Microsoft Windows Vista - Slow Copying From Server On A Network - Fix
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For those of you who are using Microsoft Windows Vista on a network, you may have noticed a slow down or a non-response message when copying a file. Microsoft has issued a fix for ALL versions of Vista that should correct the problem.
Microsoft describes the problem as:
“On a Windows Vista-based computer, when you try to copy files from a server on a network, the copy process may stop responding (hang), and you may receive a message that resembles the following:
“Calculating Time Remaining
0 minutes remaining”
And their description of the hotfix as follows:
“A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows Vista service pack that contains this hotfix.”
Please note what Microsoft states. If you are not experiencing this problem, do not apply the fix. As with any fix, there is always the possibility that something else could be affected.

22 Comments
Al Senter
April 19th, 2007
at 9:25pm
Windows VISTA!! Forget it till the first SP is released. And by the way the Fix?? for the slow network copy. It doesn’t work. We tried it on three different units. Worked on one of the three (UNTIL WE REBOOTED) you know the must do with windows. After that NOT. Same problem again. Were going back to XP until Dear ole Microsoft can get there act togather. They release Vista about a year to soon. BUG CHECK MICROSOFT, you know that thing you do really well?? I give up. I think I’ll just convert to Linux.
Ron Schenone
April 20th, 2007
at 4:45am
Hello Al,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. If you are serious about giving Linux a try, my I suggest trying Ubuntu or Kubuntu. They just released their final of version 7.04 yesterday.
All the best, Ron
Ron Lockhart
April 25th, 2007
at 11:27am
The hotfix is worthless. I tried it on two machines and it didn’t work, both times rebooting after installation.
It is inconceiveable to me that MS released Vista with a bug that they had to have known about during their extensive beta. I’m also really annoyed that after wasting a huge amount of time trying to unravel the problem, MS is not making the fix public. Instead, I’m being asked to waste even MORE time by e-mailing or phoning them to see if I “qualify” for a hotfix that doesn’t even work.
I’m back to running XP under Tiger (OS X) while I anxiously await Leopard. At least Apple had the good sense to publically acknowledge that Leopard wasn’t ready for the public yet and delayed its release until the fall.
Ron Schenone
April 25th, 2007
at 11:56am
Hi Ron,
Thanks for your comments and observations. Sorry to hear that the fix doesn’t work for you. I know how annoying things like this can be.
All the best on your Apple box and I hope you enjoy using Leopard. It should be a great OS once completed.
Ron
Vista User
May 8th, 2007
at 5:46am
It’s just unbelievable that such a basic task as copying files is left unsolved by M$. Lose it, drop it. And ASK for a hotfix? OMFG! I’m glad i have a patched OEM-version of Vista, instead of putting my money in a hopeless OS that wasn’t even finished. I’m wondering what the world would do if Honda or Toyota did the same to their cars: Well the breaks are not repsonding very well, but you can call us to pleed for some new breaker gear……
Ron Schenone
May 8th, 2007
at 2:46pm
Hi Vista User.
Thanks for the comment.
Ron
Nico de Jong
May 10th, 2007
at 1:53pm
I solved it by Disableing the service:
IP Helper
and
Computer Browser.
Reboot, and worked superb!
Blizz
August 3rd, 2007
at 2:58am
I have a slightly different problem (on top of the slowness). If I access a bunch of files over the network _from_ the vista PC (so not to it), after a while the srv.sys (System) process goes to 100% CPU and doesn’t come back down again. After a while the entire network on the PC goes down. Only solved by a reboot.
The problem is not the antivirus (if thrown it off), there are practically no other programs installed (besides apache and php) and it’s a brand new vista business.
This is preventing me from backing up the machine (which i do from a central server over the network) and using it as storage for my sourcecode (it’s my laptop so I can take all my files with me when I go to customers).
Ron Schenone
August 3rd, 2007
at 3:51am
Hi Blizz,
Hopefully MS will release a bunch of fixes for Vista that just may correct this problem as well as others.:-)
Ron
Clyde Tilley
August 8th, 2007
at 12:59pm
This fix only addresses network transmission. However, my problem from day 1 (11/30/06) hace been local file copy/delete/move. Excruiatingly slow. Well, I discovered this fix on a board & now Vista performs these actions blazingly fast:
Open Programs & Features, select Turn Windows Features On or Off, deselect Remote Differential Compression. It will take several minutes for the system to deactivate. Reboot to make sure & try it.
Works like a charm!
Clyde Tilley
August 8th, 2007
at 1:30pm
I found this solution to SLOW file copy/delete/move:
Open Programs & Features
Select Turn Windows Features On or Off
De-select Remote Differential Compression
Select OK
It will take several minutes for this to be de-activated.
Reboot to be sure it takes.
Now these operations fly!
Ron Schenone
August 8th, 2007
at 2:06pm
Hello Clyde,
Thanks for the information. It is appreciated.
Ron
Quiffster
August 23rd, 2007
at 1:02pm
Absurd - Performance degrades over time. IThe speed indication on my copy operations is as low as 500K/s - on a 1gig switched connection between my Vista 32bit Business PC and my NAS box (7200rpm Raid 1 - 1TB).
Use teh command line - XCOPY or ROBOCOPY for shifting big files or lots of files…. ZZoooooommmmmm……
HTH someone.
Q.
Ron Schenone
August 23rd, 2007
at 1:10pm
Hello Quiffster,
Thanks for the information and help advice.
Ron
Carsten
October 1st, 2007
at 1:37am
None of the tips worked for me but the problem went away, when i deactivated the virtual network adapters of VMware Server on my installation.
27MB / sec of my laptop drive!
Ron Schenone
October 1st, 2007
at 4:45am
Hi Carsten,
Thanks for your comments.
Ron
paul klerkx
November 11th, 2007
at 10:05pm
Hi,
I had the issue with not being able to copy files across a network.
After trying every fix I could find on the net ( and there are heaps of ideas out there), and trying the patch from Microsoft KB931770, a colleague sent me a link to the following site -
http://securevista.net/
They have a patch that fixed the issue for me.
It is called “Vista TCP/IP and UAC AutoPatch 6.0 *update* ” ( at the bottom of the home page when I went there.)
After running the patch and a reboot, I am now able to copy files at full speed.
I don’t know why the patch works, but after 2 weeks of trying to get the issue fixed, I don’t care why it works, just that it does
Paul Klerkx
( the microsoft patch may have factored in, in some way as after running the KB patch, explorer stopped crashing when I tried to copy. - still wouldn’t allow a copy though)
Ron Schenone
November 12th, 2007
at 3:48am
Hello paul klerkx,
Thanks for the comments and the link.
SP1 also addresses this issue as well.
Paul Witmond
November 21st, 2007
at 7:00am
Hi,
Can anybody show me the link to this patch ?
The link on securevista is down
Tnx,
Paul
Jim
December 18th, 2007
at 8:24pm
I had tried everything I could find on this problem, including loading SP1 beta this weekend. Nothing fixed the issue until today when I bought and installed a separate gb NIC. Now my file copies are going great.
Ron Schenone
December 19th, 2007
at 5:21am
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the info.
kenric regan
April 11th, 2008
at 4:35pm
easiest way to fix this probelm is to turn off the “autotuninglevel” to do this run an elevated CMD type in this command
“netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled” then reboot your machine…this should cure what ails you.