Windows 11 settings app - home page loading

I started getting this weird issue with the settings app after recently doing a clean install of 23h2 after trying out 24h2 (also happened there I think), where the settings app and its home page is loading. It can take a few seconds and it can also be stuck for like 20+, but it should never be happening at all since what the hell is there to load?

I didn't have it prior to this, so I don't know if something got messed up with the 23h2's recent updates or if it's maybe Copilot that I usually force remove, but haven't this time since I started using it from time to time.

Using Nvidia's drivers 561.09 and the installation is clean otherwise, no idea what can be causing the extensive loading on the settings app.

You say it also happened on 24h2. I am assuming you previously had 23h2 and did NOT have this problem. You then upgraded to 24h2 and the issue occurred, then clean installed 23h2 again & issue still there. Correct me if I am wrong in that series of events. Did you install all the current drivers from Asrock? Or did you let Windows update install your drivers on the clean install? I ask that because Windows update would also have updated drivers after you upgraded from 23h2 to 24h2. So you could have a driver issue.

Try these 3 suggestions. They can be done in no particular order. Report back you findings.

1. If you are using any 3rd party app that alters the GUI, uninstall it.

2. See if the issue happens in safe boot. If i doesn't happen in safe boot, you have a driver issue. Boot to Safe Mode in Windows 11 Tutorial

3. I know it's a clean install amd you've probably not installed much software yet, but eliminate software conflict by booting into a clean boot state Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial
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These suggestions I got from the Microsoft forum but IMO the fact it happened across 2 OS's and a clean install makes me doubt the problem being in the settings app itself, but it won't hurt to try.

4. Reset the Settings application:
A.. Press "Windows + X" and select "Windows Terminal (Admin)";
B. Type or paste the following command and press Enter:
Get-AppxPackage *windows.immersivecontrolpanel* | Reset-AppxPackage
C. Restart your PC.

5. If it persists, re-register the Settings application:
A. Open Start, type cmd, and select Command Prompt from the list of results;
B. Type or paste the following command and press Enter.

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage *immersivecontrolpanel*).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest}"
C. Restart your PC.

If it persists, re-register the native Windows apps: (Close all Windows apps)
A. Press "Windows + X" and select "Windows Terminal (Admin)";
B. Type or paste the following command and press Enter:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Note: Several red warnings may appear when running this command. Ignore them. It's normal.
C. Restart the PC.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks for the suggestions! You're right about the chain of events, I just can't say for certain whether it was happening on 24h2 since I only spent a few hours with it, having issues with alt-tab black screen and the other stuff that's still unstable.

As for the suggestions, I am using Winaero Tweaks but disabling all the tweaks didn't change this, and I couldn't replicate the problem in safe mode since the "home" menu of the settings app that's showing the problem is absent in safe mode.

This gave me the idea to completely remove the "home" section with Winaero Tweaks since that's the only section having this loading problem, and that's the first thing that opens when you open the settings app, which is why it was annoying me. It's pretty useless in general and full of ads for Onedrive, Office etc, so this is probably the best outcome that I hadn't considered previously lol.

I also tried the clean boot you suggested before doing this, and it didn't help either.

I haven't tried any terminal commands since I tried resetting the Settings app in the past and it completely broke it making it inaccessible, breaking my Windows installation in the process basically.

There seems to be something wrong with this "home" part of the settings app in general, that's the only part of the settings app that runs at low refresh rates from what I can see, and I've had that issue forever across various installations. When you're dragging the settings app window, it will run at your native refresh rate on any other menu (system, personalization etc), but dragging the home window will feel choppy like it's stuck at 60hz, not sure if anyone else can replicate this.

ribasmudj said:

Thanks for the suggestions! You're right about the chain of events, I just can't say for certain whether it was happening on 24h2 since I only spent a few hours with it, having issues with alt-tab black screen and the other stuff that's still unstable.

As for the suggestions, I am using Winaero Tweaks but disabling all the tweaks didn't change this, and I couldn't replicate the problem in safe mode since the "home" menu of the settings app that's showing the problem is absent in safe mode.

This gave me the idea to completely remove the "home" section with Winaero Tweaks since that's the only section having this loading problem, and that's the first thing that opens when you open the settings app, which is why it was annoying me. It's pretty useless in general and full of ads for Onedrive, Office etc, so this is probably the best outcome that I hadn't considered previously lol.

I also tried the clean boot you suggested before doing this, and it didn't help either.

I haven't tried any terminal commands since I tried resetting the Settings app in the past and it completely broke it making it inaccessible, breaking my Windows installation in the process basically.

There seems to be something wrong with this "home" part of the settings app in general, that's the only part of the settings app that runs at low refresh rates from what I can see, and I've had that issue forever across various installations. When you're dragging the settings app window, it will run at your native refresh rate on any other menu (system, personalization etc), but dragging the home window will feel choppy like it's stuck at 60hz, not sure if anyone else can replicate this.

Click to expand...

I can confirm this is still an issue. I'm running 24h2 and experience long load times for the windows settings home page, and the lower frame rate when moving the window.

ashdelta23 said:

I can confirm this is still an issue. I'm running 24h2 and experience long load times for the windows settings home page, and the lower frame rate when moving the window.

Click to expand...

Please upvote the issue as many have reported it in Feedback Hub.

You can disable Home, if it bothers you too much or maybe use a local account? It loads for so long, you can even take a screenshot.

So, for my part, I discovered
that I had a discrepancy between two accounts in Windows 11.

On the one hand, I had a local admin account (offline),
and on the other, a Microsoft account.

After logging in to Microsoft, both were co-existing!

The MS account was displayed under Settings (Start page), but locally I was logged in with my admin account.

After I disconnected from the MS account (connected to Windows 11), the start page of “Settings” worked normally again without any delay.

So please check your accounts and their connections.

Hope this helps, I'm not an expert or admin or anything like that.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.