Solved Slow population of devices/printers window -- also Network

Bertilak

New Member
Messages
5
When I go to
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Devices and Printers​
it can take 5 minutes or more to populate the window. A green bar slowly progressing along the top.

Sometimes (not always) when I click on the Network icon it shows an empty window, taking five or more minutes, also with a green bar slowly progressing along the top. EDIT: After I submitted this post I saw that the network window had finally populated. Still, it was incredibly slow and happened after the window showed a message saying "This folder is empty."

If I go to This PC that comes up almost instantly, including the mapped network drives.

At first thought it might be a name server problem with the router but that checks out OK.

Any hints appreciated!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Here is what I think is going on ...

Windows remembers what devices it has seen previously and tries to contact them in order to populate the devices window. If you have a device that is turned off it takes Windows a while to time out its contact attempt.

I observed this with my bluetooth capable phone. I keep its bluetooth disabled to save the battery. If I happen to have that enabled the devices window comes up noticeably faster. I also have other devices throughout my house, mostly media streamers or clients, that are often powered off. I think the same thing is happening with them.

I have not done a lot of experimenting with this (by powering everything up) so this is still a hypothesis, but one with a little bit of evidence (my phone).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
One bad NIC or poor driver can cause this issue and I've seen it many, many times. My server had a NIC that was going bad and the response time to discover the network attached devices took 5-10 minutes. Once I replaced the card, the discovery was instantaneous... Good luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
I have a wireless printer set as default and when it is turned off I get this behavior also. I assume Windows is trying to communicate with it and takes awhile before it finally gives up.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Just verified this. If I leave my wireless printer as default and turned off, it populates very slowly. Change default to a virtual printer and populates very fast. Switch back to physical wireless printer that is off and populates VERY slowly.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Earlier I said that the devices window populates a bit faster (although still slowly) if I make sure my phone has its bluetooth enabled. Well, if I remove the phone as a device from Windows then the devices window only takes a few seconds (instead of minutes) to populate.

AND, once the window has populated itself if I close it and reopen it a few minutes later it comes up fully populated instantly. No delay at all.

That pretty much nails it down to the phone, or to Windows' ability to communicate with it. Either way, I will not put it back as a device unless I need it. I have, in the past, used bluetooth to xfer files between the phone and the laptop but there are other ways to do that.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Well, at least we all figured it out together. :)
Thanks for the update and please mark the post solved as that helps flag it for others who may have the issue. Good thread!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Back
Top