We regularly copy files from one drive to the other drive, or folder to folder. The estimated time to copy the files changes according to the file size, drive, and your PC capabilities. There are even some third-party software programs available to make file copying easy and optimize the process. But, still, the performance capabilities of your PC based on the configuration decide the speed. There are some users who are complaining that Windows 11/10 stops copying files or they see their file transfer gets stuck halfway. In this guide, we have a few solutions that can actually help you fix the issues you face while copying files on your Windows 11/10 PC.

When you see files stop copying, stuck halfway, or see no progress in the copying process, it might be due to many reasons. The size of the files you are copying might be large, the files might be corrupted, the drive you are copying might be corrupted, any program installed on your PC might be causing the delay interfering in the copying process, or there might be a malware attack, etc. We need to eliminate all the possible causes of the issue and copy files without any error or delay.

Windows 11/10 stops copying files

If the copying of files gets stuck halfway or stops on Windows 11/10, you can follow the below methods to fix the issue.

1. Check the file size
2. Scan the files with antivirus
3. Check the storage
4. Update drivers
5. Optimize your hard drive
6. Disable Remote Differential Compression
7. Disable Indexing of your drives
8. Format the destination drive in NTFS
9. Turn off antivirus
10. Troubleshoot in Clean Boot

Let’s get into the details of each method and fix the issue.

File Transfer gets stuck halfway in Windows 11/10

1] Check the file size

If the files you are trying to copy are large and your PC configuration is not that big, it takes some time to complete copying the files. If you are trying to copy files within the same drive, it takes less time compared to other drives. You need to give time if the file size is large. If the file size is small and yet you face copying issues, restart your PC and try again. If the issue is not yet fixed, follow the below methods.

2] Scan the files with antivirus

There are chances that your files might be affected by malware which is making the copying process hard. You need to make sure it is not the case of malware by scanning the files as well as the entire drive with a free antivirus program. If the issue is due to malware, it will be fixed and you can carry copying files. If the files are infected, antivirus quarantines or deletes them according to your choice, which makes those files inaccessible to you.

Read: Free Standalone On demand Antivirus Scanners for Windows

3] Check the storage

When you are copying files make sure the destination drives more storage space than the required space. If the drive has less storage space than the copying files, you see an error. If the drive has equal or slightly more storage than the files, you might see this issue. Delete all the unnecessary files that consume more storage and try copying files again.

4] Update drivers

You need to make sure that the drivers on your Windows PC are up to date and not corrupted or in a bad shape. They decide the performance of various components of your PC. Generally, drivers on Windows are updated to regular Windows updates. Check for any Windows updates and install them. You can also use the Optional Updates feature provided by Windows to install device driver updates. Press Win+I to open the Settings app and navigate to the Windows Update and then to Advanced options to use this feature.

Read: Where to download drivers for Windows 11/10

5] Optimize your hard drive

If there are any issues with the fragments of the file you are copying, you might see this issue. You need to run the defragmenter on both the drives and optimize them for better performance.

To optimize your hard drives,

• Click on the Start button and search for Disk Defragmenter
• You will see Defragment and Optimize Drives program. Open it
• Select the drives that are involved in the copy process and click on Optimize

6] Disable Remote Differential Compression

RDC or Remote Differential Compression syncs data with the remote source over the network. Sometimes, it might even cause the delays in copying process even on drives without a network. We need to eliminate that cause by disabling Remote Differential Compression on our Windows.

To disable Remote Differential Compression,

• Click on the Start menu and type Turn Windows features on or off. Open the result.
• Search for Remote Differential Compression API Support and uncheck the box next to it.
• Click OK to save the changes.

See if it has fixed the issues while copying files.

7] Disable Indexing of your drives

Sometimes, the indexing process of files on a drive can also cause the issue of slow copying of files or stuck halfway. Though indexing allows the PC to work better by creating data of drives in the cache, it might cause the delay in copying process. You need to disable the indexing and see if it fixes the issue.

To disable indexing on Windows,

• Press Win+R to open the Run box. Type services.msc and press Enter.
• It opens the Services window. Find Windows Search service in the list and right-click on it. Now select Stop to disable indexing.

8] Format the destination drive in NTFS

There are chances that the copying of files is slow or stuck midway might be due to the factory format of hard drives. You need to format the destination drive in NTFS format manually to fix the issue.

To format the destination drive in NTFS,

• Right-click on the drive you are copying the files to and click on Format in the context menu. Before that make sure the data on the drive is copied elsewhere.
• In the File System drop-down menu. choose NTFS and also uncheck the Quick format checkbox. Then, click Start to format the drive in NTFS format.

9] Turn off antivirus

The antivirus on our PC interferes with a lot of processes while we use our PC. It is good until it secures our PC and does not cause any harm to the performance. There are chances that your antivirus might be interfering with the copying process and delaying it. Open your antivirus program and disable it for some time and copy files again. If the antivirus is the reason for the delay, the copying process will go on normally without any delay.

10] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot

In the Clean Boot state, only the essential components of the Windows run disabling all the third-party programs. You can know which program is causing the delay in copying files and uninstalling them by performing a clean boot. For that, you need to restart your PC many times to know the program by enabling or disabling them with every restart.

These are the different ways you can fix when there is a delay in file copying or when file copying is stuck midway for hours.

Related read: File Transfer to a Shared folder stops randomly.

Why does my computer stop copying files?

When your computer stops coying files, there might be a third-party program or antivirus interfering with the process, the file size may be too large to copy fast, the destination drive has minimal storage space, the files might be infected by malware, etc.

Why does my computer freeze when transferring files?

When the file size is too large to copy that takes huge resources of your PC, you might see your computer freeze. Also, there might be other reasons like high disk or CPU usage by other programs, corrupted services, disk fragmentation, etc.