How do I reinstall file explorer?

Question

I accidentally uninstalled file explorer from my PC and would like to reinstall it. I tried running

Get-AppxPackage *windowsfile*

in powershell, but nothing happened.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, neither Windows 10 nor Windows 11 supports reinstalling File Explorer. There is no straight forward way to reinstall it. You may try the following suggestions:

1. Go for a System Restore. Select any earlier restore point when there was no such issue.
2. Open Command Prompt as Admin and type the following commands followed by hitting the Enter key in each case:

   sfc /scannow

   DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

3. You may create a New User Account.
4. Update Windows to the latest.
5. Reset your PC keeping all the files.

Answer 2

Hi Daniel Kendall,

Thanks for your post. File explorer is a system file, not an appx package. Please run the following methods to repair the system. If both methods don’t help, please go with the system restore.

Method 1: Run the SFC. Follow the below steps:

1. Open Command Prompt.
2. Select “Run as Administrator”.
3. Type “sfc /scannow” without quotes and hit Enter.

Now check for the issue.

Method 2: Run the DISM Tool. If the issue persists, I would have you run the DISM tool to check the system health and will try to restore the files.

1. Click on 'Start'.
2. Enter 'Command prompt' in the Search box.
3. In the list of results, swipe down on or right-click Command prompt, and then tap or click 'Run as administrator'.
4. In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type the following commands. Press the Enter key after each command:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

To close the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type Exit, and then press Enter.

Note: The tool might take 15-20 minutes to finish running, so please do not cancel it.

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

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Answer 3

You may need to perform repair upgrade, using this community guide:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-perform-repair-upgrade-in-windows-11/8099a5ae-8afc-406f-864d-8d13c3742d8d