Windows Explorer Keeps Crashing? [Fixed]

I have personally witnessed consistent Windows crashing. And it has not improved over the transition period from Windows 7 to Windows 10 now.

Be it Task manager, Windows Explorer, Start Menu search, any application or Windows itself it is always prone to some crashing premonition. Don’t you think so?

Here in this article, we will discuss the problem when Windows Explorer keeps crashing. There are plenty of viable reasons to support your complaint, but there is scarcely any authentic solution articulated in any solution providing sites.

But this article is not gonna let you down.

So if you are confronting one such problem, take a deep breath, and start reading the fixes fully operational.

Solution #1: Uninstall Unnecessary Third Party Ads-Ons

Add-ons come handy with mostly every application installation in Windows.

But at the same time, it can slow down your system performance to an unavoidable level crashing the Windows Explorer every now and then.

So you should immediately deactivate the third party add-ons and the steps here will guide on that.

Step 1. Go to the following web link and download the ShellExView, which is free of cost-utility:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

Step 2. Now install and run the utility with admin rights after downloading.

Step 3. Now on the tool’s operating interface, click on the “Options” button on the menu bar, and choose “Hide all Microsoft Extensions” to hide all the MS extensions in the background and reveal the third party extensions in the forefront.

Step 4. Use “Ctrl + A” keys together to choose all the third party extensions and choose “Disable Selected items” option from the right click sub menu context list.

This will definitely solve your problem.

You can now manually enable each third-party extension to find out the real culprit here. And then delete the particular extension once and for all or you can keep it deactivated if you find it okay.

Solution #2: Disable Thumbnails

If you have been using a computer for a longer period, you must be familiar with the term Thumbnail. It is generally a graphic image or document reduced to size so that it can serve as an icon for larger documents and images.

It helps in organizing multiple images for a compact view on a screen. But sometimes they too can crash because of the huge bulk of large sized images. Thus disabling them has been found to be effective in solving the issue.

So this is what you have to do:

Step 1. Open up the Windows file explorer, and click on “Organize” and choose “Folder Options”.

Step 2. Go to the “View” tab and make sure if the checkbox adjacent to “Always show icons, never thumbnails” is checked.

This will instantly disable the thumbnail feature on your Windows Explorer, and the crashing possibility will reduce to a certain extent.

Solution #3: Use Separate Process to Launch Folder Windows

Usually, a Windows folder opens up by running a single process by default in the background, which is sometimes the reason for Windows explorer crash.

But if you wish you can manipulate Windows to run separate processes for every folder you open.

So this is what you have to do:

Step 1. Open the Windows file explorer, and click on the “Organize” option.

Step 2. Click on “Folder options” and check the checkbox adjacent to “Launch folder windows in a separate process” option.

You can try this to see if your Windows is still crashing or not.

If the problem is still persisting, try out the next solution.

 

Solution #4: Find Error Causing Application by Windows Event Viewer

Sometimes, the reason for your Windows explorer crashing could be any certain application. But it is hard to detect the main culprit among so many.

To locate the main problematic application, we will take the help of the Windows event viewer where all your activities are recorded.

Follow the guideline below:

Step 1. Press “Windows logo key + R” to bring up the “Run” panel, and then type “eventvwr” in the search field and hit “Enter”.

Step 2. On the left side panel, click on “Windows Logs” and choose “Application” from the expanded options. On the right-hand side panel, you will view a list of different sorts of event logs.  Click on “Level” section to sort the logs according to “Critical” and “Errors” logs.

Step 3. Now patiently, look for the error in the list which occurred during the crashing. If you find one, click on it to see its description of the application in the “General” view box.

Interestingly the description will tell you where the application is stored.

Now you just have to go that particular location and uninstall the application that caused the crashing.

After the uninstallation, you are most likely to get done with the Windows explorer crashing issue.

Conclusion:

The solutions mentioned above are few fixes, which can definitely help you prevent Windows crashing problem.

After any solution you try, don’t forget to restart your computer to give it a fresh start.

If you know any other methods of fixing this issue, do let us know. You are free to share your views and wisdom on the comment box.

Keep reading, keep coming, and keep learning.