Restart Explorer.exe with CMD or PowerShell in Windows 11

When you start a program in Windows, it automatically starts all the processes it needs to function. However, some programs might fail to start a process due to any number of reasons like locked files, not enough permissions, etc. Not only that but there might be times when you need to start or stop a process manually from the command line
. For instance, to apply changes or fix frozen File Explorer, you need to manually kill and start the Windows Explorer process.

The steps shown below will work in Windows 7 and 8 too.

How to Start or Stop a Process in Command Prompt

To start a process in Command Prompt:

1. Open the Command Prompt window
   from the Start menu.
2. In the cmd window, execute “ start “C:\path\to\process.exe”
   “. Replace the dummy path with the actual path of the process.
   
3. Most system processes don’t require the full path. For example, you can start Windows Explorer
   by simply typing “ start explorer.exe
   “.
4. Once the process is started, you can close
   the Command Prompt window.

To kill or stop a process in Command Prompt:

1. Open the Command Prompt window.
2. Here, type “ taskkill /im process.exe
   and press Enter. Replace “process.exe” with the actual process name.
   
3. You can also stop or kill a task using its Process ID. Use the “ taskkill /F /PID pid_number
   command. You can get the process ID by typing the “ tasklist
   ” command or from the task manager.
   
4. To stop all Not Responding processes, use the “ taskkill /f /fi
   command. It will force close all non-responsive processes.

How to Start or Stop a Process in PowerShell

To start a process in PowerShell:

1. First, open the PowerShell
   window.
2. Here, execute the “ Start-Process process.exe
   ” command to start a process. Don’t forget to replace the dummy process name with the actual process name.
   
   
3. As soon as you execute the command, the process will start
   with the account permissions.

To kill or stop a process in PowerShell:

1. Open the PowerShell
   .
2. To stop a process via PowerShell, you need its process ID. To get the process ID, execute the “ Get-Process
   ” command. You can see the process ID under the ID column.
   
   
3. Once you have the process ID, execute the “ stop-process -id <Process-ID>
   ” command to stop the target process. Don’t forget to replace “<Process-ID>” with the actual process ID you got earlier.
4. After killing the process, you can close the PowerShell window.

One good thing about PowerShell is that it allows you to attach arguments to the Start-Process cmdlet. You can check out this official documentation
on how to use those arguments.

I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.

Method 1: Task Manager

Restart almost any system application, including File Explorer
, in Windows 11 you can use “Task Manager”
( “DZ”
).

1. Open “DZ”
   , using the corresponding item of the additional menu of the button “Start”
   (called by pressing the RMB – the right mouse button) or the key combination “Ctrl+Shift+Esc”
   .
   

2. In the list of active processes (tab of the same name), find “Explorer”
   , select it and click on the button “Restart”
   .



3. If the file manager freezes and the operating system “understands” this, it will be possible “End task”
   – this is exactly what will be written on the button that we used in the previous step, this is also available in the context menu.

When “Guide”
restarts, all icons temporarily disappear from the taskbar (PT) – this usually takes no more than a few seconds.

However, in some cases it may be necessary to manually start the necessary process.

1. Call menu “File”
   system “DZ”
   and select the option “Run a new task”
   .



2. Copy the command below and paste it into the Open field
   window “Creating a task”
   . To confirm, use the button “OK”
   or key “Enter”
   .



3. The working capacity of the software will be restored, that is, all the icons will appear on it, the window of the “Explorer” will also be opened
   .

Method 2: Console

You can also solve the problem mentioned in the title of the article through the console, and it can be not only “Command line”
, but also “PowerShell”
, which appeared in Windows 10, and “Terminal”
, which has become one of the many innovations in Windows 11.

1. Using the search or any other method convenient for you, launch any of the three system snap-ins indicated above.
   

2. Enter the command below and press “Enter”
   to initialize it.

   taskkill /f /im explorer.exe



3. “Explorer”
   and all processes associated with it will be closed, and the taskbar will be empty – all icons will disappear from it. To start the file manager again, enter and confirm the following prompt in the console:



Pay attention!
You can forcefully close the file manager standard for the OS not only using “Command line”
, “PowerShell”
and “Terminal”
, but also through snap “Run”
(opened with the keys “Win + R”
) — this is done by the same team taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
. True, to restart, you will have to use any other of the methods proposed in this article.

Method 3: BAT file

If for some reason you often need to restart Explorer
This process is best automated. For these purposes, you will need to create a special batch file and place it on the desktop or in any convenient folder on the PC disk (the main thing is not to add it to the software).

1. Open Notepad
   . The easiest way to do this is to start entering the name of the application in the search, and then select it in the search results.



2. Highlight and copy the following sequence of commands, then paste it into Notepad
   :

   taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
exit



3. Next, this file will need to be saved, but not in the most standard way. Call the menu “File”
   and select the item “Save As”
   .
   

   Specify any convenient place on the computer disk in the file manager that opens (in our example, this is the Desktop), set some understandable name (for example “Restart Explorer”
   , then put a period and type “bat”
   as shown in the image below. To confirm, use the button “Save”
   .



When you need to restart File Explorer
, simply double-click the left mouse button (LMB) to open this BAT file.

Troubleshooting

Obviously, the task of restarting the file manager integrated into Windows 11 cannot be called a standard one – it is usually required when it freezes, does not work correctly, does not open, or other related problems arise. And if the recommendations above are not enough to solve them, check out a separate article on our website, which discusses all possible cases.

Read more: Restoring File Explorer to normal in Windows 11

Did the article help you?

• Restart File Explorer in Windows 10
• Proper closing of Explorer
• Fixing the error “Explorer is not responding”
• Conclusion
• Questions and Answers

“Explorer” is a standard file manager, without which it is impossible to interact normally with the operating system, and therefore if it works with errors, freezes, crashes or does not open at all, this becomes a problem. The best solution in this case is to restart it, and today we will tell you how to do this on Windows 10 computers.

Restart Explorer
may be required not only in cases where problems arise in its operation, but also after installing some software (for example, adding new elements to the file manager interface). Speaking of the latter option, it is often enough to simply close it and then open it using any of the methods available in Windows 10, which we wrote about earlier in a separate article. Next, we will talk about the restart.

Method 1: Task Manager

The use of this snap-in will be especially relevant when you restart “Explorer”
required to restore its performance, for example, in the event of a freeze or shutdown (often the desktop “disappears” along with it).

1. Press keys “CTRL+SHIFT+ESC”
   or right-click (RMB) on the taskbar and select the appropriate item in the context menu to launch “Task Manager”
   .



2. Familiarize yourself with the list of active processes in the tab of the same name and, if you find in it “Explorer”
   , select it by pressing the left mouse button (LMB), then use the now active button “End task”
   .
   

   Note that the latter will be available only if the file manager really freezes and does not respond. In the normal state, instead of it there will be a button “Restart”
   , pressing which solves our today’s task, that is, the next step is not required.

   

   Forced “End task”
   , even if this is not necessary, it is possible through the context menu.



3. If you didn’t find “Explorer”
   in the list of active processes or have already closed it (ended the task), to restart it, use the menu tab “File”
   , in which select the item “Start a new task”
   .
   
   In the window that appears, enter the command below and click the
   “OK” button
   or “ENTER”
   . Additionally, it is possible to launch a new task with administrator rights – to do this, you just need to check the box next to the item underlined in the image below.



How easy it is to restart File Explorer
if it crashes, freezes or does not open.

Method 2: “Command line”

Another option to restart the file manager built into the operating system is to use the console, in which you only need to enter two commands.

1. Use the system search (button on the taskbar or keys “WIN+S”
   to call) and start typing the name of the element you are looking for – “Command line”
   .



2. As soon as you see the desired application in the search results, right-click on it and select “Run as administrator”
   or use the link of the same name located to the right.



3. In the console window that opens, enter the command below and press “ENTER”
   for its implementation. This action will stop the workflow of File Explorer
   , simultaneously deactivating the display of all elements on the taskbar – it will become empty and black.

   taskkill /f /im explorer.exe



4. Now enter the following command – as soon as you press the key “ENTER”
   , the file manager will be restarted.



5. “Command Line”
   can now be closed.

Method 3: PowerShell

This shell is an improved analogue of the console discussed above and no less effectively copes with the solution of our today’s task.

1. Follow the steps from steps 1-2 of the previous method, only this time enter the PowerShell query in the search bar. Do not forget to run it as an administrator by selecting the appropriate item on the right.



2. Stop the work “Explorer”
   by entering the command indicated below and pressing “ENTER”
   .

   taskkill /f /im explorer.exe



3. Restart the process by typing and executing the following command:



As in the previous case, “Explorer”
will be restarted and its normal operation restored.

Method 4: BAT file

If you have to deal with problems in the operation of the Windows 10 file manager at least from time to time, that is, this behavior is not an isolated case, a reasonable solution would be to automate the restart process. To do this, you need to create a special batch file.

1. Open Notepad
   (you can use the search, create an empty text file on the desktop or enter the command notepad
   to the window “Run”
   , called by the keys “WIN+R”
   ).
   

2. Copy the code below and paste it into a text file. As you can see, it consists of the commands that we used in the two previous methods.

   taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe

   start explorer.exe

   exit



3. In Notepad
   call the menu “File”
   and use the item “Save as …”
   or just press the keys “CTRL+SHIFT+S”
   . Set any convenient and understandable name for the file (for example, “Restart Explorer”
   ), then put a period and add the extension bat. It should look exactly like the image below.
   

   After specifying the preferred location on the disk, click on the button “Save”
   .

4. Open the location of the saved BAT file and run it by double-clicking the LMB.



5. Thus the process of the “Explorer”
   will be first stopped and then started again, which was required to solve the problem set before us.

We recommend that you provide easy and quick access to the created batch file, at least if you plan to access it often.

Fix “Explorer not responding” error

In some cases, Windows 10 users encounter the error “Explorer is not responding”
, which may occur randomly or only when trying to access the file manager. The usual restart, the possible options of which we have considered above, is not enough to fix this problem in most cases. But there is a solution, and we have previously considered it in a separate article.

Read more: Troubleshooting Windows 10 File Explorer Not Responding Error

Correct closing of File Explorer

Surely everyone is used to closing the file manager in the same way as any other program in Windows – by clicking the “cross”, and if it freezes, turn to “Task Manager”
to force the process to stop. At the same time, not everyone knows that from “Explorer”
you can just get out. To do this, just hold down the keys “CTRL + SHIFT”
, right-click on the taskbar and select the last item of the context menu that was previously absent there – “Exit Explorer”
.

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