6 Ways to Fix the File Explorer Problems on Windows 10

Is the File Explorer behaving slowly and is sometimes blocking your workflow?

If so then it’s time to fix it and make it run faster, lightning fast!

When you File Explorer is lagging and opening slow this makes work a little bit harder, since we use the file explorer every time we need to access a document or file.

In this easy tutorial, you will learn how to optimize, fix, and repair the File Explorer from all aspects (Downloads folder, indexing, cache, Windows Explorer, Windows corrupt files, Quick Access, …).

Just follow the steps below, and the File Explorer should work fine.

Let’s go!

Repair the File Explorer Problems on Windows 10

1. Restart the Windows Explorer

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc or right-click on the Taskbar and choose “Task Manager“.

Local and select the “Windows Explorer” from the list and click “Restart” on the bottom of the Task Manager’ window.

This should restart the Windows Explorer and the File Explorer should now be working again in case it didn’t want to before.

2. Clean AutomaticDestinations Folder

Next step is to clean the following folder:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

Copy this path and paste it in Run to access it faster:

Press Ctrl+A to select all files, then press Shift+Delete to delete all without recycling them.

Confirm by clicking on “Yes“.

If some items couldn’t be found, check “Do this for all current items” and click “Skip“.

3. Rebuild the Index

Sometimes the problems may be caused because the index is broken, let’s rebuild it!

Open the Start menu and launch “Indexing Options“”.

Click on “Advanced“.

Click “Rebuild“.

It will say: Rebuilding the index might take a long time to complete. Some views and search results might be incomplete until rebuilding is finished.

Click “OK“.

4. Clear Quick Access Cache

Right-click on “Quick access” on the File Explorer and choose “Options“.

Click on “Clear” next to “Clear File Explorer history“. Don’t click “OK” yet.

Open the “View” tab, check the option “Launch folder windows in  a separate process” and click “OK“.

5. Optimize the “Downloads” Folder

Now let’s make the Downloads folder run faster and optimize it.

Right-click on the “Downloads” folder and choose “Properties“.

Click on “Advanced“.

Uncheck the option “Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed in addition to file properties“.

Click “OK“.

Open the “Customize” tab and select “General items” for “Optimize this folder for:“.

Click “OK“.

6. Disable “Windows Search” Service

If you are having problems searching for your documents, disable the “Windows Search” service.

Open Run using the Windows+R keyboard shortcut and type in services.msc, click “OK“.

Right-click on “Windows Search“.

Click on “Stop” and set the Startup type to Disabled. Click “OK“.

Now your File Explorer should work faster without problems!

If you still have some problems then head to How to Fix Corrupt Files on Windows 10. You may have a corrupt Windows, just follow the steps and you should be good to go

Thank you for sharing in advance.