I'll start from the very beginning ...
What is Windows Explorer?
Explorer is what you use on your computer every day. This is what opens when you click on To my computer and on any other folder anywhere. This is the folder interface.
I put it this way in simple words and in short, so do not blame me.
If you have opened and viewed the tab Processes, you might have noticed a process like explorer.exe - this is Windows Explorer.
Why do I need to restart File Explorer?
Windows is such a system that it cannot work without errors and freezes, especially if you do not monitor it (although it can fail without you).
There is a saying among programmers: "7 troubles - 1 reset", which translated into normal language will be like "problems with windows? Restart!" ... It may be funny, but in most cases it helps.
Therefore, restarting Windows is used not only in solving problems, but also so that any changes made to or during the installation of the program are applied. But in most cases, you can not even restart the entire system, but you can only restart this very Windows Explorer, or more precisely, only the explorer.exe process.
I wrote a little about this in the article?.
But I'll write again.
Run it without closing it kill the explorer.exe process on the tab Processes
then Desktop and Task bar disappear. Don't panic!
We run it again through the top menu.
and entering its name
Everything. It restarted and did not have to reboot and everyone is happy!
This is a more interesting and safer (in terms of "curvature") method compared to the first.
You just need to run the file saved anywhere, and the reboot is done! Oh, how simple. Everything for the lazy ..
So. Create a file in notepad with the following content:
Taskkill / f / im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
Better copy from here because all spaces are important!
Then we save it ( File -> Save as..)
with any name and
Explorer provides quick access to any file on your hard drive and more. In many situations and instructions, it becomes necessary to reboot to apply the changes. Instead of rebooting the operating system into the user, it is possible to independently restart Explorer in Windows 10.
This article will tell you how to restart Explorer in Windows 10. The methods presented by us work on previous versions of the operating system. The user just needs to use the Task Manager or Command Prompt to restart Explorer in Windows 10.
The first most relevant way to restart Explorer is to use. In order to restart Explorer you need to stop and restart the explorer.exe process. To restart Explorer, the user needs to restart explorer.exe in Windows 10.
In this way, we terminate the Explorer.exe process of the explorer and start it again. And also you have the opportunity to end the explorer process by holding down the keys Ctrl + Shift right-click on the taskbar and select the bottom-most item of the context menu Exit Explorer... But you will have to start the explorer process in the way presented above.
Note the ability to restart File Explorer in Windows 10 using Task Manager by literally pressing one button. If the user finds Conductor right in Processes task manager, then after highlighting it, instead of the usual button Remove task will appear Restart... This method is the fastest, but not entirely convenient, since it is not always possible to quickly select the conductor process.
After running the file, the previous two commands will be executed on the command line. These commands sequentially terminate the explorer process and restart. You can also keep the same file on your desktop and, if necessary, just open it. This method will be useful to everyone, since restarting Explorer is much faster than rebooting the operating system.
Conclusion
In the latest versions of the Windows 10 operating system, you can restart Explorer in the task manager or through the command line. The second method, although it really saves time, is not suitable for all users. In general, using the command line is suitable for more advanced users.
The Windows program called "Explorer" is the most common file manager, although it has quite interesting features that few people know or guess about. Basically, the question of how to start Explorer has an answer that the vast majority of users imagine. But for some reason, many people use the most primitive methods for this, which often look very awkward.
How do I start File Explorer in a standard way on different systems?
As a rule, users who are new to the Windows operating system follow the standard instructions. In their understanding, the question of how to launch "Explorer" is reduced to finding the appropriate application in the main "Start" menu.
But unnecessary actions. You need to click on the start button, find the program section in the menu, select the standard applications (or another section, depending on the OS modification) and only then click on the name of the application being launched. Agree, it takes a lot of time.
Alternative launch as a means of simplifying work
Unfortunately, many people simply do not realize that when you click on the "Start" button, you can simply change the button from left to right. An additional menu will appear, in which the desired program will be immediately visible. But this method, in the opinion of many, is quite inconvenient.
The same long method can be called the use of the "Run" console, in which the command for calling explorer is written. You can also use the search bar of the main menu, in which you need to enter the name of the program (in our case, it is "Explorer" without quotes).
But what is the fastest way to launch File Explorer? To do this, any Windows system provides a special combination + E (in the Russian layout - the letter "U"). In this case, the program is called regardless of which language or which keyboard layout is used in the system at the moment. This method can be called the most convenient, even for those cases when the application itself for some reason crashed.
How do I launch File Explorer in Task Manager?
Another method of starting the program is to use a standard tool for tracking and managing all processes, called the "Task Manager". Launching "Explorer" through the "Dispatcher" can be quite simple.
To do this, in systems below the tenth modification, the process menu is used, where you need to create a new task, and write explorer in the program launch line, as was done in the Run console. In Windows 10, you can start the File Explorer task directly from the file menu, where you choose to create a new task.
Restarting the program if it crashed
Unfortunately, Explorer and its associated Explorer.exe service have a tendency to terminate unexpectedly if any software failure occurs. The service itself and the executable should not be confused, even though they are called by the same command.
If a service suddenly stops working, you can use several methods to restart it. In the simplest version, the question of how to start "Explorer", and with it the general process of the system again, is to use the combination Ctrl + Shift + Esc on the keyboard. It calls the standard "Task Manager", in which you need to repeat the steps described above.
In the same way, you can use the "Run" console shortcut through the Win + R combination, and then enter the English name of the process.
If you first need to call the main menu "Start", you need to press Ctrl + Esc and the arrow to the right. In the same menu, while holding down the Ctrl + Shift keys, you can use the shutdown item or right-click on the free area of the "Taskbar", and from the section that appears, select the exit line from the "Explorer", and then restart the service through the "Task Manager" or the console Execute as shown above.
Conclusion
As you can see from the above material, you can call the standard "Explorer" or restart the Explorer system service using a fairly large number of methods. But some of them are not always justified. What advice can you give to the average user? It seems that the simplest and fastest method is to use the Win + E keys. The rest of the solutions are best left for those cases when a program or service for some reason refuses to function normally and quits urgently.
Which method to use for restarting is up to everyone. But the best options are to call the console "Run" or "Task Manager". The second option looks more preferable, since here you can simultaneously control other processes, as well as force terminate those that freeze or cause errors in the system related specifically to the Explorer.exe service.
Of course, every Windows user knows what File Explorer is and knows how to use it. With each new version of Windows, this application gets new features, with some of which we are already with you. Did you know that File Explorer in Windows 10 supports a number of arguments that allow you to run it from the command line in different variations? Let's take a look at some of them.
The parameters described below can be used in different ways: in shortcuts, bat-files, VB scripts, etc. However, it is advisable to check the execution of one or another argument using.
explorer.exe / n,<путь к папке>
Switch / n instructs Explorer to start a new window, which will open the folder, the address of which is specified as the second parameter. If you omit the address, Windows 10 will just open the Documents folder.
explorer.exe / e,<путь к папке>
Parameter / e is similar to the parameter considered in the previous paragraph, except that the "Show all folders" option is enabled in Explorer when opening.
explorer.exe / root,<путь к папке>
Parameter / root opens the explorer, and the folder specified as the second parameter is presented in the address bar as the root folder.
In this case, the "Move to one level higher" command ("Back" arrow on the address bar or "Alt + up arrow") does not work.
explorer.exe / select,<путь к файлу или папке>
The / select option opens an explorer with the required file or folder already highlighted. The result is something like this:
explorer.exe / separate,<путь к файлу или папке>
System application explorer. exe also supports secret command line parameter / separate ... If it is present, a new explorer window will start in a new Windows process.
Explorer is a program that is present by default in all versions of Windows, which allows the user to work with all files in the hard disk memory: move, copy, group, delete, sort and rename them. Explorer can be customized, replaced, restarted, changed its interface and operating parameters. But over time, problems may begin with it: the explorer will stop starting, start to slow down, or reboot on its own. How to open it and fix problems in operation, read on.
How to open File Explorer in Windows 7
In Windows 7, there are several ways to get started with File Explorer.
From the desktop
By default, there is a shortcut "Computer" on the desktop, by double-clicking on it with the left mouse button, you will go to the explorer. This shortcut may be missing if you manually removed it.
Open the "Computer" shortcut through the "Start" menu or from the desktopUsing the keyboard shortcut
The fastest way is to hold down the Win + E keys on your keyboard at the same time. When pressed at the same time, these hotkeys will bring up the explorer.
We hold the combination Win + E to open the explorer Through the start menu
Through the quick start program
Through the execution of commands
Application recovery
After a while, the explorer may start to freeze, slow down, restart on its own, or stop starting altogether. The program itself may stop working, that is, you will not be able to view folders and files, but there are also more severe consequences: Windows will stop starting, the startup process will freeze when an empty desktop appears with only a background image. This is due to the fact that the operating system constantly accesses the system files that are stored in the explorer, and if it does not work, then the system has nowhere to go, and it freezes.
Explorer stopped working due to an error However, you can fix most of the errors related to File Explorer yourself using the instructions below. First, we will consider the most common errors, the reasons for their occurrence and how to fix these problems, and then we will dwell on more serious and rare errors.
Virus check
It is possible that your computer is infected with viruses that jam the functions of the explorer. Scan the system for viruses and, if found, remove them. In the event that there were no viruses, go to the next item.
Checking your computer for viruses Driver Verification
For the explorer to work, you need a video card, since it is responsible for displaying everything that happens on the computer. Perhaps the video card drivers installed on the computer are outdated or out of date, so it is worth updating them manually.
- Open the properties of the computer by clicking on the icon that opens the explorer, with the right mouse button and selecting "Properties" in the context menu that opens.
Opening computer properties - Go to the "Device Manager" section.
Go to the device manager - Find the "Video adapters" block in the general list of connected devices and expand it.
Expand the "Video adapters" block - Open the properties of your video card.
Opening the properties of the video card - In the window that opens, go to the "Details" tab.
Go to the "Details" tab - Select the hardware ID information.
Select the type of information "equipment ID" - A list of ID numbers belonging to the video card will open. Go to the official website of the company that created your video card, and, using the received ID numbers, download the necessary drivers. Please note that it is recommended to download drivers only from the official website. If the site prompts you to install a program that updates drivers in automatic mode, then agree to this offer. But such a program is not offered by all companies, so let's return to our universal method.
We are looking for drivers by video card ID - While in the properties of the video card, go to the "Driver" tab.
Go to the "Driver" tab - Click on the "Update" button.
Click the "Update" button - In the update method, select "Search this computer". Specify the path to the previously downloaded driver and wait for it to install, and after the process is over, restart your computer and check if the explorer is working. If not, then move on to the next item.
We choose the method "Search on this computer"
Automatic recovery
Windows has a built-in function that allows you to automatically scan all system files and restore them, if necessary. You can run this function in the following steps:
Checking the computer load
It may be that the processor, video card or hard drive of your computer is unnecessarily overloaded, because of this, the conductor may slow down and not start, since there are not enough computer resources for it.
Search for damaged files
Files on the hard disk can be damaged. When Explorer comes across a damaged file, it tries to read it, but cannot. Because of this, the conductor is stuck and cannot continue to work. Perhaps this is the reason for your problems, so it is worth making it so that Explorer skips these files:
- Open File Explorer.
We start the explorer in one of the ways - Expand the Arrange menu.
Expand the "Arrange" section - Navigate to Folder and Search Options.
Go to the item "Folder and Search Options" - In the window that opens, select the "View" tab.
Expand the "View" tab - Disable the "Show file icons in thumbnails" feature.
Disable the function "Show file icons in thumbnails" - Enable Always Show Icons, Not Thumbnails.
Turn on the function "Always display icons, not thumbnails" - Click successively on the "Apply" and "OK" buttons.
Press the buttons "Apply" and "OK"
Eliminating conflicts
File Explorer may conflict with third-party programs installed on your computer. To see if this is the problem, boot your computer in Safe Mode: start a reboot and when the power-on moment begins, press the F8 key on your keyboard and select Safe Mode in the boot methods. Safe mode turns on the minimum number of programs required for the system to work. If the explorer works fine under these conditions, then the matter is in third-party applications or processes. The only way to find out which element is the problem is to disable everything one by one and use the selection method to check which application is interfering with the explorer.
Choosing Safe Mode Disable conflicting add-ons
Some third-party programs build their add-ons into the explorer. If an error or conflict appears in these add-ons, then the explorer may start to freeze or stop turning on. The easiest way to view and disable all of these add-ons is to use the ShellExView program.
Click the "Download" button After running the program, sort all the extensions in it by the "Type" column. Scroll through the list until the Context Menu value appears in the Type column. Disable any non-Microsoft add-ons by highlighting them and pressing the F7 key, restart your computer and check if File Explorer is working or not.
Disable all parameters with the "Context Menu" value Troubleshooting: File Explorer restarts on its own
First, follow all the instructions above, if none of them helps, then follow these steps:
Why does the conductor slow down
The conductor can slow down due to the heavy load on the hard disk, processor and video card, or because of the memory load on the hard disk. If the first reason is relevant in your case, then disable as many unnecessary processes and programs as possible, if the second, then free up space on the hard disk, especially carefully monitor the memory on the main partition of the disk on which the operating system itself is installed.
CPU overloaded What to do if Windows stops working because of Explorer
If, due to the fact that the explorer turns off at startup, Windows does not work, then try to boot in safe mode (while turning on the computer, press F8 on the keyboard and select safe boot mode), and then go to the folder C: \ Windows \ ProgramData \ srtserv and replace it with the exact same folder taken from another computer with the same version of the operating system and its bitness. Then boot your computer normally.
If the desktop disappears during boot
All information about the desktop is also stored in the explorer, so if it stops working, the desktop will not open either. Sometimes, it is enough to manually start the process corresponding to the explorer to get rid of this problem; there are several ways to do this.
Starting a process through the task manager
Executing a command to start explorer
Changing registry settings
One of the reasons for the appearance of problems with Explorer can be changes in registry values, made by mistake by the system itself, user actions or third-party programs. To fix the parameters, follow these steps:
Video tutorial: how to restore the explorer
What to do if all else fails
If you followed all of the above instructions, and none of them helped you fix the problem, then there are two options left: reinstall the system or roll it back. By rolling back the system, it means restoring it to the point when it was still fully functioning. Recovery is carried out using checkpoints created by you or the system in automatic mode.
We restore or reinstall the system Restart
Restarting Explorer is worth doing in two cases: if the program is frozen, or if you have installed any add-on that will start working only after a reboot.
How to reinstall
You can reinstall Explorer by replacing it with another file. Reinstalling is worth doing only if you are sure that the explorer.exe file on your computer is damaged, and at the same time you have a high-quality explorer.exe for your version and bitness of Windows, taken from another computer.
- Copy the file with which you will replace the old explorer with the new one to the folder with the explorer. By default, this file is located in the C: \ Windows \ ProgramData \ srtserv folder. Rename the copied file in advance, for example, to explorer2.exe.
Copy the second conductor to the folder - Open Task Manager.
We start the task manager in one of the available ways - Disable the task responsible for the explorer.
We remove the task of the conductor - Confirm the action.
We confirm that we want to remove the task - Expand the File menu.
Open the menu called "File" - Select the function "Start new task".
Click on the item "Start a new task" - Write down the value explorer2.exe and run the task. Done, it is not recommended to delete the old version of Explorer, since it is not a fact that there will be no conflicts with the new file.
Run the task with a new file explorer2.exe
Detailed setting
Customizing Explorer allows you to change its appearance, functions, and the style of grouping the files in it. Some parameters of the explorer can be changed using its standard settings located in the explorer itself, and others through third-party programs that allow you to customize the explorer in much more detail and change its appearance more strongly.
Standard settings
- Open File Explorer. In the left block of the program there is a navigation area, in which the upper levels of the main drives and the main system folders, added there by default, are located. The same block is used to display the folder tree and navigate through it.
On the left is the transition area - You can add or remove any folders or sections in this block in order to have the fastest possible access to the places that are important to you in the future. Once in the folder that you want to add to the Navigation Area, right-click on the Favorites section, the top section in the Navigation Area, and select the Add Current Location to Favorites option.
We use the button "Add current location to favorites" - You can extend an object from the Navigation Pane by expanding the Arrange section, navigating to the Representation subsection and selecting the Navigation Pane item.
We proceed to setting up the navigation area through the "Control" menu - Explorer has a Preview function that allows you to preview an element or part of an element without opening it. It is convenient to use this function if you need to find a specific file in a large number of unsigned files without opening each of them one by one.
Photo preview in File Explorer - To customize the space reserved for quick view, in the "Organize" section, select the "View" subsection, and then the "Preview area" item.
Go to Preview Setting - The information area is an informative block about the selected file, containing all available information about it: size, date of creation and editing, name, etc.
The file information is displayed in the details pane - This section is configured in the "Arrange" - "View" - "Details pane" section.
Moving on to setting up the details pane - The main menu of the explorer is located at the top of the explorer. If you are not using it, you can press the F10 key on your keyboard to hide it. Use the same key to return to the menu.
Enable or disable the menu using the F10 key - Quick change of the general appearance of folders, files and their location is performed using the icons in the upper right corner of the explorer.
Using icons to sort and change the look - Some files on the system are hidden by default, that is, they are located on disk, but they are not displayed in Explorer. Only important files are hidden, on the work of which the well-being of the system depends. To enable the display of hidden items, open the "Tools" menu and go to the "Folder Options" sub-item.
Select the item "Folder Options" - In the window that opens, go to the "View" tab.
Click on the "View" tab - Here deactivate the function "Hide system-protected files" and activate the function "Show hidden files, folders and drives". Save the changes by clicking the "Apply" button.
Disable the function "Hide system-protected files" and activate the function "Show hidden files, folders and drives" - While in the same "View" section, you can uncheck the "Hide extensions for registered file types" function so that the extensions of all files are shown in their name after a period. By default, extensions are hidden, but information about which extension the file is in can often come in handy.
Turn on the function "Hide extensions for registered file types"
The rest of the Explorer settings are performed in it, but they are not useful to the average user, they are needed for those who work more professionally with system files. But the default settings of the explorer are not flexible enough to customize the appearance and other parameters, so we will use a third-party program to meet these goals.
Additional settings
We will use the QTTabBar program, you can download it for free from the official website of the developer, but it is better to download its more stable version with additional files for design and russification - http://www.mediafire.com/file/b16sv974i5inlic/QTTabBar_Optimakomp_ru.rar.
- Go through the QTTabBar installation process.
Walk through the installation process of QTTabBar - First, let's change the language to Russian, this can be done if you downloaded the program with additional files from the link above. To do this, right-click on an empty space in the top pane of the explorer and select Option.
Go to Option - Go to the General tab.
Go to the General tab - In the Language File line, specify the path to the Lng_ QTTabBar_Russia.
We indicate the path to the file with the Russian language - Click on the Apply button to make changes to the program.
Click on the Apply button - Restart the program, close and open File Explorer. Done, the program has been rebuilt into Russian. Go back to the Settings menu.
Go to the item "Settings" - In the settings that will open, go to the "Tabs" tab.
Go to the "Tabs" tab - In this section, you can customize the display and functions of tabs, folders and other sections. The program has a lot of functions, so there is no point in describing each of them, they are all intuitively clear from the names in the program itself.
Customizing File Explorer Tabs - In the "View" tab, you can customize the font settings, background color and pop-up windows (there is already a set of skins in the archive with additional files), etc. Go through the program sections to personalize the explorer for yourself as much as possible.
We indicate the path to the downloaded templates - If you want to reset all the changes made at once, then run the installation file of the program and select the Remove option, wait until the uninstallation process is completed and restart your computer.
Press the Remove button
Conductor analogs
There are many third-party counterparts to the standard Windows Explorer, each of which has approximately the same feature set, but a different design. For example, you can take the most popular explorer - Total Commander.
Downloading the program Total Commander is distinguished by flexible interface settings, the ability to split and combine files, change the parameters of the quick access panel and bookmarks, the presence of a history that stores your actions for some time.
A worthy replacement for the standard explorer - Total Commander It is necessary to select a conductor primarily by design, since the other parameters for all popular conductors are almost the same.
File Explorer from Mac OS for Windows
If you like the design of Windows Explorer, you can download and install Finder style for Windows to change the visual display of icons, folders and sections in the standard Windows Explorer. To install, you will need two files: the main one, which will replace the design, and the additional one, which will replace the values in the registry so that the system does not lose the files it needs.
You can style the standard Windows Explorer like Finder from Mac OS How to open an FTP file
By default, FTP files will open in a browser, usually Internet Explorer. In order for files of this type to open in the window of the explorer itself, you need to change its settings:
Clearing search history
The explorer has a search bar that displays your recent searches. To delete them, go to the search bar, use the arrows on your keyboard to move to the query you want to delete, and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
Select the request and press Delete Deleting a file
Deleting a file while in the explorer can be done in two ways: by clicking on it with the right mouse button and selecting the "Delete" function, or by pressing the Delete key on the keyboard, having previously selected the file.
Press the Delete key View folder size
Removing a library
The library is a section built into the Explorer quick access bar, consisting of folders "Downloads", "Image", and so on. Since all these partitions are located on the main partition of the hard disk, where there is not much space, most users do not use them, creating folders to store their library on disk D, F, etc.
We run the regedit command to go to the registry editor 
We follow the path HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ CLSID \ (031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5) \ ShellFolder and select the item "Permissions ..."
Change the value of the file to b090010d
Library disappeared from explorerHow to pin a folder in Explorer
Pin a folder to the Quick Access Toolbar
Both the work with files and the work of the system itself depend on the explorer. If the conductor stops working, then the system itself may not respond. The conductor can be replaced with another one, but the old one should not be disconnected. If you do not want to change the explorer, you can configure it manually using standard functions and third-party programs.
