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File Explorer closes randomly

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Tuesday, January 29, 2019 8:01 PM

I am having trouble with my File Explorer randomly closing on it own.  I am using a Windows 10 PC on a server and browse to a folder on our server to access various files (Word, Excel and PDF).  I'm in these files all day long and it is easiest to leave File Explorer open as I'm accessing various files.  Several times a day File Explorer will randomly close and I will have to browse through our network structure to get back to the folder that I'm working in.  To make matters worse, every time this happens it causes problems with files I have open (PDF pages go blank) and I then have to close the files and re-open everything.  This has been happening up to 20 times a day and doesn't matter which folder on the network I'm in or which files I have open.  How can I keep File Explorer from doing this?

All replies (24)

Wednesday, January 30, 2019 2:14 AM

Hi,

Thanks for your post in our forum.

Firstly, did it only happen on those shared folders? Or also the local folder?

please refer to the following link to see if it helps.

File Explorer Closes Randomly?

Note: this is a 3rd party link, we don't have any warranties on this website. It's just for your convenience. And Microsoft does not make any guarantee on the contents.

Hope above information can help you.

Thanks again for your understanding and support.

Best Regards,

Otto

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Wednesday, January 30, 2019 6:52 AM

Hello,

Try resetting File Explorer (explorer.exe) Process:

  1. Press Windows Key + R and type SYSDM.CPL in Run. Click OK or press Enter key.

  2. In System Properties window, switch to Advanced tab, click Settings under Performance.

  3. Next, in Performance Options, under Processor scheduling, make sure that Adjust for best performance of: is set to Programs.

  4. Then in the same window, under Virtual memory, click Settings button.

  5. On Virtual Memory page, make sure Automatically manage paging file sizes for all drives option is checked. Click OK, then Apply, OK on rest of windows.

  6. Reboot the machine and see if issue is resolved now.

Let us know if this helps!

Reference: https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-file-explorer-not-working-in-windows-10

Microsoft MVP (Windows and Devices for IT)

Windows Insider MVP

Windows Help & Support [www.kapilarya.com]

Thursday, January 31, 2019 2:01 AM

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the information provided was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

Best Regards,

Otto Wang

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Thursday, January 31, 2019 5:33 PM

Hi, I've tried the the suggestion above about re-setting File Explorer and if I did everything correctly it's still not working.  All of the settings above were already checked the way you say to so I don't know if I actually did anything.  In answer to your question above, I'm not certain if it only happens on shared network folders or if it would do it on local folders too as I rarely access local folders and spend all of my time in shared network folders.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Thursday, January 31, 2019 9:14 PM

are the network drives mapped via group policy?
Then could be the same as: Explorer closes automatically after a while

Thursday, January 31, 2019 10:19 PM

To be honest, I'm not sure.  I'm a CPA and not an IT person.  I work in a small office and most users have computers still running Windows 7 while I recently was upgraded to a new Windows 10 PC.  As far as I know I'm the only one having these issues in the office.  If the network drives are mapped via group policy, would that be something specific to how my machine was set up or is that something that is done at the server and applies to all of the computers on the network?  We do not have an in-house IT department but use a local company that helps maintain our server and set up my new computer a couple months ago.  I may have to check with them about how the network drives are mapped, or is there a way to check from my computer?

Thursday, April 25, 2019 8:18 PM

I have had the same issue since getting a new computer running Windows 10.  I open a couple of file explorer windows and set them in the corners of my desktop opened to the network folders I use most frequently.  Sometimes the file explorers will stay open for several hours, other times it is only a few minutes before they close themselves.  I've even had them close immediately after I had selected a file in one of the windows to move to another directory.  There doesn't seem to be any pattern, it just seems random.

I've read in other threads that this seems to be associated with the network GPO refresh and mapped drive letters, but that's not something I can do anything about.  As near as I can tell, this seems to be a bug in the Windows 10 operating system that has been around since Windows 8 - this never happened on my old Windows 7 computer.  I wish Microsoft would fix this extremely annoying bug.  Between this and the awful interface I really wish I could go back to Windows 7!

Thursday, April 25, 2019 9:04 PM

what do you mean: you can't do anything about the group policy?
here is a lengthy discussion on the Replace / Update differences, and a description on how to go back to the pre Windows 8.1 behaviour:
Group Policy User Drive Mapping is set to UPDATE. How to disconnect while keeping Update setting

Thursday, April 25, 2019 9:41 PM

I mean I am on the user end of the GPO, not the IT end, so I don't have access to the settings which get pushed out.  Thanks for the link though, if I can get our IT department to look into it I will have that much more information to give them.  Still a bug in my view though since this never happened with Windows 7.

Something else I've read may be the cause is one or more of the Network Adaptor Properties under Device Manager.  One of the threads I had read said to try turning off "Energy Efficient Ethernet" - but that didn't solve the issue.  Another setting under "Power Management" I tried changing today is unchecking "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".  Which may be the culprit since the file explorer windows closed immediately after I clicked "OK" on changing the setting.  They've stayed open so far since I changed it though - but I could just be having one of those long intervals between closing.  If they continue to behave I'll post an update.

Thursday, April 25, 2019 10:37 PM

The Network Adaptor setting did not solve the issue.  It was just a long interval before they finally closed themselves.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019 1:21 PM

Having the exact same issue.  Were you able to ever resolve this?

Tuesday, July 23, 2019 2:43 PM

Unfortunately, no. The IT people say I will just have to live with it until MS fixes the bug - which has been around since Windows 8, so I doubt it will ever get fixed. Hopefully your IT people are more sympathetic and will be willing to explore the discussion of a possible solution EckiS posted above.  From what I've read, the group policy settings do make a difference.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019 7:50 AM | 2 votes

Tell you Support to change the action of the Drive mapping via Group Policy from "Replace" to "Refresh".
This should fix the issue.

Friday, October 11, 2019 9:50 AM

This has been causing issues with a few of my customers for a long time. Can't believe something as simple as changing "Replace" to "Refresh" in a GPO resolved this!

Looking at it now it's completely obvious why the explorer session closes down.

Monday, January 6, 2020 2:36 PM

Hello,

I have the same issue and have a Surface Tablet with Windows 10. The network drives always close after a period of between 5-10 minutes. If I happen to have a local drive folder open, that will remain open, so I do believe it's related to the refresh of the network. I however am also a non-IT person, and I have asked my IT department why it happens to my surface when my fellow colleagues do not seem to have the issue. The IT department has run the same solution suggestions and there have not been any changes.

Is there a proper solution fix to this, that I could forward to my IT department? Thanks!

Monday, January 6, 2020 2:42 PM

The Link EckiS had provided in response to my post is a good discussion of the issue.  I finally did get my IT department to change the Group Policy Updates for the drive maps from "Replace" to "Update" or "Refresh" and that has solved the issue on my Windows 10 computer.

Monday, January 6, 2020 9:38 PM

so it took your IT department 6 month to change the group policy?
we must be working for the same company!

Monday, January 6, 2020 9:44 PM

Yes, as long as it was just one or two users complaining they didn't seem to care very much, but we recently installed a PDM system and also had to update all the computers still using Windows 7 to Windows 10 because of 7 End-of-Life deadline.  Between the two there was a whole host of users complaining.  Thing is, our IT department didn't even know how to fix the issue until I pointed them to the link you provided, so - thanks again!

Monday, January 20, 2020 9:55 PM

So I read about this problem and found the group policy solution.  My IT department refused to change the GP setting so I took matters into my own hands and created UNC path shortcuts \servername\sharename to EVERYTHING I use.

This worked for quite some time, but now even UNC path windows are closing.

Any advice?

Tuesday, February 4, 2020 11:15 PM

Hi! While I've experienced File Explorer shutting down randomly & unexpectedly, it's probably happened a dozen times or so in the last couple of days. The "solution" above is no help because this is occurring on my home-office desktop. I am NOT connected to or trying to access any files on a network. I've tried rebooting, and shutting down my computer, but the problem persists. I have searched for other solutions, but have found none, although I have a hard time believing that I'm the only one who is / has been experiencing this problem. 

FYI, I have updates set to "automatic", so I have the "latest and greatest" W10 version. 

Thanks for any help.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020 6:25 AM

when you have a totally different problem (you are not connecting to shared drives), you should create a separate thread.
And look in event viewer if explorer is crashing: there are already threads for this problem.

Friday, May 8, 2020 2:32 AM

I have the same problem, seem it is the problem of Win10. I have working with 2 companies and also have these problem while win7 PC has not this problem.

Further, users are using network drives, and even user open one network driver folder, it will close the folder automatically.

P.S. All MS Windows and Office are update to date. 

Friday, May 8, 2020 3:49 AM

So did you try changing the GPO to "refresh"?

Monday, June 29, 2020 9:34 AM

Hello,

I have the same problem, the explorer close on some PC on Windows 10.

It's make only this with the computers on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019.

I try with a old share folder on Windows Server 2012 (not R2) and the explorer never close.

I will try to change the drive maps Refresh and come back to say you if it change something.

Sorry if m'y English is bad.

Edit :

I change to refresh yesterday [06/29/2020) and the explorer never close.

Thank you ! !! !!!