How to reinstall/reset file explorer

Question

File explorer is bugged on my windows 11 install.

In the left side window, normally you'd have a bunch of shortcuts, pinned folder etc. But those are entirely gone in my file explorer, and i can't add new once because of a error saying there was an error during read.

This is what a standard file explorer looks like.

https://pbs-prod.linustechtips.com/monthly_2023_01/933134969_Skrmbillede2023-01-23091212.png.eb56e9d0fe8de30b016bcbb43d8d4380.png

And this is what my file explorer looks like. As you can see, the left side window is missing all of the above mentioned stuff. This means if i want to go to downloads, i can either go to "C:\Users\user\Downloads" or an easier method is open my browser, click downloads and open folder.

https://pbs-prod.linustechtips.com/monthly_2023_01/485272486_Skrmbillede2023-01-22225352.png.46988de693bf9915ff2384212ffa57ed.png

Answer 1

Hi

I am Dave, I will help you with this.

They have made a few changes in the new File Explorer app, it can be strange to navigate around.

To make the left hand Navigation Pane look more like the old one, right click and empty spot inside it and turn on 'Show All Folders', does that provide a better view?

Answer 2

Both pictures are taken from two machines running the same version and build of win11. New explorer is not the difference, neither does it explain the file explorer error.

"Show all folders" does provide a slightly better experience, but it doesn't fix the error nor the segmented layout.

Answer 3

Hi

Did you try turning on each of the options on that right click menu in the navigation pane?

If you did and that did not solve this.

Open File Explorer, then open Task Manager.

On the processes tab of Task Manager, find Windows Explorer, right click that and select Restart

Your screen will go blank for a couple of seconds, then open File Explorer again, does the same problem still exist?

Answer 4

Not all of them. Just "show all folders". Which btw is not enabled on the other machine, that is just default file explorer.

Restarting explorer does not help, issues persist. Reinstalling file explorer, now that might actually work. Other wise everything else is working as intended, it's just the file explorer that's having issues.

Answer 5

They do not provide any method to re-install File Explorer.

The only method to do anything like that would be to perform an in-place repair with the Windows 11 ISO.