techradar Windows 11 memory leak problem causes File Explorer to eat RAM

[ENTERPRISE]

Quote

Windows 11 just launched for PCs and laptops which, according to Microsoft, is "a new era for the PC." However, there's trouble in this self stylized paradise as the OS is suffering from extensive memory leak issues caused by Windows File Explorer.

Source

[Andrew]

Is this really a Windows 11 issue though? I've had this exact issue with 7 and 10 as well. Probably 8/8.1 too but that should be a forgotten part of Microsofts OS releases.

[Sir Beregond]

Hasn't Windows always been a big memory leak? 

[tictoc]

Is this even a bug?  explorer.exe is heavily integrated into everything, and from a non-Windows user, this just looks like typical OS caching.  If things are never evicted from memory it would be a problem, but unused memory is just wasted memory.  

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, tictoc said:

Is this even a bug?  explorer.exe is heavily integrated into everything, and from a non-Windows user, this just looks like typical OS caching.  If things are never evicted from memory it would be a problem, but unused memory is just wasted memory.  

I'd say it is a bug. I left file explorer open over night and it ended up using all 16GB of my RAM. My computer was sluggish until I restarted it.

[tictoc]

6 minutes ago, Andrew said:

I'd say it is a bug. I left file explorer open over night and it ended up using all 16GB of my RAM. My computer was sluggish until I restarted it.

That's definitely a bug, and a true memory leak. How did a bug like that ever make it through QC and into the release version? Bugs happen, but this seems like a pretty obvious one. I'll have to fire up my Win 11 VM, and see if it's the same for one of the earlier betas.

[Andrew]

23 minutes ago, tictoc said:

That's definitely a bug, and a true memory leak. How did a bug like that ever make it through QC and into the release version? Bugs happen, but this seems like a pretty obvious one. I'll have to fire up my Win 11 VM, and see if it's the same for one of the earlier betas.

Oh, I forgot to mention lol that was with Windows 10. I haven't tried this with Windows 11, plus I have double the RAM now. I'll leave file explorer open over night tonight to see if the same thing happens.

[mouacyk]

Nice, even M$ forgets to free some allocated pointers.

[Andrew]

13 hours ago, Andrew said:

Oh, I forgot to mention lol that was with Windows 10. I haven't tried this with Windows 11, plus I have double the RAM now. I'll leave file explorer open over night tonight to see if the same thing happens.

Update: Left file explorer open over night, RAM usage was 9.5/32GB, this morning it's at 9.7/32GB.

 

I really don't see that as an issue.

[ENTERPRISE]

6 hours ago, Andrew said:

Update: Left file explorer open over night, RAM usage was 9.5/32GB, this morning it's at 9.7/32GB.

 

I really don't see that as an issue.

For you, no. However from what I have read it seems situational, some have it and some do. I need to check if I am a victim lol.

[mouacyk]

1 hour ago, ENTERPRISE said:

For you, no. However from what I have read it seems situational, some have it and some do. I need to check if I am a victim lol.

Perhaps the leaks are per instance, so each additional instance multiplies the effect?

[tictoc]

6 minutes ago, mouacyk said:

Perhaps the leaks are per instance, so each additional instance multiplies the effect?

 

The reports I read seem to support this idea. Memory usage goes up with every window that is opened, but then when the windows are closed, Windows fails to reclaim all the memory.

[Andrew]

I just tried that out, it started off with 7.9GB usage. It got up to 8.7GB and 58 windows open until I couldn't be bothered to open any more. RAM usage dropped to 8.5GB. Except in workspace environments, I don't see it as a problem and no one in a workspace environment is going to be on Windows 11 yet. Most of them are still on Windows 7.