Windows – How to fix Windows 10 explorer.exe not responding

windowswindows-explorer

I have updated from Windows 7 Ultimate x64 to Windows 10 Pro x64 using Media Creation Tool.

After some weeks when I'm clicking on the start button nothing happens and the whole status bar becomes unresponsive. After trying to restart explorer.exe from Task Manager explorer.exe fails to initialize. It just shows the start button, Cortana and the search bar, TaskViewer (if that's how it is called) and the Action Centre button.

Any ideas?

I tried running:

  • sfc /scannow and no errors were found
  • chkdsk /f and no errors were found

A full system restart seems to do the trick but after some time like a few hours it stops responding again.

My configuration:

  • CPU is Intel i5 4690K OC-d to 4.5Ghz
  • GPU is AMD Radeon HD 7750 Saphire 1Gb GDDR5 Edition

EDIT: After some GOOGLE SEARCHING if i try to run from Task Manager C:\Windows i can actually open a window. The start bar isn't responding though and there are still no desktop icons or wallpaper.

Best Answer

My brand new PC running Windows 8.1 had a problem with Explorer.exe not responding, and it persisted after I upgraded to Windows 10. In my case, explorer.exe didn't stop running, but the task bar was no longer updated (clock was behind, notification icons out of date), I couldn't use alt-Tab to move between windows and holding the mouse cursor over icons in the status bar didn't display the associated window. Finding 'Windows Explorer' in Task Manager, right clicking and selecting 'Restart' would resolve the problem, but only for a little while.

I created a System Restore Point then used regedit to delete the explorer.exe subkey from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution.options and haven't had the problem since then.

I posted this mainly to clarify that the explorer.exe "folder" referenced above is in fact a subkey. I puzzled over the nomenclature for a moment before realizing what TermoZour meant, and thought I'd post this to help others who might misunderstand.

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