Opening files from the file server takes minutes
Often the server itself is fine and the issue is network routing or stalling DNS resolution.
Try this first
- 1Test whether it differs per user, per office location, per file type. A 50 MB Excel is not the same as a 1 MB PDF.
- 2In Explorer, type \\server-name instead of a mapped drive. Faster directly? Drive mapping (DNS cache) is the culprit.
- 3On the file server, check CPU/RAM/Disk-IO at idle. If any of the three sits at 100%, that is your answer.
- 4Is someone running a heavy backup or antivirus scan during office hours? Move that schedule to night.
When to bring us in
Persistent slowness while all metrics look normal? We run traceroutes and analysis, on average an hour to diagnosis.
See also
- My laptop is suddenly slowThree main suspects: a runaway background process, near-full disk, or a Windows update in progress.
- One specific application is slow for everyoneIf an app is slow for one person: local. For everyone at once: server side or vendor side.
- My laptop runs hot and the fan blows constantlyHardware is shouting: something is working far too hard, or cooling cannot do its job.
None of the above fits?
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