Fix Slow WebDAV Performance in Windows 7

I have an iPhone file storage app called Air Sharing that uses a WebDAV server to let you connect to it with a PC. For some reason, a few weeks after installing Windows 7, file transfers to or from this (or any other) WebDAV server became incredibly, mind-numbingly, literally-33.6K-dialup slow. And yet, from all my other computers in the house, even those still running Windows XP, file transfers over the LAN to my iPhone were as fast as you’d expect.

Today, finally, I got so sick and tired of it that I — gasp! — searched for a solution. To my embarrassment, I found the answer in just a minute or two, illustrating quite succinctly just how much time I had been wasting just “putting up with it.” Oddly, the culprit is none other than Internet Explorer 8. Quite simply, all you have to do is turn off IE’s automatic proxy settings detection. Here’s how to do that:

1. In Internet Explorer, open the Tools menu, then click Internet Options.
2. Select the Connections tab.
3. Click the LAN Settings button.
4. Uncheck the “Automatically detect settings” box.
5. Click OK until you’re out of dialog hell.

Immediately after doing this, file transfers to my iPhone graduated from CompuServe Modem Simulator to Transwarp Conduit Simulator. It was that much of an improvement.

I found the answer on this Microsoft Technet discussion, incidentally. The solution was posted by “Daniel CD” about two-thirds of the way down the page. Props to that guy.

Gotta love Intarweb collaboration.

22 Comments

• 
  LT April 13, 2010 at 10:46 am

  Thank you for posting this solution!

  I spent an hour checking firewall policies before deciding to Google a problem I was having with Windows 7 and a different iPhone app that uses WebDAV. Google turned up this site and my problem was fixed seconds later. I should have searched sooner because I never would have thought to check IE8 settings.

  Reply
• 
  White Wizard » Open in Explorer View Running Slow in SharePoint? June 15, 2010 at 10:45 am

  [...] Anyhow, I found this little gem today regarding webdav slowness. [...]

  Reply
• 
  SLORider July 10, 2010 at 3:56 pm

  r u kidding me?? That simple AND IT WORKS!! Not even a reboot.

  You’re a genius. Well, that other guy is…. THANKS!

  Reply
• 
  WebDAV Performance in Windows 7 | it-fabrik blog August 6, 2010 at 4:51 am

  [...] http://oddballupdate.com/2009/12/18/fix-slow-webdav-performance-in-windows-7/ August 6th, 2010 | Category: Web [...]

  Reply
• 
  TuxTiger October 27, 2010 at 9:37 am

  Thanks a lot! Was wondering why it was sooo slowww…

  Reply
• 
  primat March 16, 2011 at 3:41 pm

  At first is was slow as hell, then I started the webclient service and it was working fast, then I installed IE 9 and it was slow as hell again, then I disabled automatic detection of LAN settings in internet options and it’s fast again.

  I love you guys. If it’s still not working for anyone, check out http://www.bitkinex.com/download

  M$ sure isn’t making things easy for us…

  Reply
• 
  Chief Oddball March 16, 2011 at 5:10 pm

  Glad to be of service, y’all. Just getting the word out.

  Reply
• 
  mehmetvural August 4, 2011 at 3:20 pm

  Thank a lot for this solutions. That was driving me crazy and taking tons of times between each click. now I can access my files same speed as any windows explorer accessing local drives. I was using windows explorer to access my SharePoint document library within client’s computer fast but not on my own computer.
  thank again.

  Mehmet

  Reply
• 
  Chief Oddball August 4, 2011 at 3:23 pm

  You’re welcome, Mehmet. Incidentally, I appreciate the fact that you guys are actually navigating the labyrinth of user registration, confirmation and moderation just to thank me.

  Reply
• 
  fuzzycactus August 23, 2011 at 2:26 pm

  Thank you for the post – I was always puzzled about why WebDAV to SharePoint was brutally slow, especially with the recent wave of buzz in the blogosphere about how SharePoint is being increasingly used as a “social” tool in large enterprise.

  Taking 2 minutes to open up a 100-row spreadsheet … let alone the sluggish windows-explorer browser navigation? I was starting to question the merits of webdav.

  Now we need to share this with Chihamo who posted in the IIS forums. Curious who his Sharepoint wunderkind was… see: http://forums.iis.net/t/1179873.aspx

  Reply
• 
  Alfresco lent en accès WebDAV sur Windows 7 ? | ECM & Co August 24, 2011 at 3:07 am

  [...] résoudre le problème, j’ai suivi les indications de ce billet : http://oddballupdate.com/2009/12/18/fix-slow-webdav-performance-in-windows-7/ Tout va bien maintenant pour mon Alfresco 3.4d sur Windows 7 ! [...]

  Reply
• 
  Dimitri October 19, 2011 at 5:48 am

  man … this is brilliant ! I’ve been struggling with this for ages.
  OwnCloud’s webdav now works like a charm, thanks !
  D.

  Reply
• 
  Brett November 9, 2011 at 12:32 pm

  Beautiful! I too was using the windows explorer view to navigate SharePoint and it was a minute to view a folder, much less actually opening a document. Thanks so much!

  Reply
• 
  Mahmoud November 19, 2011 at 5:54 am

  Thanks for the solution, it worked with me

  Reply
• 
  Mike November 21, 2011 at 9:06 am

  OMG -Ive been losing sleep over this – Thankyou

  Reply
• 
  Brian November 28, 2011 at 10:38 am

  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I’ve had to reboot so many times due to this.

  Reply
• 
  Paul December 6, 2011 at 7:42 pm

  Rock on, bro’. The gift that keeps on giving. Made a huge difference!!

  Reply
• 
  Douglas Matoso December 16, 2011 at 7:01 am

  Thumbs up! Works like a charm!

  Thank you!

  Reply
• 
  Paul December 18, 2011 at 6:17 am

  Thanks for that. Was driving me crazy.

  Reply
• 
  Ilker Mutlu December 22, 2011 at 2:55 am

  Thanks a lot. You saved my day!

  Reply
• 
  Evert January 9, 2012 at 2:36 am

  Thanks! This tip made my WebDAV 100x faster!

  Reply
• 
  T.E. January 11, 2012 at 7:05 am

  Thanks for posting this – excellent advice.

  Reply