When File Explorer on Windows 10 or 11 freezes up, is unstable, or items are inaccessible, restarting it is a good idea to get it working. When File Explorer acts up while you’re in the zone and getting things done, nothing is more annoying than being unable to access your files and folders. Unfortunately, it can happen in various situations and often at the most inopportune times.

Luckily, restarting it isn’t as difficult as you may think. There are multiple ways to do it, allowing you to use the best method for your situation. Some options can be more efficient depending on what you’re doing at the time.

4 Restart File Explorer from Task Manager

The traditional and effective way

One of the more straightforward and effective ways to restart File Explorer is to restart it via Task Manager. Press Win+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager and select the Processes tab. Right-click the Windows Explorer and click the Restart option from the menu that appears.

3 Kill explorer.exe and run a fresh instance

Possibly more effective when your entire PC freezes

If the basic restart option doesn’t work, you can kill the explorer.exe task and manually restart it completely.

1. Press Win+Shift+Esc and select the Processes tab.
2. Right-click Windows Explorer and select End task from the menu.
3. Everything except Task Manager will disappear from your screen.
4. Click Run new task from the top of the window, type explorer.exe, and click OK.

When you end the task, everything but the Task Manager disappears from the screen. However, after running a new task, the desktop and taskbar will reappear, and File Explorer should begin working again without an issue. So, if the restart method outlined above doesn’t work, use this option to "force quit" the explorer process and manually restart it.

2 Restart File Explorer from the command line

The advanced method

You may be unable to access Task Manager when File Explorer freezes. Or, you might not like the GUI and prefer the simplicity of the command line. Whatever the case, you can easily restart File Explorer from your system's PowerShell or Command Prompt utility.

Launch PowerShell or the Command Prompt as administrator and run the following command in order:

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

start explorer.exe

After successfully running the commands, the taskbar, desktop, and other visual elements of the Windows experience will reappear.

1 Create a Batch File to Restart File Explorer

Be prepared ahead of time

If you have to restart File Explorer often, you might want to make the process easier by creating a batch file you can use instead of constantly working your way through the Task Manager or the command line. Creating a batch file is straightforward using Notepad and a three-line script.

Launch Notepad and copy the following three lines.

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe

start explorer.exe

exit

Click File > Save as. In the Save as dialog, choose a convenient location to save the batch file.

Type an easy-to-identify name for your file. Change the .txt extension to .bat and click the Save button.

Once you follow the steps, a .bat file will be saved to the directory you selected. Now, you can double-click the batch file to restart File Explorer automatically. This saves you the steps of restarting it individually through Task Manager or the command line.

Keep getting things done when File Explorer acts up

While getting things done and needing to access an important document, nothing is more annoying than File Explorer freezing up so you can’t access your files and folders. However, using one or more of the above options will allow you to restart it to access the files and folders you need the most.