diff --git a/app/model_manager.py b/app/model_manager.py
index ab36bca74..5688cbd0b 100644
--- a/app/model_manager.py
+++ b/app/model_manager.py
@@ -117,10 +117,27 @@ class ModelFileManager:
         # TODO use settings
         include_hidden_files = False
 
+        # Check if we should skip following symlinks
+        from comfy.cli_args import args
+        skip_symlinks = getattr(args, 'skip_symlink_scan', False)
+        followlinks = not skip_symlinks
+
         result: list[str] = []
         dirs: dict[str, float] = {}
 
-        for dirpath, subdirs, filenames in os.walk(directory, followlinks=True, topdown=True):
+        for dirpath, subdirs, filenames in os.walk(directory, followlinks=followlinks, topdown=True):
+            # If skipping symlinks, filter out symlinked directories
+            if skip_symlinks:
+                filtered_subdirs = []
+                for d in subdirs:
+                    subdir_path = os.path.join(dirpath, d)
+                    # Check if it's a symlink
+                    if os.path.islink(subdir_path):
+                        logging.debug(f"Skipping symlink: {subdir_path}")
+                        continue
+                    filtered_subdirs.append(d)
+                subdirs[:] = filtered_subdirs
+            
             subdirs[:] = [d for d in subdirs if d not in excluded_dir_names]
             if not include_hidden_files:
                 subdirs[:] = [d for d in subdirs if not d.startswith(".")]
diff --git a/comfy/cli_args.py b/comfy/cli_args.py
index 3d5bc7c90..f3c880114 100644
--- a/comfy/cli_args.py
+++ b/comfy/cli_args.py
@@ -216,6 +216,8 @@ database_default_path = os.path.abspath(
 )
 parser.add_argument("--database-url", type=str, default=f"sqlite:///{database_default_path}", help="Specify the database URL, e.g. for an in-memory database you can use 'sqlite:///:memory:'.")
 
+parser.add_argument("--skip-symlink-scan", action="store_true", help="Skip following symlinks when scanning directories. Useful when symlinks point to network paths with many files. Specifying a filename directly will still work.")
+
 if comfy.options.args_parsing:
     args = parser.parse_args()
 else:
diff --git a/folder_paths.py b/folder_paths.py
index f110d832b..d4dde894e 100644
--- a/folder_paths.py
+++ b/folder_paths.py
@@ -240,6 +240,10 @@ def recursive_search(directory: str, excluded_dir_names: list[str] | None=None)
     if excluded_dir_names is None:
         excluded_dir_names = []
 
+    # Check if we should skip following symlinks
+    skip_symlinks = getattr(args, 'skip_symlink_scan', False)
+    followlinks = not skip_symlinks
+
     result = []
     dirs = {}
 
@@ -254,7 +258,19 @@ def recursive_search(directory: str, excluded_dir_names: list[str] | None=None)
     subdirs: list[str]
     filenames: list[str]
 
-    for dirpath, subdirs, filenames in os.walk(directory, followlinks=True, topdown=True):
+    for dirpath, subdirs, filenames in os.walk(directory, followlinks=followlinks, topdown=True):
+        # If skipping symlinks, filter out symlinked directories
+        if skip_symlinks:
+            filtered_subdirs = []
+            for d in subdirs:
+                subdir_path = os.path.join(dirpath, d)
+                # Check if it's a symlink
+                if os.path.islink(subdir_path):
+                    logging.debug(f"Skipping symlink: {subdir_path}")
+                    continue
+                filtered_subdirs.append(d)
+            subdirs[:] = filtered_subdirs
+        
         subdirs[:] = [d for d in subdirs if d not in excluded_dir_names]
         for file_name in filenames:
             try: