How to fix Downloads Folder Not Responding

Why is my Downloads folder not responding?

By default, all downloaded files are saved in the Downloads folder. Several customers have noticed that the download folder in Windows 10 is not responding. It's typically a hint that there are some problems with File Explorer. And you must resolve this issue fast since you may lose access to all of your files and folders.

Worse, this problem might be caused by file corruption or just a lack of memory as a result of many programs being open at the same time.

Some users might not be clear about “where is my downloads folder”. Normally, this folder is in “This PC” and you can directly access it in the main window. If you find that you can’ open the Downloads folder, the possible reasons might be:

 Windows File Explorer errors

Misconfigured application settings

Viruses or malware

Corrupt system files

In addition, too much-accumulated content can also trigger abnormal processing leading to Downloads folder not responding error. In this situation, File Explorer slows on unresponsive.

5 ways to fix Downloads folder not responding in Windows 10/11

No matter what causes your Windows 10 Download folder not to respond, the key is how to solve this issue, and if this error causes data loss in your folder, how can you recover them? Therefore, in this part, we’ll teach you some methods to fix the Downloads folder not responding.

Way 1. Restart the File Explorer task

The problem is most likely not with the Downloads folder, but with the File Explorer itself. If the folder no longer responds, the File Explorer may also freeze. As a result, you'd have to restart Windows Explorer using Task Management.

Step 1. Right-click on the Taskbar, and select Task Manager.

Step 2. Locate the Windows Explorer process, right-click on it

Step 3. Click on Restart.

Way 2. Run DISM and SFC scans

You can run DISM and SFC scans to repair corrupted file systems on C drive because the command utilities can repair any corrupted file systems.

Step 1. Click the Start button, type cmd, and select Run as administrator from the results.

Step 2. Input DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth command and press Enter to run it.

Step 3. After the scan finishes, paste the sfc /scannow command in Command Prompt and press Enter.

Step 4. Restart Windows after the scan.

Way 3. Perform CHKDSK Utility

If the Windows 10 download folder not responding problem is not caused by damaged file systems, it is most likely caused by bad sectors on your machine. The next program you should use is CHKDSK to scan for and repair any corrupted sectors on Windows.

Step 1. Press Wins + S together to open the Search menu.

Step 2. Type CMD and run Command Prompt as administrator.

Step 3. Type in the command: chkdsk G: /f /r /x, replace G: with the drive letter of your hard drive or disk where the Downloads folder is located, and press Enter to start the process.

Way 4. Change Properties Settings

Step 1. Right-click on the Downloads folder and choose Properties.

Step 2. Go to the Customize section and choose Documents from the Optimized folder for the menu.

Step 3. Tick the Also apply this template to all subfolders option and press Apply.

Way 5. Disable automatic folder type discovery

You can also use Registry Editor to modify some settings to fix Downloads folder not responding, but it is a bit complex for new users, and it may necessitate your complete attention because altering the Registry incorrectly might result in major problems.

Step 1. Press the Windows key + R to start a Run window, type regedit, and hit Enter or click OK.

Step 2. Navigate to the following Registry path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell

Step 3. Delete the subkeys Bags and BagsMRU subkeys under Shell.

Step 4. Right-click on Shell and select New, then Key to recreate the Bags subkey.

Step 5. Right-click the newly created Bags and select New and Key to create a new AllFolders subkey. And under AllFolders, create a new key and name it Shell.

Step 6. If you’ve followed the steps correctly, you should have the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell

Step 7. Right-click on the right pane, select New and String Value, and name it FolderType.

Step 8. Double-click FolderType and set its value to NotSpecified, then click OK.

Lastly, restart your PC for the changes to take effect and see if the Downloads folder is working now.

Recover the lost files from the downloads folder

The above 5 methods are for you to fix the downloads folder not responding. However, if you find that some files are missing after you fix this error, don’t worry, you can use the data retrieval tool to restore those lost files.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional has a “Recover Data” function to help you. This disk and partition management tool can do many things such as disk clone, move apps, and MBR/GPT data-safe conversion. The “Recover Data” function can restore more than 200+ types of files like lost Word, Excel, audio, etc from NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, and ReFS file systems. No matter HDD, USB, SD cards, and other storage devices, users can see all lost files in a clear window after scanning.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, and click Recover > Recover Data.

Step 2. Select the target drive where the file you want to recover is saved and click Start Scan.

Step 3. When the scan is over, all deleted files, Recycle Bin, and other lost files will be listed. Please select the data you want to recover and click Recover.

Step 4. Select a path to save the recovered file.

Step 5. The recovery progress will start and the file will be saved to the target path if it worked.

To sum up

Is the Downloads folder in Windows 10 not responding? don't worry, this post provides four viable options for you. Hope the 5 ways we list in this post can help you solve the issue. And if there are any other problems on your disk, you can also try more useful features of AOMEI Partition Assistant. In addition, if the Downloads folder won't open happens on your Windows Server PC, and you find some files lost, you can choose the Server Edition of this software to recover those files.