Questions tagged [windows-explorer]

Windows Explorer (renamed to File Explorer in Windows 8) is the file manager that comes with Windows and is not to be confused with Internet Explorer which is Windows' default Web browser.

1,458 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
13 votes
2 answers
3k views

High CPU usage from explorer.exe shcore.dll!Ordinal247+0xc0

I've been experiencing high cpu usage from explorer.exe in Windows 10 Pro since a while ago, and this specific dll function seems to be the culprit. Any idea what it's for? I couldn't find anything ...
hikari's user avatar
  • 334
9 votes
0 answers
986 views

Thumbnail preview for custom file extension with known format

I have a file named test.png. Windows 10 shows a thumbnail preview in file explorer just fine. I'd like to rename it to test.abc and have the thumbnail preview still work. Following forcing ...
candied_orange's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
6k views

How does Windows decide whether to use Deflate or Deflate64 for zipping files?

I am observing issues when trying to unzip files from C#. These files were created with the built-in zip feature of Windows Explorer (in Windows 8.1 x64). The issues are based on the fact that ...
O. R. Mapper's user avatar
8 votes
5 answers
29k views

Change Windows explorer font size

I'd like to increase the font size in Windows Explorer. By default it's very small, and I don't really like that for navigating folders and finding files. Here's what it looks like by default: When ...
Drown's user avatar
  • 181
8 votes
1 answer
280 views

How do I get Explorer to default to Folder Path instead of Folder when I search?

Whenever I run a search in Explorer on Windows 7, the first thing I do is remove the Folder column and then add the Folder Path column. Is there a way to save this configuration so that this becomes ...
Rich Bennema's user avatar
  • 1,503
8 votes
1 answer
3k views

"Size on disk" column missing in Windows Explorer?

I decided to use the "compress this drive to save space" option on my backup drive, which simply houses a Windows Server Backup. I learned that when viewing file properies for files on a drive using ...
Triynko's user avatar
  • 3,294
7 votes
0 answers
483 views

Can I make windows file explorer treat underscore (_) as a word separator (for ctrl navigation)?

I'm overhauling my folder structure and trying to come up with a good file-naming system. Underscore seems like a good field separator - less obtrusive than (-) and more portable than space. When ...
MASQ's user avatar
  • 71
6 votes
0 answers
1k views

Group by date (or month or ...) instead of "A long time ago" in explorer on windows 10

There seems to be no recent, current and clear answer to the simple question: How can I FIX* the group by feature in the explorer in windows 10 so that it is actually grouped by time units in usable ...
WaltheRed's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
4k views

Opening Google Docs from Windows 10 File Explorer

I am using Google Drive Backup and Sync for Windows 10. Google Docs open VERY slowly from File Explorer. With the Chrome browser already open, it takes about 30 seconds after opening the file from ...
user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
2k views

Is it possible to get File Explorer to remember open tabs for next time you start it?

I've been using an add-in for Windows File Explorer called QtTabBar for years. The main benefit it gave me was tabs. I've just upgraded my PC from Windows 10 to Windows 11, which has tabs in File ...
Avrohom Yisroel's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Bring all explorer windows to front

Is there a smooth way to achieve that with a hotkey or change a setting? My workflow problem is I am running fullscreen apps and using several instances of Explorer simultaneously to move files around ...
Christoffer M's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
4k views

What could possibly cause explorer to "leak" memory?

I have been experiencing this problem for a while now. I'm on Windows 10 v1909. Whenever I have an Explorer window open, the memory (here indicated in private bytes - I know that doesn't reflect every ...
tvc's user avatar
  • 512
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

How to prevent Windows Explorer from generating thumbnails for a specific folder?

I use rclone to mount a remote as a drive on Windows 10, however whenever I open a folder that contains videos, Windows Explorer starts trying to create thumbnails fo them which makes rclone re-...
user9564371's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
5k views

Windows 10 file explorer randomly corrupted since update

Yesterday suddenly my windows file explorer looked strange (see screenshot) and even the behaviour of my mouse changed, where I always had to double click to open something, now it opens up with one ...
Rep's user avatar
  • 51
5 votes
0 answers
2k views

Edit text from the preview pane in Windows Explorer

Is there any way to configure Windows Explorer so as to be able to edit text from the preview pane, when previewing text files? I use Windows 7 SP1 x64 Ultimate.
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
782 views

Is there any way to get a 'Watched' Tag for Video files in Windows Explorer?

Is there any way to add a watched tag automatically on video files in windows explorer for the videos that are partially/completely watched? Something like youtube.com does. If partially watched and ...
Shivam Lakhotia's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
109 views

sort 'like a library' in windows explorer (omit 'The ', 'A ', 'An', etc)

Is there a way to sort 'like a library' in windows explorer (omit 'The ', 'A ' and 'An ' from file names for the purpose of sorting)? i.e. current behavior (sorted as Windows would normally do with ...
user294133's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
115 views

Disable XP SP2+’s FQP Requirement?

I finally gave in and decided to update XP to SP3. One of the things that bothers me about SP2+ and which caused me to put it off for so long is that it requires fully-qualified paths for file-types ...
Synetech's user avatar
  • 68.8k
5 votes
3 answers
4k views

Windows Explorer: Customize view settings via batch or shell-extension?

In folders with shortcuts (and junctions) I oftenly like to have mid-sized icons, sorted names and grouping by type. Alas, Explorer oftenly forgets these settings once I made them manually. The ...
Andreas Spindler's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
671 views

Stop windows-7 explorer taskbar icon changing for different locations

If I open an instance of Windows Explorer, a button appears on the taskbar; its icon matches the icon of current location in Explorer. E.g. If I've clicked on a drive (e.g. C:) then the taskbar icon ...
BigOakTree's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Enable Dark Mode for everything expect explorer.exe

In Windows 10 1809 explorer.exe received a dark mode which can be enabled in the modern settings app and is listed as "Choose your default app mode" under Personalization -> Colors. I however don't ...
User025's user avatar
  • 682
5 votes
3 answers
3k views

How to Disable Hovering Selection Block in File Browser?

I am changing from Windows XP to Windows 7. One thing I cannot stand about Windows 7 is that whenever you mouse over files in Explorer (or other file-browser), it highlights the files with a semi-...
bgmCoder's user avatar
  • 1,909
4 votes
0 answers
459 views

is there a way to enable Colored Emojis in windows file explorer

using emojis in windows file explorer (file and folder names for example) always show in black/white version of the emojis but i noticed that in windows 11 explorer tabs the colored emojis are ...
Kareem's user avatar
  • 93
4 votes
0 answers
1k views

Windows 10 - Way to change default search mode in Windows Explorer to 'Current folder'

Has anyone found a way / hack to set the default search mode in Windows Explorer to 'Current folder'? I probably need to search for a folder, by partial name, in the current directory (no recursion) ...
Grallen's user avatar
  • 141
4 votes
0 answers
361 views

File explorer does not auto-refresh after file operations after Windows Update

I recently updated Windows 10 to the latest 20H2 update (after having skipped the past 2 or 3), and noticed some time after that that file operations in any of my Explorer windows were not being ...
Johnny's user avatar
  • 141
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is it possible to add functions to the ribbon in File Explorer (Windows 10)?

The Ribbon in Windows's File Explorer is the tab-filled menu on top of the folder. It has some useful fonctions, and is contextual (images options, video options, trashbin options,...). There is a lot ...
Taladris's user avatar
  • 425
4 votes
0 answers
4k views

Renaming a file in Explorer Win10 does not change modified date

This is something that never occurred to me but I noticed that when I rename a file its modified attribute will remains unchanged. This happens on multiple devices I tested it on (Win10, NTFS) and for ...
colonel_claypoo's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
3k views

Is there a way to make image file previews bigger than 256 (extra large) in Windows 10?

I bought myself a bigger monitor with 2560x1440px resolution and I want the image previews to be biiiig but they seem to be limited to 256px size at "extra large" setting. Fullscreen at max size it ...
user1004106's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

Remove extra space in File Explorer for Windows 10 v1709

I upgraded to Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and in This PC, there is some extra space when in the Tile view. How do I remove it? I do have a touch/pen PC and I do expect the checkboxes. Screenshot ...
Daniel A. White's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
655 views

Windows 10 doesn't start UI/Explorer after scheduled update

Windows asked for a time to update. When the scheduled update happened I wasn't at my computer. Now, I restarted Windows and I find that it doesn't start the UI. There's an empty screen. I can start ...
Christian's user avatar
  • 2,264
4 votes
1 answer
948 views

Any way to get OS X-like Open dialog drag-and-drop behaviour on Windows?

In OS X, dragging and dropping a file from the Finder into a system Open File dialog causes the dialog to navigate to the containing folder and select the dragged file. I would like to have the same ...
damian's user avatar
  • 141
4 votes
0 answers
2k views

Windows 10 File Explorer aka Windows Explorer, keeps launching itself

Windows 10 File Explorer aka Windows Explorer, keeps launching itself, sometimes every few seconds sometimes 10 -15 minutes apart. minimising doesn't help as it pops up again. Very annoying in the ...
Shaun's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes
1 answer
7k views

Changing File Explorer Background Color Windows 8.1

I want to change the white flourish background color of default file explorer in Windows 8.1 Pro. Its hard to see white background color every time people with weak eye-sight or for continuous ...
maliks's user avatar
  • 167
4 votes
1 answer
221 views

Prevent Windows Explorer going to Computer when network lost

When I undock my work computer, network connection is temporarily lost, while Windows switches from LAN to wireless. When this happens, all open folders (that are on the share) revert to Computer. ...
AdamAL's user avatar
  • 163
4 votes
1 answer
5k views

How to stop explorer.exe outbound connections on Windows 8.1

I've got this annoying outbound TCP connection from explorer.exe to 111.221.29.122 using port 443 (Windows 8.1). Apparently this is some kind of push notification service as describes here: https://...
Dima's user avatar
  • 278
4 votes
0 answers
108 views

Add more folder templates in windows explorer

Windows, since the old days, includes 5 folder templates that one can use to modify the UI. Plus, once a template is updated, all folders with that template get the same settings. That would be ...
Odys's user avatar
  • 1,631
4 votes
0 answers
102 views

Windows explorer keyboard search timeout

In windows explorer (in Windows 7, at least, and I think most other versions) you can type the name of a folder or file and the highlight bar will follow your keystrokes until you stop typing for a ...
Ron Christie's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
4k views

Windows 8.1 takes 10 seconds to open file explorer from taskbar (not from start menu)

I open "This PC", and right click to to "Pin this program to taskbar". Now there's a shortcut to explorer in my taskbar, but when i click it, it takes around 10 seconds before the explorer window is ...
James's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes
1 answer
984 views

How to change default folder template for MTP Device?

When connecting an Android Phone to Windows 7 by USB, it connects as an MTP device. The "media" folder template selected by Windows is incorrect for 95% of the folders on the phone. I want to cause ...
tim11g's user avatar
  • 1,588
4 votes
1 answer
267 views

Why is my 500GB hdd not readable after dd'ed on a different 500GB hdd?

Accidentally formatted an important external 500GB hdd yesterday. Not an SDD, 2.5". (Quick) formatting occured while installing windows xp on it. I had the wrong usb drive plugged in. ~600MB are ...
panny's user avatar
  • 665
4 votes
2 answers
676 views

explorer.exe randomly hogging my CPU; any insight into this ProcessMonitor log?

My computer occasionally becomes terribly unresponsive. Opening Process Explorer reveals that it's explorer.exe hogging 100% of the CPU. I poked around until I found the thread id which was doing it,...
loneboat's user avatar
  • 519
4 votes
0 answers
2k views

How to show icons for some file types and thumbnails for others?

How can I control which file types are shown as thumbnails and which as icons? I do think that showing these tiny little thumbnails for things like text file or spreadsheet is utterly stupid. You can'...
SiliconMind's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Custom folder field for Windows 7

I would like to be able to add a custom field to folders in Windows 7, and then be able to show that column(field) when viewing the folder in Explorer (sort and group etc). Question: How can I ...
Sunil's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Synchronize music ratings between iTunes and Windows Explorer

I want to synchronize my file ratings between iTunes and Windows Explorer. I have found one utility--Orzeszek Ratings--that synchronizes between iTunes => Windows Media Player => iTunes. However, it ...
Daniel's user avatar
  • 797
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

KB980408: Fix for Explorer freezing: does anyone know what app caused it?

Microsoft released an update for Windows 7 today (Tuesday, April 27, 2010): KB980408: The April 2010 stability and reliability update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is available. The ...
Ian Boyd's user avatar
  • 22.2k
4 votes
4 answers
692 views

Prevent Explorer From Expanding Network Folders when in Folders View

When you are browsing a network share and there are over 1000 folders in the root (like at work), is there a way to prevent Explorer from expanding all the Folders when you have the "Folders" view ...
Chris's user avatar
  • 701
4 votes
2 answers
5k views

Windows 10 File Explorer Search Not Working

Using Windows 10 Pro 64bit. When I type something in the top right Search box of the File Explorer nothing happens. However it does work in Safe Mode. How do I fix this?
Abi's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Open multiple files in order in Windows 7

In Windows XP, when you selected multiple files in Explorer, then chose an app from the context menu (Open With, etc.), that app would open the selected files in the selected order. In Windows 7, it ...
BrenBarn's user avatar
  • 447
4 votes
5 answers
3k views

Remove "AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition" from Windows Explorer context menu

When I right click inside a folder in Windows Explorer, there is an option called "AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition": (This option only appears when I right click on an empty space inside ...
Donald Duck's user avatar
  • 2,569
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is there a way to by default reduce the length of the Windows Explorer search bar (Windows 10)?

With the latest Windows 10 update (1909 5/30/2020) the File Explorer search bar has become obnoxiously large. Is there a way to reduce it PERMANANTLY. Everywhere I see they say "uhhh grab the ...
Deathrider365's user avatar

1
2 3 4 5
30