Windows 10 Windows Explorer slowed down by floppy disk controller causing delays

[c627627]

When I manually type in the location of any folder in my Windows 10 explorer address bar, there was a delay before the contents were displayed.

The solution was to disable the floppy disk controller in Device Manager.

This problem also affected WinRAR, causing it it to start with a delay, but interestingly no other programs on my system, this problem only affected Windows 10 and no other OS on my system.


SOLUTION:

Right click on Windows 10 Start Menu > Control Panel > View by: Large or Small Icons > Device Manager > Floppy drive controllers >
Right click on standard floppy disk controller > Disable > Yes.

Solution is immediately evident without a reboot.

 

[EarthDog]

1. W10 address bar? You mean for IE/Edge or whatever? Or the search bar thing at the bottom? EDIT: The address bar in Explorer... gotcha.
2. How much time does this actually save?

 

[c627627]

A few seconds. I intentionally left out the word explorer to avoid confusing folder browsing with web browsing. I edited the post to include the term windows explorer.

I came to this conclusion after talking to Eugene Roshal of WinRAR.


No other OS on my multi boot is affected, only Windows 10 and this very well may be unique to my system, but since web search did not help me, hopefully this thread will help someone else one day...


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[EarthDog]

A good morsel of information for those that manually type paths and want to save a couple of seconds.

Thanks!


EDIT: I am wondering if this holds true with modern hardware that really doesn't have a floppy option..... or if you disable the floppy option in your BIOS, would it accomplish the same thing?

 

[c627627]

It affects WinRAR and by extension possibly other programs that I don't have installed.

When you say for those "that manually type paths" - I think you are referring to this as some sort of an unusual behavior. Manually type or copy/paste is the same thing in this context.


While you can easily browse to C:\ and then to TestFolder
it would not be smart to manually click down the tree of an extremely long folder location, rather that copy/pasting the location:

So either manually typing in
C:\TestFolder
you would be affected
or
if you had to get to this and pasted
C:\this\folder\location\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line
you would also be affected.

Disabling the floppy controller in any manner would accomplish the same thing.

I am running an Intel i7 950 system, lots of people have floppy controllers in their BIOS...
Yes I would imagine if you do not have a floppy controller in your BIOS you would not be affected obviously.

 

[EarthDog]

Manually type or copy/paste... I got the concept.

I drill down deep paths. Typically, I don't have the path I need listed to copy/paste or type it so I have to drill down. I wasn't inferring that practice as unusual, just that it affects those that do it that way. Hackles down C6 ...

Is there any reason why it wouldn't do it through 'drilling down' though? I mean, the HDDs spin up at that time (which if you want to save more time, don't have them spin down), as well as the Optical when you click 'my computer'...

 

[wagex]

if im just going to c:\folder il just tap the windows key and type it in instead of bringing up explorer or selecting a url bar save you another half a second or two.

 

[c627627]

All right.
I am only using this for illustrative purposes. We can't be bogged down with "why would you want to that?" or "who needs to do that?" questions but

If you had to get to

C:\this\folder\location\which\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\ with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line


Earthdog: Does drill down mean you would click on C:\ then click on this then click on folder etc. etc.?


wagex: Do your words "type it in" mean you would actually manually type in each single letter of
C:\this\folder\location\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line

 

[wagex]

All right.
I am only using this for illustrative purposes. We can't be bogged down with "why would you want to that?" or "who needs to do that?" questions but

If you had to get to

C:\this\folder\location\which\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\ with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line


Earthdog: Does drill down mean you would click on C:\ then click on this then click on folder etc. etc.?


wagex: Do your words "type it in" mean you would actually manually type in each single letter of
C:\this\folder\location\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line

if you have it copied you can just hit windows key then paste. but as you were saying if its short like just c:\folder\ you can type any of that into the search bar on the start menu and it does the same thing as typing it in explorer.
you can also use winkey+r and open it through the run command both are ways you can do it without ever having to touch the mouse or open explorer.

as for the issue ive had that issue in the past with machines in other OS's as well just trying to open a right click menu it would parse the drive to see if it was available and it was annoying. but i havent even seen an FDD in a couple years. r.i.p. in peace floppies

 

[c627627]

Thank you for that.

You are correct, this issue only affects the windows explorer address bar.
It does not affect windows key type/paste.
Thanks for pointing that out.


This of course is not about the presence of the actual floppy drive but about the motherboard floppy controller itself which more than 50% (the majority) of machines out there still have.


But if you are already inside a deep folder tree and you need to make a slight adjustment to location address, doing so in the windows explorer bar would be faster than copying the entire address
then
windows key
then
pasting the address
then
slightly modifying it


It would surely be faster to simply click on the Windows Explorer and if you want to go to a similar deep tree location whose address is different by a single digit.... you would just add that digit and there you would be...


That is the point here.


And of course regardless of windows explorer address bar - this affects WinRAR, so there was no way to resolve this other than disabling the floppy controller - the alternative (for me) was to wait several seconds for WinRAR to open.

 

[EarthDog]

All right.
I am only using this for illustrative purposes. We can't be bogged down with "why would you want to that?" or "who needs to do that?" questions but

If you had to get to

C:\this\folder\location\which\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\ with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line


Earthdog: Does drill down mean you would click on C:\ then click on this then click on folder etc. etc.?


wagex: Do your words "type it in" mean you would actually manually type in each single letter of
C:\this\folder\location\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line

I am trying to figure out if it would help when you 'drill down' as opposed to copy/paste. My mind is not making the connection of why it would be different as when you click on my computer, it spins up HDDs/OPtical/and would look for the floppy.

Yes, by drill down I mean I would "click on C:\ then click on this then click on folder etc. etc.?". It is very rare I have a path that I can copy/paste in the first place. Once I am there, I keep the window open so I do not have to drill down again. Plenty of screen real estate.

I also want to make it clear I am not trying to "bog down" the thread with those questions... If I have to say that again I'm going to flip my lid...

But if you are already inside a deep folder tree and you need to make a slight adjustment to location address, doing so in the windows explorer bar would be faster than copying the entire address
then
windows key
then
pasting the address
then
slightly modifying it

I would use the back arrows to navigate upstream... or a click on my mouse (default - not a custom setup)

 

[wagex]

Thank you for that.

This of course is not about the presence of the actual floppy drive but about the motherboard floppy controller itself which more than 50% (the majority) of machines out there still have.

probably why i havent noticed it in a while its pretty automatic for me to disable the controller in the bios as it effects many other things such as extremely slow usb speeds while booting from a usb device for example, it was very prevalent in the 775 era machines.

 

[Automata]

It would be easier and more persistent to disable the floppy device in the BIOS. This way, the OS will never see it, and you don't have to remember to turn it off in the future.

 

[c627627]

Good to see you thideras. To asnwer your question: this *only* affects Windows 10. Any other OS on the same system is not affected, and BIOS would unnecessarily disable things for all operating systems where this is not a problem... That is why a single OS disabling is necessary if someone wanted to keep this setting in other OS on the same system.


wagex, I was not aware that the floppy controller affects USB transfer speeds. On my system, a simple test would put this question to rest for me.
FlashBenching my superfast USB drive on Windows 10 yielded near identical speeds with floppy controller disabled vs. enabled: 107.61 MB/s vs. 107.84 MB/s. So no difference to speak of thankfully.


EarthDog, please don't hesitate to ask for clarifications. Again, without going into "why would anyone want to do xyz task," if the task was this EarthdDog, surely you would copy/paste:


Operation requiring access for different reasons to 100 completely different locations whose address length is similar to
C:\this\folder\location\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\ with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line

Copy/pasting 100 of these would be faster then drilling down twenty levels starting from C:\ and doing so one hundred times... correct or no?



Clarification #2 regarding using the back arrows:


C:\ [and then large number of levels down] \ [*LOCATION REQUIRING ADJUSTMENT*] \ [and then large number of levels down] \

Using back arrows to get to [*LOCATION REQUIRING ADJUSTMENT*] and doing so for one hundred different deep tree directory locations
vs.
Simply clicking on the address bar of a deep tree location address and changing a single digit in the middle of that long deep tree address at point [*LOCATION REQUIRING ADJUSTMENT*]


The clicking on the address bar option would be [much] faster for one hundred operations, correct or no?

 

[wagex]

wagex, I was not aware that the floppy controller affects USB transfer speeds. On my system, a simple test would put this question to rest for me.
FlashBenching my superfast USB drive on Windows 10 yielded near identical speeds with floppy controller disabled vs. enabeld: 107.61 MB/s vs. 107.84 MB/s. So no difference to speak of thankfully.

not quite what i was talking about. when you boot from bios and try to install an os or load a live cd via usb in bios on alot of motherboards for an unknown reason it tends to cause it to be very very slow.(IN windows its fine) EG loading a windows 7 boot disk via usb normally takes about 30 seconds to get to the install screen tops.. it can cause it to take over 10 minutes let alone the install to take hours. took me quite some time to figure that out and lots of googling theres plenty of other posts online about the same issue.

http://www.tubblog.co.uk/2011/03/28/fixing-a-very-slow-windows-7-installation/

 

[Automata]

Seems like a really niche fix, but if it works for you, it works for you; can't argue there. I didn't take into consideration multiple operating systems, and I didn't know anyone still used floppy drives.

I have one, but I haven't used it in forever. Not sure I even have disks for it!

 

[EarthDog]

EarthDog, please don't hesitate to ask for clarifications. Again, without going into "why would anyone want to do xyz task," if the task was this EarthdDog, surely you would copy/paste:


Operation requiring access for different reasons to 100 completely different locations whose address length is similar to
C:\this\folder\location\is\way\too\long\to\get\to\ with\anything\other\than\copy\pasting\this\line

Copy/pasting 100 of these would be faster then drilling down twenty levels starting from C:\ and doing so one hundred times... correct or no?

For the THIRD time, I am not asking, inferring, nor alluding to WHY you are doing this !!!

If had 100 different, but similar, paths that I knew about before hand, most certainly it would be easier to copy/paste. I agree. The fact of the matter is, I only have a path or two I deal with at one point in time (as I imagine most people do). So I simply drill down to them. I don't have a path saved in notepad for example. After I am in the path, I could copy that top line though if navigating by FWD/Back isn't efficient enough.

Anyway, thanks for the fix!

 

[c627627]

There are certainly advantages to disabling the floppy disk controller in BIOS.
I was not aware about what wagex just clarified and that would be a good reason.

I do not have the floppy drive installed on my system, I took it out because it affected boot times, and made a noise with every boot.


But this thread is about both typing/pasting a folder location in windows explorer address bar and more importantly a situation that affected the operation of a Windows program, WinRAR.
Its start is somehow connected to the floppy controller on the motherboard, even if there is no physical floppy drive on the system.


If the floppy disc controller is enabled by default on an average person's system, that person *may* have this identical problem with WinRAR or a similar program starting with a delay of as much as 6 seconds and not know why... unless they do an internet search and hit this very thread. If they hit other places, they will lead them down a wrong path.

And so I posted on ocforums.

 

[Robert17]

I remember also having similar issues with the Winderz Indexing features, older systems with newer OS: it'd hit that floppy (drive installed) and the rattling would begin. The controller issue is new to me. But I only see floppies on fixer-uppers; good info C.