Fix “Initializing the root folders to display” Message
October 30th, 2007 
Comments(107)
Comments(107)
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.
First blue moon on NYE in almost 20 years: 
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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
Visit http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups...
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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write me here preonrelt@mail.ru
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!
but i do want to disconnect a map network drive is there any other option
Most of you are simply repeating one another “i dont want to delete a disconnected mapping”. Change your thought stream and find a tool or write a simple batch script that automatically maps drives when you start your OS or click an icon.
Perfect! Finally fixed this very annoying problem. Thanks!
This solved my problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833041
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Great that people like you still exist.
Yet another workaround would be to not assign any network drives at startup.
Write a batch files(s) with desktop ICONs that connect you to the required network drives – simple and do-able.
Desktop ICON say Network Connnect
The batch file has the required connections:
net use J:\\servername\sharename
etc
Great help; got my issue fixed one of my mapped network drive was disconnected
TerryF, no that does not work, sorry.
It fixed my problem
Thanks. It fixed my problem and saved my time
Thanks: After 30 years of software development could not believe that a simple disconnected network would be the issue.
I had a USB wireless modem link set up that I unplugged due to port shortage.
“Another day, another Windows patch and as always a even slower Windows. Bring back DOS 1.1.”
Wow! It’s that simple. Thanks.
THANKS!!!!!
My workaround (I agree with the comment that said ‘too many Indians’)
If I am looking for a place inside the local computer, I UNPLUG THE NETWORK CABLE, but if the drive is in another computer, or you use wireless, no luck.
Microsoft WILL NOT fix this problem because there are people outside like here who find workarounds to keep M$ expenditure down.
Stud! Thanks for the tip.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This has been driving me crazy especially when downloading MS Outlook attachments.
Works for me
Thanku my dear friend
Wow very simple solution that fixed very annoying problem. Many Thanks!
My Novell mapped drives are all connected but it still shows the same problem. Can someone help?
I can honestly say I’ve got no idea why this is happening w/ a Novell share. And unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to replicate this setup in a lab environment.
Are you really running a Novell server or is it SUSE Linux?
thank you so much its simple thing but hard to find, thax again
For Novell Users try this as it worked for me:
Net use * /delete to kill all mappped drives then logout and login and let the login script re-map them.
Perfect! Simple solution to an issue that was driving me crazy. Thanks!!
Woo Hoo!! easy fix when you know whats wrong. Thanks for the help!
Disappointing, I just finnly got Remote Desktop to work with my office {C and the re-mapping drives will now be required every time I want do it…and it was supposed to be easier.
wow…..
its cool
thnx a lot
That’s great… worked like a charm. Thanks a lot
And this is one more reason why so many people are going Mac’s. This fixed the issue, but it is very unproductive not that I have to remap my drives when I need them.
Thanks, found you by google on top. It was the issue!!
Of course MS would not bother to fix the problem; they are in the business of creating problems.
But even worse, once I finally get to a mapped folder and double-click to go to a subfolder, it takes yet another 30 sec, and each time I go to a deeper folder, I have to wait 30 sec more. What is this? Are these people complete idiots?
why then does all the rest of my programs find what I am looking for without any hesitation.
Thanks, Awesome
Thank you. The Microsoft website had *nothing* on this extremely annoying problem. From the numerous kudo messages, it is obviously a big issue. You have save me much frustration.
This has been driving me mad for a long time. Your fix worked! Thanks!
Please change the title from FIX “Initializing the Root Folders to Display” to WORKAROUND Initializing the Root Folder to Display”.
workaround [ˈwɜːkəˌraʊnd]
n
(Electronics & Computer Science / Computer Science) a method of circumventing or overcoming a problem in a computer program or system
A TRUE fix would fix the issue so that a user would not have to “disconnect” their mapped network drives each time!
Recently I installed the backup software Acronis, true image home 2009. Ever since I get this problem as well ‘initializing …’. when I start the computer it takes now such a long time when I can start working. How to solve this problem…… the disconnect network drive does not work…..
Thank you for the advice – it worked a treat. I have been frustrated with this for so long…..now all sorted – THANKS!
Instead of clicking on the drop down list, click on one of the options in the column on the left side, such as My Documents or My Computer. This has always worked for us.
excellent… you just made my day buddy… thank you so much
Everyone seems to be happy but I still don’t know what to do to solve the problem
Thank you Ben for a nice, clear solution. Great!
On Jan 20th 2010, Carita posted what seems to be a better workaround!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Way to go girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She said: “Instead of clicking on the drop down list, click on one of the options in the column on the left side, such as My Documents or My Computer.” From this you can then click thru to a functioning mapped drive, or to whatever local folder you desire. EXCELLENT solution, now I just have to retrain myself for the way I normally do things…
Wow…how horribly dysfunctional. Leave it to Microsoft to create a problem that no other piece of software has by being overwritten and wanting to behave like it owns the environment. Another step towards Open Office.
thanks man disconnecting the map drive helped get rid of the error.
People say this more eloquently earlier in this thread, but it can’t be stressed enough – Microsoft will keep impressing you with their ability to be worst in class on all fronts until the revolution comes and the company is erased from existance.