Sometimes, You may find that you can’t open file explorer in windows. After clicking on the explorer icon multiple times, You don’t see any response except a screen flicker and busy mouse cursor symbol. It means File explorer crashes before being visible to you. Almost every windows user faces this problem temporarily. A simple restart can remove this problem. Sometimes, It may bug you repeatedly and stop you from accessing file explorer in the normal way. So, You should know the methods to fix the file explorer not opening problem.
Normally, This problem doesn’t come in newly installed Windows. When your system files become corrupted, Problems like file explorer not opening issues may happen. Else, Display driver issues or incorrect screen resolution, virus problems, too many background processes, and disk problems are some other common reasons behind it.
How to Fix File Explorer not Opening in Windows Permanently:
Before proceeding with actual methods to resolve this file explorer issue, You can scan your PC for viruses with a good antivirus. You also should check, If you can open file explorer in clean boot mode. You can check If file explorer actually opens but you can’t see it normally. Because, Its position is on a corner of the screen and most of its part is hidden.
Anyway, there are some temporary solutions to solve this problem. You can right-click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager. Then, Click on more details, If it is on the fewer details view. Find Windows Explorer, Right-click on it, and choose Restart. If it doesn’t help, You can Right-click on windows explorer and choose End Task. Now, Navigate to File > Run New Task from task manager. Type explorer.exe and hit Enter. Then, try to open file explorer and see, If it helps.
Else, Some users may be able to open This PC or Recycle Bin. They can go to download and documents folders and delete all unnecessary files from there. It also may help.
These are some temporary solutions. But, here are some cool ways that can fix file explorer not opening problem permanently.
1. Tweak Display Settings:
You may feel weird to know that this is a working solution to fix can’t open file explorer problem. But, Many windows 11, 10, and 8 users have already claimed that tweaking screen resolution has helped them. You can right-click on the desktop and choose Display Settings. Then, set your screen resolution to 100%. If it is already set to 100%, Just make it 125% and check if this helps you. In this way, Check 150%. If you are lucky, It will fix file explorer, not opening an issue in windows.
2. Fix Damaged System Files:
This is another common way to resolve this problem. Experts often suggest running SFC / Scannow command. It repairs corrupted system files in windows. As damaged system files may cause file explorer problems, this command can be helpful. You can right-click on start button and choose Command Prompt (Admin) to open a Command prompt as administrator. Then, type sfc /scannow and press enter. It may take a few minutes to an hour to complete the process. Keep patience and then check, If it repairs the file explorer not opening problem.
3. Clear Cache, Disable Startup Programs and Repair Registries:
Startup programs may create some common issues in your PC. As a result, You may not be able to open file explorer. Again, Corrupted registries and old cache and history data can affect your PC performance. So, I suggest you download CCleaner and install it on your PC. Then, Clear cache and other data and fix registry errors by using it. You also can disable startup programs by navigating to Tools > Startup from CCleaner. After that, Restart windows. It should fix the can’t open file explorer problem.
4. Uninstall Recently Installed Update or Program:
If you can’t open windows file explorer after updating windows or installing any program, You should uninstall them. It may solve this problem. If you don’t know how to do it, Follow these things.
- Right click on start button and choose Programs and Features.
- There, You will see all of your installed programs. Uninstall the recently installed one.
- Click on View installed updates from programs and features windows.
- Uninstall the most recent update from the list.
After doing it, Restart your PC and see, If it fixes file explorer not opening problem.
5. Create New User Account:
If none of these tricks work, You can try to open a new user account and see if file explorer problem doesn’t exist there or not. You can read “how to Create, Edit or Delete User Account” to know more details. If it helps, You can delete old user account by taking backup of personal files and start using newly created one.
6. Fix Disk Problems:
It is an uncommon thing. But, You still can keep it in your consideration list. If windows becomes very slow and you can’t open file explorer, You can run chkdsk command. It repairs common disk issues which also may help to resolve file explorer not appearing problem. You can open Command Prompt as administrator and run the following command.
chkdsk /f C:
Above methods are the most working methods to fix file explorer not opening in windows. If these fail to resolve your problem, You can consider resetting windows or doing clean installation.
