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How to Restart Windows Explorer.exe [Along with the Taskbar and Start Menu]

• Walter Glenn

  @wjglenn



• Updated

If your Taskbar, System Tray, or Start menu acts up, you might be tempted to restart your PC. Instead, you can usually just restart Windows Explorerand Windows makes it pretty easy.

Windows Explorer [Explorer.exe] is a program manager process that provides the graphical interface you use to interact with most of Windowsthe Start menu, taskbar, notification area, and File Explorer. Occasionally, any of these pieces that make up the Windows graphical shell can start acting strangely or even hang. Just like you can close and restart an app thats acting up, you can also close and restart Windows Explorer. Restarting Windows Explorer can also be handy if youve just installed a new app or applied a Registry tweak that would normally require you to restart your PC. Restarting Explorer doesnt always work in those cases, but its easy enough to try it first if you want to avoid a full restart. Here are a few ways you can restart Windows Explorer.

RELATED: 10 Ways to Customize the Windows 10 Start Menu

Option One: Restart Explorer from Task Manager

RELATED: How to Use the New Task Manager in Windows 8 or 10

Task Manager offers the traditional way to restart Windows Explorer. It was overhauled for Windows 8 and 10, so weve got instructions for you whether youre using those or Windows 7.

Restart Explorer from Task Manager in Windows 8 or 10

In Windows 8 or 10, open Task Manager by right-clicking any empty area on your taskbar and then clicking Task Manager. You can also hit Start and search for task manager, which might be more useful to you if youre looking at the Start screen instead of the desktop in Windows 8. And if you favor keyboard shortcuts, just press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

If your Task Manager window looks like the example below, click More details at the bottom to see the detailed interface.

The Process tab of the Task Manager window shows you apps and background processes currently running on your PC. Scroll down the list of whats running and find Windows Explorer. If you currently have a File Explorer window open, youll see it right near the top in the Apps section. Otherwise, youll find it toward the bottom of the Background Processes section. To restart, just select Windows Explorer and then click the Restart button.

Thats all you should have to do. It may take a few seconds and things like your taskbar and Start menu may disappear momentarily, but when it restarts, things should behave better and you can exit Task Manager.

Restart Explorer from Task Manager in Windows 7

Windows 7 doesnt offer a simple restart command like Windows 8 and 10 do. Instead, youll have to end the process and then restart it as two separate steps. Right-click any empty area of the taskbar and choose Task Manager.

In the Task Manager window, switch to the Processes tab. Select the explorer.exe process and then click the End Process button.

In the alert window that pops up, click End Process.

Your taskbar and notification area [as well as any open File Explorer windows] should disappear from view. Sometimes, Windows will restart the process automatically after a minute or so, but its easiest just to go ahead and restart it yourself. In the Task Manager window, click the File menu and then click New Task [Run].

In the Create New Task window, type explorer.exe into the Open box and then click OK.

Your taskbar and notification area should reappear and hopefully, whatever problem you were having will be resolved. You can close Task Manager.

Option Two: Exit Explorer from Your Taskbar and Start Menu

There is also a handy little shortcut for ending the Windows Explorer process. In Windows 8 and 10, you can hold Ctrl+Shift while right-clicking any empty area of the taskbar. On the modified context menu, click the Exit Explorer command.

In Windows 7, click Start and then hold Ctrl+Shift while clicking any open area on the Start menu to see the Exit Explorer command.

When you select these commands, they do not restart Windows Explorer on any version of Windowsthey simply end the process. Windows will often restart the process automatically after a minute or so, but if it doesnt, youll need to do so manually. Just press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager. Click the File menu and then choose Run new task in Windows 8 or 10 [or Create new task in Windows 7]. Type explorer.exe into the run box and hit OK to relaunch Windows Explorer.

Option Three: Restart Explorer witha Batch File

RELATED: How to Write a Batch Script on Windows

If youd prefer being able to restart Windows Explorer more quickly and avoid using Task Manager altogether, you can put together a simple batch file to do the job.

Fire up Notepad or your text editor of choice. Copy the following text and paste it into three separate lines in your blank text document.

Next, youll need to save the file with the .bat instead of .txt extension. Click the File menu and then click Save as. In the Save As window, choose your location and then, on the Save as type drop-down menu, choose All files [*.*]. Name your file whatever you want, followed by the .bat extension and then click Save.

RELATED: How to Edit the Win+X Menu in Windows 8 and 10

Store the batch file anywhere you like. You can then create a shortcut to the batch file that you can place wherever it makes the most sense for youon your desktop, Start menu, taskbar, or even add it to the Power Users menu you get when you press Windows+X.

Once your shortcut is in place, you have one click access to restarting Windows Explorer whenever you need to.