File Explorer Not Working | 4 Easy Fixes

You are sitting at home on a Sunday morning for your weekly awaited day off! You get your bundle of snacks and grab hold of your laptop to watch your favorite series or movies. But you can’t remember where you saved the file. So you click on file explorer and try typing it out, but something’s wrong. It just keeps going on a never-ending loading screen and you see Windows 10 file explorer not working. So now what? Or do you see that your video file is not playing? Is  it error 0xc00d36c4? Click here to get solutions.

4 Ways To Fix Windows 10 File Explorer Not Working

If you find yourself in a turmoil because of this issue. Fear not! Here are few ways in which you can fix file explorer not opening.

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Method 1 File Explorer Not Working then Restart 

If you see that file explorer won’t open, you can try ejecting any external devices connected to the system. After successfully removing the external drive, proceed to refresh the system, and restart it.

Before restarting, try updating the system. This makes sure that your system gets the latest update needed, which enhances better functioning. Restarting it ensures any update automatically downloaded will be applied, giving you more chances to solve the issue. If you get an update error, such as the  We Couldn’t Complete The Updates Undoing Changes, click here to find it’s solutions.

This is sort of like re-awakening the whole pc/laptop. Once you are done restarting it, refresh it once more and then proceed to the file explorer and search for your file again.

If this doesn’t solve Windows 10 file explorer not working, carry on reading for other solutions.

Method 2 Restore the System

 If your Windows 10 file explorer won’t open, you can restore the system options/preferences to default, which erases any options you have set previously. This makes it easier to start over and search for your needed files.

1. Click on the “Start” icon at the bottom left of your desktop and type File Explorer Options.
2. Once done, you will see a tab with different options and commands. Here is where you can proceed to reset the file explorer defaults. You will now come across three tabs: General, View,& Search.
3. Change the open file explorer to option from quick access to This PC.
4. Click on over to the general tab, then click Clear next to the Clean up file explorer history. This clears all that you have searched on your file explorer. 
5. Once done, click on Restore defaults.
6. Next, under the view tab, proceed by clicking on Reset Folders, then Restore defaults.
7. Finally, under the “search” tab, click on the option Restore defaults.

Did this solve the Windows 10 file explorer not working ? If not carry on reading for other solutions.

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Method 3 File Explorer Not Working then Refresh and Restart the System.

To get help with file explorer in Windows 10 you must try out these steps as well. If successful this might finally resolve your Windows 10 file explorer not working error.

1. Click on the Start icon at the bottom left of your desktop and click on Run. 
2. Type in msconfig, and click on OK.
3. Once done, click on the services tab and tick the box with option Hide all Microsoft services.
4. Once all the Microsoft services have been hidden, you will see all the remaining services. Click on Disable all.
5. After that, click on Startup, and proceed to open the task manager. This is a step to disable any other Microsoft enabled services. Once done, click on apply and then OK.
6. Finally, refresh and restart the system.
7. Repeat the search process to ensure all is working as per usual.

Method 4 Reset the Microsoft Recommended Defaults

File Explorer Not Working still Lastly what you can try  is as follows:

1. Click on the Start icon at the bottom left of your desktop and click on the gear shift icon (settings).
2. Click on Apps, and then Default Apps.
3. After this step, click on Reset, to reset the Microsoft recommended defaults. This resets all the built-in apps. 
4. If you still find any issues with your File explorer options, you can send a feedback through the feedback hub, where Microsoft can investigate the certain issue.

Conclusion

We hope these methods and tricks help you solve your Windows 10 file explorer not working error. If you have any further doubts, feel free to ask us in the comments below. We’d be glad to help you.

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