Fix “Initializing the root folders to display” Message
When opening files from Word, Excel, etc. you are presented with and have to wait for a dialog that says “Initializing the Root Folders to Display.” After it finishes, browsing through items becomes painfully slow.
There is a problem with one of your mapped network drives. At least one of them is either disconnected or awaiting credentials. If you reconnect or disconnect it altogether, this problem will go away.
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That fixed it! Easy as pie when you know how!
Many thanks.
Cheers.
When I googled “office 2007 initializing the root folders to display”, this was the first hit!! Woohoo, great info, solved our issue. Thanks tons.
Karen
Great info fixed the problem : thanks
This is sad because I still like to have my drives mapped even though they are in disconnected state (10 of them).
Usually we work at multiple locations and remapping the drives each time you enter a different network is not productive.
Man - you just saved me a lot of grief! This problem was driving us crazy!! thank you.
I am running Windows XP. Where do I go to disconnect the network drives?
Please Help
This was very helpful. It fixed my problem.
Why can’t someone tell microsoft this is crap! If the mapped drive isn’t available then don’t look there. using a laptop or mobile device then your drives will not always be mapped. Why have to unmap and remap each time, whats the point of being mobile
too many indian working at microsoft
I agree that this is poor programming on Microsoft’s part. With a laptop in multiple locations, I don’t want to disconnect drives. Why can’t they use the standard “Save AS” window that other programs use?
This has driven me crazy!!!! and such a simple solution. Thank you
It’s really amazing that MS ships a much-hyped product like Office 2007 with this defunct behavior. As many have already said, with laptops you don’t want to connect/disconnect drives manually.
I guess the real problem is that no-one at MS really uses Office, they just develop… otherwise this problem would have been noted and fixed long ago…
// OppfinnarJocke
I tried this but it was not the fix for my issue. We have a Novell network, and all drives are connected. Every time Office still initializes the root folders. Any other suggestions?
Good old Microsoft. I think thart one of their design principles is, “if it works, break it”.
Thanks for the tip. The nuisance is now explained.
This is the first hit from google. It helps me a lot. It works great. Thank you very much
I too have a user with this issue on a Novell network. None of the network drives are disconnected (nor do they show as being disconnected). He gets the initializing root folder dialogue and then when he clicks on the folder once they’re displayed Word just hangs. He is able to browse to the same folder using My Computer or by right clicking on start and picking Explorer.
Any ideas for us Novell users with this issue?
Wow, I put up with this issue for over a year. I can’t believe it was that easy to fix. Thank you!!!
thanks a lot too! it’s one less headache…
Deleting mapped drives is not practical when the portable computer moves from network to network. There needs to be a better option / control of this feature in Office 07. We have sales people who have to connect to different networks. This feature means that they have to keep a list of drives to map to for each location, and delete / remap when they want file access. This is completely unacceptable. These are sales people, not computer people, and making them do this sort of work is going backwards, in terms of computing servicability. This can’t be an uncommon situation for professionals. Modbility and transparancy are key to business productivity. There has to be a better answer.
Sean, I feel your pain.
Are you in charge of these networks? I’m going to assume your environment includes Windows somewhere along the authentication path. Maybe you could automate drive mapping for each specific network with a set of login scripts?
Thanks Ben. Problem is complex, with 3rd parties, separate head office network, and peer to peer mappings. Scripts will work, but also looking for way to quickly kill the process or disable on demand. I will post any useful discoveries.
I agree that this is a total pain and would hope that MS provide a proper fix, upgrade to Vista… :-(
I guess a work around for those users on the move between sites is to create seperate desktop batch files (per site), which map network drives using the faithful NET USE G: \\servername\sharename command. At the end of a seesion the user could then run the NET USE G: \\servername\sharename /DELETE to disconnect the drives and eliminate this particular issue? Just a thought.
One thing I don’t see noted here is that MS Office products are the only ones with this issue. It’s a pain to try to remember to connect and disconnect drives every day. I can’t imagine it would be that difficult to check if a drive is attached before spending minutes searching for it.
Thank you very much. Useful info indeed!
So is there a fix for this very annoying problem? Is there a way to get rid of the “value added feature”? I don’t want to map and un-map drive as I move around and/or VPN on my laptop.
I think the feeling I’m getting is that, no, there is no fix, just workarounds which are not feasable for many users. This is a total cock-up on MS part. An infuriating, stupid, dumb, childish bug.
Just sharing with your, hope it help. For those having slow file searching or open, try to turn off the “automatically search for network folder and printers” in folder options.
Go to Control panel then select folder option, click on view tab then uncheck the “automatically search for network folder and printers”.
Very Good Solution.Saved me lot of time.It was driving me crazy
Good workaround. No solution. It is clear that too many people are willing to accept just a workaround.
Look, when you click on your “My Computer” icon, any unmapped drives show up as “Unmapped Drive.” Therefore, going in to any polling for drives that triggers the ‘Initializing Root Folders’ routine, Office knows (or can know) that the drives are disconnected. It is a simple matter for Microsoft to check that value before setting of looking for unconnected drives.
Come on, Microsoft. This is not rocket science. (Okay, maybe it is rocket science, but it is nevertheless basic stuff for a programmer.)
And that the problem existed (at least) in Office2003 and not fixed by 2007, with as many postings on boards as there are about this problem, is simply arrogant.
may be a suggestion for anyone? My history. May be that I am the only one so tired to wait “Initializing the root folders…” so I uninstalled office 2007 and reinstalled office 2003!!!
the problem remains… sigh.. sigh.. I continue waiting when I open folders in Word, in Excel…but NOT (!!!) when I open in Notepad. naturally I don’t know why. but this means that there is a dll (or something other)changed by office 2007, that remains in windows even disinstalling office. the new installation of office 2003 doesn’t put the old dll. you can believe that it is a BASIC driver to find folders, but I think that it isn’t, because notepad and paint use another driver and this one works well, unchanged. I hope that if someone can find the .DLL (or something other) that office 2007 puts in windows, may be that re-moving this one and reinstalling the old one, the painfully problem of “Initializing the root folders…” will be solved. whitout connecting and disconnecting drives every hour… Is there anyone able to find it? Thanks
ROCK!
I had a user with this problem…got rid of the bad drive, cleared it right up.
Thanks a ton!
Yeah great, then when I go back to the place where I have my 15 mapped drives I have to re-connect them all.
Just great, yeah… really f*%cking :-(
that was great it fixed it
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Oh my, you don't know how much this problem had bugged me. I only wish I had googled it sooner. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
Oh my, you don't know how much this problem had bugged me. I only wish I had googled it sooner. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
That worked…It was awesume.. thanks
Thanks so much for this! I though it was related to my fussy RAID array and am glad to know it isn't. I am relieved to know that this is the reason and it was so easy to fix. THANKS!
I owe you a beer.
How do I know which mapped drive is causing the problems? Or do i need to discconect all of them? If so, then what is the point of having maps to start with? Thanks.
Thanks - this helped!!
Thank you very much it worked with me when I disconnect the network drives.
When disconnecting mapped drives doesn’t work:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821690
Old HP drivers…I just removed the printers.
Thnx for your great help.
Peter
Thanx for the solution / workaround!
Irritating that anno 2009 you still have to solve basic problems this way…
THX for the solution! quick fix.
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Good stuff, many thanks for the advice and restoration of my sanity.
Can someone tell me how to disconnect a network drive? I seem to have a mapping for an F drive (DVD) that doesn’t exist. How do I get rid of this?
This error is driving me crazy.
Open regedit and find:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2
Delete the ##server#share key near the top and reboot. That should do it in most cases.
i deleted indexing software from my computer and it made all the difference. Google desktop search and Windows desktop search 4.0 are the programs i have gotten rid of to fix the problem.
Thanks lots. this bug really frustrated me. the few seconds it wastes, is my time lost
Top beans, that sorted it.
Thanks Ben!
pls help me how to fix this problem, Initilizing the root folder to display problem how to fix in win xp, when try to save as any excel or word file to local drives this problem will occur,
Thank you It worked
this was my first hit, too. I work for a large corporation and was just working around the problem for the past 6 mos–this tip will save me a LOT of TIME!
you totally nailed it! I was stumped and was inconvienenced but now its fixed with your solution!
Open Office does not have this problem
Thanks!