DirectConnect

SupportKnown issues

Known issues on Windows

Problems we know about on Windows, how to tell if your PC is affected, and what you can do.

DirectConnect doesn’t work while Intel Thunderbolt Share is installed

If Intel Thunderbolt Share is installed on a Windows PC, uninstall it before you use DirectConnect. The two aren’t compatible.

Why it happens

Thunderbolt Share is Intel’s own app for connecting two PCs over a Thunderbolt cable. Some PC and dock makers install it for you. It takes over the Thunderbolt connection, so DirectConnect can’t use it.

Check whether you’re affected

On each Windows PC, open Settings, choose Apps, then Installed apps, and search for “Thunderbolt Share”. If it’s listed, the PC is affected.

What you can do

Uninstall Thunderbolt Share on every Windows PC you connect with DirectConnect:

  1. Open Settings and choose Apps, then Installed apps.
  2. Find Thunderbolt Share, click the ⋯ button next to it and choose Uninstall.
  3. Restart the PC.
  4. Connect the cable and open DirectConnect on both computers.

If the other computer still doesn’t appear, see the other computer doesn’t show up.

A shared USB drive can’t be safely removed

While a USB drive is shared with the other computer, Windows won’t eject it. Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media says the device is in use.

Why it happens

DirectConnect keeps a shared drive open so the other computer can use it at any time. Windows ejects a drive only when no program has it open.

Check whether you’re affected

Open the other computer’s window in DirectConnect. If Share drives is chosen and the drive is selected in the list of drives under it, the drive is shared.

What you can do

Stop sharing the drive before you eject it:

  1. In the other computer’s window, clear the checkbox next to the drive. The drive disappears from the other computer.
  2. Eject the drive in File Explorer or with Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media.

If it’s the only drive selected, clearing it stops sharing.

Copying many small files from a Windows PC is slow the first time

Copying a folder of many small files from a Windows PC can take more than ten times longer the first time. The next copy is fast, and the files arrive complete either way.

Why it happens

Microsoft Defender scans each file on the Windows PC the first time any program opens it, and DirectConnect has to open each file to copy it. Defender doesn’t scan the file again until it changes, so later copies are fast. File Explorer and backup tools pay the same cost.

Check whether you’re affected

Copy the same folder a second time. If the second copy is much faster, the first was waiting for Defender. While the first copy runs, Task Manager on the Windows PC shows Antimalware Service Executable using a lot of the processor.

What you can do

  • Let the first copy finish. It’s slower, but the files are complete and checked. Later copies of the same files run at full speed.
  • Copy folders you’ll need again once, and work from the copy.

We don’t recommend turning off Microsoft Defender or excluding folders from it to speed up copies.

For example, a folder of 2,000 small files (53 MB) that Defender hadn’t scanned took 18.8 seconds to copy from a Windows PC to a Mac the first time and 1.3 seconds the second time. Reading an unscanned copy of the folder on the PC itself took 26.6 seconds the first time and under 0.1 seconds after that.