Place Upgrade won't fix that.

I always use Option Two, (ISO method) when I do an In-Place Upgrade.



Another thing that causes problems sometimes is when MS installs a driver over top of an already existing driver... sometimes this will corrupt the driver.

Long ago I blocked MS from including drivers in Windows updates.
The MS drivers will still be available as Optional updates.



Also, I don't let 3rd party programs update themselves. If I want to update a 3rd party program, I make sure I have a current backup then do the update.




If it's not a software issue, then you will have to look to hardware for the cause.

Please place the computer into clean boot > reboot > report findings

If you're referring to your Lenovo PC I would recommend considering an alternative. (Lenovo shouldn't even be legally allowed to exist.) If you're referring to your AMD 7900x desk top you might want to try looking into Windows X-Lite. IF you want to run with genuine Win 11 25H2 try using Bel Arc advisor to find what updates you may be missing. Some of these can be very stubborn and will fail to update via conventional means. That's where using Catalog can come in handy as you can download the stand alone and install the update offline. Of course you will want to do this after doing the usual SFC and DISM stuff in CMD. IF this fails to help then yes, I would say a clean boot would be in order. You can do a clean boot right off but it will likely be time intensive (especially if you're dealing with a lot of drivers) but it seems to me that you're dealing with some stubborn updates and could be missing a few so I would check that first.

So you had a very sick computer, you did a repair install, and the computer is still very sick. So, start thinking about hardware issues. Are the RAM chips securely installed? Is the SSD securely installed. Have you looked at CPU temperatures (several free utilities out there). Have you cleaned off the dust inside the case? Next, ask yourself a few questions: When was the last time the computer was OK? What changed or what did you do just before it got very sick? Did you install a Windows Update or any other software? Did you change any hardware? Did you change any of the power settings? Is this an older computer so that the power supply may have degraded (lower power/voltage delivered)? Any reason to believe you picked up a malware?

As for purely Windows OS issues: If Windows is broken then a repair won't fix anything. Neither will any gimmicks such as SFC, DISM, etc.

After you check out the hardware, your best bet is to reinstall Windows from an ISO (which hopefully will also fix any malware problem). After installation, your first tasks should be to debloat Windows, and very specifically prevent Windows from installing any device drivers with Updates.

idgat said:

I have never had any confidence (from personal and anecdotal experience) in the success of any of the Windows 3 R's options - Repair, Recover, and/or Restore

First thing to do is make sure all your personal data and program settings (that can be done) are backed up including all your favourites/bookmarks and all your passwords

Click to expand...

Done or will be done. I've done a full registry backup which I will trim down. I will also do a FireFox sync

idgat said:

Then I would check the veracity of the drive with CrystalDiskInfo

Click to expand...

CrytalDiskInfo v 7.1

idgat said:

Then run 2 basic options
- start command prompt in Admin mode
- run DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
- then run sfc /scannow

SumpterX said:

So you had a very sick computer, you did a repair install, and the computer is still very sick. So, start thinking about hardware issues. Are the RAM chips securely installed? Is the SSD securely installed. Have you looked at CPU temperatures (several free utilities out there). Have you cleaned off the dust inside the case? Next, ask yourself a few questions: When was the last time the computer was OK? What changed or what did you do just before it got very sick? Did you install a Windows Update or any other software? Did you change any hardware? Did you change any of the power settings? Is this an older computer so that the power supply may have degraded (lower power/voltage delivered)? Any reason to believe you picked up a malware?

As for purely Windows OS issues: If Windows is broken then a repair won't fix anything. Neither will any gimmicks such as SFC, DISM, etc.

After you check out the hardware, your best bet is to reinstall Windows from an ISO (which hopefully will also fix any malware problem). After installation, your first tasks should be to debloat Windows, and very specifically prevent Windows from installing any device drivers with Updates.

Click to expand...

I ran MSI Heavy Load for 15 minutes. No issues.

Click to expand...

Ran both those commands No issues.

idgat said:

If nothing shows up, and/or there's no improvement, then I'd be prepared for a clean install

Click to expand...

I was coming to the same conclusion. I'm going to run UniGetUI to minimize the amount of manual downloads and installs I need to do.

idgat said:

EDIT
What's the storage capacity like? How much free space on the system drive?

Click to expand...

about 80-90 GB

Windows seems to take a LOT longer to boot up.

Click to expand...

1. How long does a cold boot to lock screen take? E.g. my Lenovo t480s with nVME takes about 3-4s.

2. Slow booting can be caused by something as simple as an accumulation of temporary files (see examples on tenforums).
Try using Disk Cleanup.
Formal analysis of more complex causes e.g. driver-related requires the somewhat technically demanding WPA - Windows Performance Analyser and Recorder (free from MS). Examples on tenforums with screenshots.

3. Can't see a response to the suggestion to start with basics in post #2 and use Crystal Diskinfo (free). Simply launch it and look- portable version available. Check result for all drives using tabs on left.

4. Boot to Safe Mode and see if your issues remain when logged in.

Guys,

have to start this post by saying that I that I am grateful for all the responses, because so many people sincerely want to help.

I've been thinking a lot since the last messages aboutr next steps. As a note, I had intended to do a clean install of Win 11 anyway, but later in the year, and slowly build up a set of changes based on Winaero, ExplorerPatcher, and individual patches from the leaderboard on this forum. My plan was to use VMs to do the testing.

In case I have not already mentioned it, individual applications such as MS Word or Quicken run fine. Explorer operations such as copy or move or even delete take many seconds, if not more. True even for emptying the recycle bin. Yet programs that operate on the file system, Goodsync and Beyond Compare, run just fine at normal speeds.

So I think it's more productive for me to focus on a future project idea. The ideais using ChatGPT and Claude to build PowerShell scripts for me to automate the pre-wipe backups including registry entries and program settings, and post-new install automatic program installation. The main issue here is that some of my important programs like MS Office and Adobe Lightroom, do not have winget installers. That's something I will need to work out with the AI's.

As you now do not want to fix your existing installation, perhaps you might now appreciate some advice as to how to protect your next, and give yourself a chance to recover from bad scenarios.

1. After you clean install, as early as possible, start using 3rd party disk imaging to external storage periodically.
Also set up a scheduled task to create e.g. a daily System Restore point., (System Restore complements disk imaging well).

2. Make notes as you make changes.
3. Create e.g. a differential image, based on the imaging task you created when you created your first full image.

Repeat (2, 3).

Then if something goes wrong, you have ways to reert changes, and restore a previously working configuration.

This is just an outline.

Also want to say that I ran OCCT free edition for 1 hour, no issues. CPU temps about 45 C. RAM temp about 32 C. CPU is AMD 9900x. RAM is 64 GB Micron

I think it's fair to say I don't have hardware issues.

Quick test I sometimes do ...

Options : image the drive (I do at least 2 images using different software - Macrium and AOMEI Backupper) and wipe, OR swap out the drive for a blank one

Quick clean install and full update (drivers and all) then test.. If nothing changes, restore the previous system. If it's all much better, problem solved.

x509 said:

Or do I need to do a wipe/reinstall (someth8ing I would prefer not to do.)

Click to expand...

Sometimes that's not an option and something every user should be prepared for. Not saying it's going to be in your case, but sometimes a clean install, which might take a day or 2 is more convenience-economical than putting up with a faulty system and taking dayS, sometimes weeks, to troubleshoot through forums such as this

idgat said:

putting up with a faulty system and taking dayS, sometimes weeks, to troubleshoot through forums such as this

Click to expand...

What he said.

As you've not responded to my posts. I've unsubscribed.,

dalchina said:

As you now do not want to fix your existing installation, perhaps you might now appreciate some advice as to how to protect your next, and give yourself a chance to recover from bad scenarios.

1. After you clean install, as early as possible, start using 3rd party disk imaging to external storage periodically.
Also set up a scheduled task to create e.g. a daily System Restore point., (System Restore complements disk imaging well).

2. Make notes as you make changes.
3. Create e.g. a differential image, based on the imaging task you created when you created your first full image.

Repeat (2, 3).

Then if something goes wrong, you have ways to reert changes, and restore a previously working configuration.

This is just an outline.

Click to expand...

I don't think there is a "one size fits all" approach to backing up operating systems and personal data. Most seasoned users use various methods of backing up their data. Some use more intensive approaches and some choose otherwise. I myself am a big fan of cloning, but that's me. I would say that in nearly every case the seasoned user agrees that a backup of one's backup is a very good idea and there are various ways of achieving this.

It is said that RAID is not back up although that is not entirely true depending on the array being used. RAID may not be the wisest way to back up an OS, but mirroring is a fine way to back up user data. I'm also a fan of System Restore because half the time it actually works! As does the Windows 7 (Legacy) backup. I use the System Image software MS provides in addition to System Restore and I bolster my user data by copying it to my RAID 1 array marked "Archives" roughly once a week. Redundancy is not overkill. Redundancy is prudence. In addition to this I also make a Drive Image or "clone" of my OS. The clone sits on my shelf to gather dust and stay there in the event that I experience an unrecoverable system crash. Approximately once a year I will rewrite my clones and put them back. It saves me a great deal of time for in the event that a "re-installation" of Windows is required. So far this has only happened to me twice on two different versions of Windows over the course of twenty years. Each time I was able to extract what remaining personal files and folders I required from the faulty drive before reformatting it.

I know this seems like a lot of work and back in the day it used to be very time consuming. Silicon drives makes the process so much faster.


Redundancy is not overkill.