Slow to display a large windows shared folder
I'm hoping someone has run across this before and has a simple fix. I'm pulling my hair out over this one.
Site is a small law office. 6 PC's 4 of which are older self built AMD boxes /w your standard assortment of cheap components. All running XP Pro SP3. 1 of these machines is the "server". The server has a single shared folder which is mapped to all the other machines as drive r: Now one of the subdirectories in this share is the main data repository for the practice and contains roughly 10,000 files. They've used this setup for about 5 years with no issues at all.
Now the problem...They decided to expand a bit and purchased 2 IBM ThinkCentre refurbs from the local computer store. Dual core Pentiums, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, XP Pro SP3. Basic, but much more powerful than what they currently have. The problem is that these 2 new machines take FOREVER to display the folder /w 10,000 items in it. Everything else is near instant but that one folder takes 20-25 seconds to display vs. 2 seconds on the old POS machines.
I've tried everything I can think of. Firewall on/off, /w and without anti virus, different network cables, jacks, nics, router/switch, disabling shared task and printer checking, with and without indexing service. Installed software is the same on all machines. It's almost as if the older machines have cached the contents of the folder and the new machines have to scan it every time they access it.
I'm out of ideas, Any help would be appreciated.
Site is a small law office. 6 PC's 4 of which are older self built AMD boxes /w your standard assortment of cheap components. All running XP Pro SP3. 1 of these machines is the "server". The server has a single shared folder which is mapped to all the other machines as drive r: Now one of the subdirectories in this share is the main data repository for the practice and contains roughly 10,000 files. They've used this setup for about 5 years with no issues at all.
Now the problem...They decided to expand a bit and purchased 2 IBM ThinkCentre refurbs from the local computer store. Dual core Pentiums, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, XP Pro SP3. Basic, but much more powerful than what they currently have. The problem is that these 2 new machines take FOREVER to display the folder /w 10,000 items in it. Everything else is near instant but that one folder takes 20-25 seconds to display vs. 2 seconds on the old POS machines.
I've tried everything I can think of. Firewall on/off, /w and without anti virus, different network cables, jacks, nics, router/switch, disabling shared task and printer checking, with and without indexing service. Installed software is the same on all machines. It's almost as if the older machines have cached the contents of the folder and the new machines have to scan it every time they access it.
I'm out of ideas, Any help would be appreciated.
ASKER
First time, second time, tenth time, doesn't matter. 20-25 seconds. If you enter a subfolder and then browse back, 20-25 seconds.
Processor usage does not change and explorer.exe uses 20mb prior to displaying the folder and about 25mb after.
Processor usage does not change and explorer.exe uses 20mb prior to displaying the folder and about 25mb after.
what view are you viewing these files in? there is a "do not cache thumbnails" in tools/folder options/view tab
look at the options in that like like simple view and display filesize info (which takes time to do I guess if lots of files)
look at the options in that like like simple view and display filesize info (which takes time to do I guess if lots of files)
ASKER
I'm viewing them in explorer. Simple view is on, display size makes no difference (same result /w it on or off), and do not cache is unchecked.
It also makes no difference if I'm viewing the items as large icons, small icons, detailed, etc. Still takes 20-25 seconds to display.
It also makes no difference if I'm viewing the items as large icons, small icons, detailed, etc. Still takes 20-25 seconds to display.
so would it be any security s/w running that is checking files?
seperate issue - maybe run a scan anyways
seperate issue - maybe run a scan anyways
ASKER
AV is avira same as on all the machines.
It's also not malware. On 1 of the new machines I did a clean OS install. It's currently just base OS and AV. Same result. 20-25 seconds. I also tried my laptop with the same result. 20-25 seconds.
It's also not malware. On 1 of the new machines I did a clean OS install. It's currently just base OS and AV. Same result. 20-25 seconds. I also tried my laptop with the same result. 20-25 seconds.
dunno, how about defragging that drive?
ASKER
It's not a server/drive issue because the 3 older machines access it just fine.
try to disable the windows xp visual effect and see if that help
system properties-->advacned-->se
and try it again, i had a problem that issue before and that resolved my issue
system properties-->advacned-->se
and try it again, i had a problem that issue before and that resolved my issue
ASKER
Nope is has no effect.
Do the new machines have Microsoft Search installed? If so disable the service and reboot the box.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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check taskmgr and see how much memory usage took with explorer.exe when browsing to the folder.