How do I make explorer.exe load my desktop quicker past login screen?

I've finally managed to improve the performance of my laptop using multiple solutions as described in the threads I've made on this forum. The line is only going to keep going up.



However I have a minor performance problem. After I enter my password using the login screen, explorer.exe takes a long time to load. It takes a couple of seconds for my icons to appear on my desktop. All I see is the taskbar and the desktop wallpaper but with no icons on it. Eventually the icons begin to load. Once that's done, it takes a couple of seconds for all the pinned program icons and system tray icons to appear on the taskbar.

Is there a way to speed this up? What could be slowing it down?

Pressing the windows key to open the start menu doesn't work as it just causes the screen to go black then explorer.exe crashes to reopen again.

I'm using Windows 10 21H1

Much depends on what startups you have. Disk and CPU can be intensively used at this time.

Try temporarily killing startups and see what difference that makes and whether any make a particular difference. (Task manager, Autoruns- free from MS - use cautiously).

Pressing the windows key to open the start menu doesn't work as it just causes the screen to go black then explorer.exe crashes to reopen again.

Create a new user for test purposes. Log in as that user. Do you see the same problem?

When did this start?
(Most posters omit history).

There are tutorials which may help e.g. troubleshooter for start menu.
Reset Start Layout in Windows 10
Start Menu Troubleshooter in Windows 10
Re-register Start Menu in Windows 10

desbest said:

...I have a minor performance problem. After I enter my password using the login screen, explorer.exe takes a long time to load...
Is there a way to speed this up? What could be slowing it down.

The desktop will be slow to load until everything you have set to start up at sign in has loaded. Open Task Manager and see how many things are on its Startup tab. Try disabling anything that is not strictly necessary.

I've seen similar at various times and on various computers. Since explorer.exe [Windows Explorer in earlier versions then renamed to File Explorer] is pretty much the core of Windows there's a lot tied into it and having programs loading at startup does impact the speed, anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. The thing needed doing is to decide what needs loading first plus deleting/uninstalling those that of low priority. Several programs installed now seem to want Edge closed before they can be finished, in the interest of gaining somewhat small improvement of speed that's one I'd keep from auto-loading.

I got a new Notebook 2 weeks ago that is quite speedy with Windows 11, Intel Core i5 with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

I ran the start menu troubleshooter and it said there was some errors that couldn't be fixed.








Using the instructions below in sequential order in Powershell doesn't work

Code:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} 

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

[source 1] [source 2]


But I do have permission to access and modify that specific registry key

Thank you for your reply.

I don't know how you ran those commands, which I assume are the same as from the tutorial I posted for you above (you refer to other sources).

I also suggested other tutorials. Have you tried those?

Here's the tutorial again:
Re-register Start Menu in Windows 10


Note the option that requires the command to be run from elevated Powershell: