{"id":18313,"date":"2022-05-27T13:08:33","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T13:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/?p=18313"},"modified":"2022-05-27T13:08:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T13:08:42","slug":"restart-file-explorer-in-windows-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/restart-file-explorer-in-windows-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast Methods to Restart File Explorer in Windows 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are situations where File Explorer becomes unresponsive and you need to restart it. To apply a registry tweak, you may also need to restart File Explorer. In this tutorial we&#8217;ll show you some fast methods to restart File Explorer in Windows 11.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Method 1: Restart File Explorer Using Task Manager<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Use the <strong>Ctrl<\/strong> + <strong>Shift<\/strong> + <strong>Esc<\/strong> keyboard shortcut to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/5-quick-ways-to-open-task-manager-in-windows-10-8\/\">open up Task Manager<\/a>. Choose the <strong>Users<\/strong> tab, then click the arrow next to your current account to expand a list of all running programs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/task-manager-users-tab.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"482\" height=\"346\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/task-manager-users-tab.png 482w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/task-manager-users-tab-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Select &#8220;Windows Explorer&#8221; and click the <strong>Restart<\/strong> button to restart File Explorer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-windows-explorer.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"482\" height=\"346\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-windows-explorer.png 482w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-windows-explorer-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Method 2: Restart File Explorer Using Windows PowerShell<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/open-windows-terminal-as-admin-in-windows-11\/\">Open Windows PowerShell as administrator<\/a>, and then run one of the following commands:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>kill  -n  explorer<\/li>\n<li>stop-process  -name explorer -force<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-file-explorer-via-powershell.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"592\" height=\"210\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-file-explorer-via-powershell.png 592w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-file-explorer-via-powershell-300x106.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It will restart the File Explorer immediately.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Method 3: Restart File Explorer Using Command Prompt<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/open-command-prompt-in-windows-11\/\">Open Command Prompt as administrator<\/a>, and execute these commands one by one:<br \/>\n<code>taskkill \/f \/im explorer.exe<br \/>\nstart explorer.exe<\/code><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-file-explorer-via-cmd.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"565\" height=\"248\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-file-explorer-via-cmd.png 565w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/restart-file-explorer-via-cmd-300x132.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 565px) 100vw, 565px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This will forcibly terminate the explorer.exe process and then start it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Method 4: Restart File Explorer Using Keyboard Shortcut<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Press and hold the <strong>Alt<\/strong> + <strong>Tab<\/strong> keys at the same time. When the Task Switcher appears, release the <strong>Tab<\/strong> key and then press <strong>F4<\/strong>. After a while, Windows Explorer will restart automatically.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/task-switcher.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"438\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/task-switcher.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/task-switcher-300x219.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Method 5: Create a Desktop Shortcut to Restart File Explorer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Right-click the empty space on your desktop and choose <strong>New<\/strong> -&gt; <strong>Shortcut<\/strong> from the context menu that pops up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-shortcut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"288\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-shortcut.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-shortcut-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Copy the following command and paste it in the location box, and click <strong>Next<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<code>cmd.exe \/c \"taskkill.exe \/f \/im explorer.exe &amp;&amp; start explorer.exe\"<\/code><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/create-shortcut.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"578\" height=\"408\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/create-shortcut.png 578w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/create-shortcut-300x212.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Type a meaningful name for this shortcut. Click <strong>Finish<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/name-the-shortcut.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"578\" height=\"408\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/name-the-shortcut.png 578w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/name-the-shortcut-300x212.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Whenever you need to restart Windows Explorer, simply double-click the desktop shortcut you just created.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/desktop-shortcut-to-restart-file-explorer.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"375\" height=\"206\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/desktop-shortcut-to-restart-file-explorer.png 375w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/desktop-shortcut-to-restart-file-explorer-300x165.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it!<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are situations where File Explorer becomes unresponsive and you need to restart it. To apply a registry tweak, you may also need to restart File Explorer. In this tutorial we&#8217;ll show you some fast methods to restart File Explorer in Windows 11. Method 1: Restart File Explorer Using Task Manager Use the Ctrl + [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,4713],"tags":[4903,4902,4901,4904],"class_list":["post-18313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-others","category-tips-tricks","category-windows-11","tag-restart-explorer-exe-windows-11","tag-restart-file-explorer-cmd","tag-restart-file-explorer-windows-11","tag-restart-windows-explorer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18313"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18333,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18313\/revisions\/18333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}