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Home » Windows 10 File Explorer Is Not Responding [11 Ways To Fix It]

Windows 10 File Explorer Is Not Responding [11 Ways To Fix It]

Windows 10 File Explorer not responding windows 10

We will summarise 11 solutions for Windows 10 file explorer not responding to problem with detailed steps. If you find that Windows Explorer is not responding to problems, try it right now.

Windows Explorer presents the user interface elements on the monitor, such as the taskbar and the desktop. However, Windows users often face problems with it. One of the most common problems is when you suddenly get a message that says “Windows Explorer has stopped working.” This Windows 10 File Explorer no response error is what we will cover in this article.

How to Fix File Explorer Not Responding Error Windows 10?

Here are all the methods you can try to fix this problem.

Method 1: Restart Windows Explorer in Task Manager

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to start Task Manager. Then navigate to Windows Explorer.
  2. Right click on Windows Explorer option and choose End Task.
  3. At the top of the Task Manager window, click the File option and choose Run New Task.
  4. Type explorer.exe in the input box and then hit Enter.

Method 2: Open a separate window

  1. Open File Explorer (If you can’t open it, skip to the Methods below.).
  2. As you can see in the screenshot below, click on the »View» option in the upper left corner.
  3. The panel is down and look for the »Options» button in the left corner and click on it.
  4. Now a new tab opens, and you can see that there is another tab called »View,» open it.
  5. There are several other options, scroll down until you find the »Launch folder window in the separate process,» you have to check / mark the area.
  6. Click »Apply» and then »Okay.»

In various cases, this is the root cause of the problem and it will help you get rid of the file browser not responding to another window and help you get rid of the problem instantly.

Method 3: Clear File Explorer History Cache.

This is the method that seems to work for most users. As with restoring File Explorer settings to their default value, this is done from the File Explorer Options window:

  1. Open Windows Search (click on it or use the Win + S shortcut), start typing »File Explorer Options» and click on the entry when it appears.
  2. In the Privacy section of the window that appears, click Clear present next to Clear file browser history and then click OK.
  3. Restart your computer when done and see if File Explorer now opens properly.

Method 4: Disable Search in Windows

  1. Type cmd.exe in the windows search box. From the choice list, right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
  2. Click Yes at the prompt in the UAC (User Access Control) window.
  3. In the command window, type the following command:
  4. net.exe stop “Windows search”
  5. Then hit Enter.
  6. This should fix the Windows 10 File Explorer no response error.

Method 5: Delete recently used files in Quick Access

  1. Go to the search bar and search for »Control Panel«
  2. In the »Control Panel«, you have to navigate to the option »Search Bar«, which is located in the upper right part of the window.
  3. If you have found the search bar then type »File Explorer» and the results will appear based on your System Settings.
  4. The first result would be to »File Explorer» and open it.
  5. As you can see above, a new tab appears on your screen.
  6. As you can see in the image below, you have to use the »Clear» option to delete all the previous data that is the main cause of the problem. Just click on the »Clear« option.
  7. Now click on »Apply» or »Okay.»

This option will delete the files recently used in Quick Access, and it will also delete Quick Files.

Method 6: Run the system file verification scan

System File Checker is a built-in Windows utility for users to search for corruptions in Windows system files and restore corrupted files. If Windows 10 File Explorer is not responding, it may be due to some corrupted file on the drive. And many users said that the file explorer not responding issue was fixed by System File Checker analysis.

  1. Type cmd in the Windows 10 Cortana search box. Find the best match, right-click and choose Run as Administrator.
  2. Enter sfc / scannow and press Enter.
  3. After the scan, restart your computer and check if the problem has been resolved.

Method 7: Checking for Possible Bad Programs

Some say that it is the AVG antivirus program that has caused this error. After Task Manager shutdown, File Explorer is back.

You should try the same. Check for anything unusual when you access your File Explorer.

Method 8 – Display problems can be a common cause of this problem. Changing the scale settings can fix this problem

In the display settings, you can change the scale of text, applications, and other items. If you have this setting to something other than 100%, it can potentially cause these problems. Having it set to 175%, in particular, has been known to cause File Explorer to not respond to the problem.

  • Go to the desktop and then right-click on the background and then click on Display Settings.
  • In the Display settings window click on the box under Scale and layout and change it to 100% if it is not already that. If it is already set to 100% then scaling is probably not causing the problem.
  • As before, restart your computer afterwards to make sure the change made is worth it.

Method 9: Create a new user account

The creation of a new user account has fixed the problem that the file explorer is not responding for some of the users facing the same problem. After creating a new account and logging into it, they might find that Windows 10 File Explorer works normally there.

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Using a new account will delete the files recently used in Quick Access. If this way works for Windows Explorer which is not responding to the problem, you can try moving all the data from the old account to the new one.

The only problem is that you may have to reinstall (some) applications for your new account. If you find this inconvenient or complicated, try other solutions.

Method 10: Update Windows 10 to the latest version

If you are not running the latest version of Windows 10, it is recommended to update to the latest version as Microsoft fixes the most well known issues such as unresponsive file explorer through its updates.

  1. Right-click on the Windows start menu and choose Settings option
  2. When you get the Windows settings interface, choose Update & Security.
  3. Next, click Windows Update and click Check for updates button to install the latest updates.

Method 11: Restore Windows 10 to an Earlier Date

If System Restore is active on your PC, you can try restoring Windows 10 to an earlier date when it was working fine.

  1. Enter create a system restore in the Windows 10 Cortana search box and choose the best match to open the System Properties.
  2. In the System Protection section, click the System Restore button. If you don’t enable System Restore, the System Restore button will be grayed out.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions and select a restore point to get the system back to normal when the file explorer works.

Final words

So that’s all. Here are the 11 methods that will help you fix Windows 10 File Explorer not working problem. If you still need help with anything, let us know in the comment section below and we’ll get back to you with a solution as soon as possible.