File Explorer Closes Randomly?

When working I will have multiple windows of file explorer open at a time. If I than start working on something else and leave those windows open in the background, they will close themselves leaving only one of them open. I have tried going into task manager and restarting file exploiter and that didn't fix it. i am running Windows 10 pro. Does any one have any ideas on how to fix?

Thank you!


Possibility #1

If the folder is deleted or moved explorer windows will close themselves. Are these folders being manipulated in anyway?

Possibility #2

The other possibility is explorer having too many files open at once. A good fix for this is to enable "Launch folder Windows in a separate Process". It's a little know feature of windows that allows the machine to separate file/folder access from the Explorer GUI process (been around since XP).

It can be found under Control Panel > File Explorer Options > "View" Tab > Launch folder Windows in a separate Process

Possibility #3

Alternatively, you can check to make sure that explorer hasn't become corrupted.

  1. Launch an administrator commandline (Win + X) -> Press "A"
  2. Click yes to accept the UAC prompt
  3. Type this command "sfc /scannow" (without the quotes)

Windows will scan all of its core files and fix any problem it finds. I am an IT professional and explorer generally starts to behave after theses steps have been exhausted.


If there's a network glitch, where a local Windows Explorer senses that a Network Share is no longer available, the OS WILL close Windows Explorer which was previously viewing said share. No error, no warning. 100% frustrating. Most users would prefer seeing an error with a REFRESH / RETRY option.


The simple fix is to set the Drive Map GPO to use the Action UPDATE.

To stop your mapped drives disappearing or automatically closing:

Launch Group Policy Managementnetwork-mapped-drives-closing-spontaneously-automatically Find your drive mapping GPO, right click on it and select EDIT Expand USER CONFIGURATION > PREFERENCES > WINDOWS SETTINGS > DRIVE MAPS Double click on the drive map that is automatically closing Change the ACTION drop down from REPLACE to UPDATE