File explorer not responding in Windows 11. It opens up but becomes unresponsive when you click anywhere.

Hi, I’ve had this problem before. What worked for me is opening windows run, (windows+r) typing in shell:recent\AutomaticDestinations and deleting everything inside. Then type in shell:recent\CustomDestinations and delete everything inside. Empty the recycling bin and for me it works.

For anyone else facing this issue, I found a YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AZGegx9ews. I didn't want to reset my PC, so I opened up command prompt as admin. Ran the command 'sfc /scannow', let it do it's thing, and then restarted Windows. After the reboot, File Explorer was up and running again. Not sure if this will work for everyone, but it worked for me.

Thank you for contributing to this thread.

After having tried different suggestions, your workaround worked for me at once.

Since many people have reported having this issue, I cannot believe why Microsoft has still not found a solution for this. This only tarnishes their reputation in favor of other OSs.

Thank you.

Following steps solved my issue.

Step 1: Be sure that, "Windows Event Log" service is running.

1. Open services: run "Services.msc".
2. be sure that "Windows Event Log" is running, and its "Startup Type" is "Automatic".

Step 2: Reset DCOM permissions.

1. Run "dcomcnfg"
2. Open "Componet Services\Computers", right-click "My Computer" and select Properties.
3. switch to "Default Properties" tab.

the values ​​should be like this:

"Default Authentication Level" should be "Connect".

"Default Impersonation Level" should be "Identify".

4. even if the values ​​are as above, first select different values ​​and click "Apply", then select the above values and click "Apply" again.
5. Restart your pc.

that's all.

Hi Dayri,

Thank you for your response. I had tried many things. Unfortunately, they did not work. I reset my PC by backing up my data (without losing the data). Now fire explorer is working.

Best,
Sajan