Windows – Can’t open new File Explorer windows by right click on Windows 10

windows 10windows-explorer

I recently upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7. I have pinned File Explorer to the task bar, and if I right click on it I see a list of pinned folders including anything I have under 'quick access', but if I click on any of these, nothing happens. If I right click a folder in the pop-up and select "Open", nothing happens. The only action that opens a new Explorer window for me is selecting "File Explorer" from the pop-up which opens a default window, which I can then use the quick access list to change locations.

Is this what others are seeing? A bug in Win 10? Something wrong with my configuration?

The workaround of opening a default Explorer, then changing locations is fine, but why is it even showing a list of options if I can't select them?

Best Answer

I had the same problem, on two computers, which I've been annoyed by for months. The problem instantly disappeared on both when I uninstalled WinCDEmu just now.

Maybe you have that or a similar program installed?

Edit to clarify: WinCDEmu loads up disc images like ISOs as virtual disc drives. Similar programs might include Daemon Tools or PowerISO.

I found this solution here

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I compared both traces and found 1 difference. When you start Explorer via Taskbar, some nvidia shell extension files (nv3dappshext.dll, nvapi64.dll) get loaded when Windows loads the context menus (shell32.dll!HDXA_QueryContextMenu):

Line #, Process, Stack Tag, Stack, Count, Weight (in view), TimeStamp, % Weight
9, , ,   |    |    |    explorer.exe!CTaskBand::CLauncherTask::_Launch, 645, 645,322890, , 2,14
10, , ,   |    |    |    |- explorer.exe!LaunchNewInstanceWithOptionalElevate, 642, 642,320335, , 2,13
11, , ,   |    |    |    |    shlwapi.dll!SHInvokeCommandWithFlagsAndSite, 642, 642,320335, , 2,13
12, , ,   |    |    |    |    shlwapi.dll!SHInvokeCommandOnContextMenu2, 642, 642,320335, , 2,13
13, , ,   |    |    |    |    |- shell32.dll!CDefFolderMenu::QueryContextMenu, 626, 626,236799, , 2,08
14, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |- shell32.dll!HDXA_QueryContextMenu, 625, 625,236799, , 2,08
15, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |- nv3dappshext.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06
16, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    nv3dappshext.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06
17, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    nv3dappshext.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06
18, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    nvapi64.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06

The hotkey trace doesn't show this nvidia DLL load. Use ShellExView to disable the nVIDIA extensions.

Best Answer

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