Windows 8.1 "This PC" is empty

6

When I bring up "This PC" in Windows Explorer every once in a while it shows "This folder is empty" and displays a logarithmic progress bar (i.e. the one that never actually ends like when searching for files). Does anyone else experience this? Could it be a problem with my RAID controller?

When I restart everything is fine, for a while. What really scares me is that no one else seems to have reported this problem. I've searched every combination of "This PC" and "This Folder is Empty" I could think and I haven't seen anything which is why I'm asking here.

Jordan

Posted 2013-11-20T14:32:05.347

Reputation: 171

It happens to me exactly as you described in folders copied from an external USB disk, every now and then. When I connect the USB the problem solves, and remains solved even after disconnecting the USB. It may reappear unpredictably after days. – Halberdier – 2014-08-30T09:07:37.197

Turns out that the problem was the Windows Search service. It was hanging. I had to kill it a few times. The problem stopped after a Windows update. – Jordan – 2014-09-01T01:06:14.997

1If you figured it out, you may want to answer the question yourself and mark the question as solved. – Caleb Xu – 2014-09-12T03:16:46.517

2It's too difficult to answer this question in its current state. I would recommend doing a full backup of your drive, then doing a CHKDSK and testing the RAID controller too. – None – 2013-11-20T18:37:08.060

3It could be that one of your drives malfunctions. Not necessary a disk drive, could also be a card reader, dvd drive or even a network drive if you have one. What do you expect to show up precisely? – Mixxiphoid – 2013-11-20T20:36:18.693

1"This PC" is basically "My Computer" for Windows 8.1. It is the root for the whole file system. If that's not working, it worries me. – Jordan – 2013-11-20T20:40:42.913

1@Jordan "My Computer" or "This PC" is NOT the root of whole file system. It just shows your drives and some of your devices. If just one of them is not responding (or it takes longer), the progress bar will be shown. Also explorer (not IE) addons can cause it, try disabling them first (if you have). – Jet – 2014-05-26T15:32:15.297

Answers

1

Turns out that the problem was the Windows Search service. It was hanging. I had to kill it a few times. The problem stopped after a Windows update.

As posted as a comment by the author.

Sathyajith Bhat

Posted 2013-11-20T14:32:05.347

Reputation: 58 436