Running steam and arma 3 in admin mode should fix the problem, try it

I tried this, but nothing changed.

I am having the same issue here. Checked integrity of cache (it was fine), tried with and without mods and/or launch options.

Not entirely sure it came with the latest patch for "Adapt", but it would make sense. The only other thing I did consisted of some shenanigans to access the hidden 3D editor but I don't think it messed with the game files.

Also, it seems to do that only on the first access to the server browser of a given session. If I go back to the main menu and hit multiplayer again it then loads quickly.

Hi,
do you have still this issue?
Did you try switch from Gamespy to Steam? You can change it in server browser screen.
Thank you for more info.

well thats sure interesting! -
i've experienced this for quite a while (it only would happen when first loading the game and clicking multiplayer; while the game was still open MP screen would load quickly after the first long wait. Closing and reopening the game would have the wait again).

Astaroth, all i did today, was confirm twice that it still had the long wait...then tried switching mp servers to steam...once. since then i cannot for the life of me reproduce the long wait despite the game still defaults to gamespy when loading. So just switching to steam once and back to game spy seems to have fixed this entirely for me. including after sys reboot. No matter which server now, no issue. Awesome, but confusing :) it was a guarantee wait before i tried that today.

(dev branch)

Well, I followed the same procedure as cancerouspete and sadly I still have the long wait on my end (stable branch).

As he said, it is like a loading screen when accessing multiplayer for the first time. So it happens before the server browser itself loads, hence before being able to choose between Steam and Gamespy.

Is there any real fix for this?
Because I have the same Problem.
After I start ARMA 3 and choose Play > Multiplayer I have to wait 30-50 minutes until it's loaded. When watching this in Windows Task Manager, theres no load on CPU and SSD, no increase in used RAM and no increased network traffic.
The process is marked as inactive.

Details to my system:
CPU: 4 cores clocked at 4 GHz (Haswell)
RAM: 16 GB clocked at 1,9 GHz
GPU: NV GTX770
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB
OS: Windows 8 64 bit

EDIT: After working for a day, it got back to 75s before loading. Ignore this "solution", it will not solve the browser issue, although it may be good for your performance in general.

Check to see if you have a DLL folder inside the Arma3 main folder. This folder is used to retain some alternative memory allocators.
Thing is that running Windows 7 or newer doesn't require these memory allocators, in fact, they are less efficient than Windows 7/8, so I just got rid of the folder and everything was back to normal, now it takes 2 seconds to load the browser.
Running Windows 8.1 x64 here.
If in doubt, just rename the folder (instead of deleting it) and try again.
Cheers.

Nope, doesnt work. :(

I'm also having issues with servers loading. I hit refresh and it takes around 60 seconds of nothing for even a single server to show up. Anyone find a fix for this?

In my case this issue was fixed by an update long ago.

Also, for us the server browser itself wasn't loading for several minutes (no interface, nothing, just a blank loading screen). You seem to have the browser just fine but trouble showing up servers so I would say it's not the same issue. ;)