On the command line on Windows 8.1, how can I kill/close all Windows file explorer windows... but without killing and restarting the shell?
It's crazy that they're the same process.
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1You may want to read up on this here to start: stackoverflow.com/questions/24911112/… – Pillsbury IT Doughboy Nov 25 '15 at 9:17
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You can use the command line utility NirCmd (freeware) (archive.org's mirror for the webpage; archive.org's mirror for the binary) and execute:
nircmd.exe win close class "CabinetWClass"
I use it on Windows 7 SP1 x64 Ultimate and it works as intended: it will close all Windows Explorer windows, but won't kill the explorer.exe process.
The program is supposed to work on Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
answered Apr 15 '18 at 22:46
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1Thanks! Sorry it took so long to mark "answered". I'd totally forgotten I'd posted this question over a year ago, and just searched for a solution on Google again now only to find my own question here! nircmd rocks. – LaVache May 28 '19 at 2:15
Complementing Franck's brilliant response:
You can automate a shortcut to this command by following the steps:
- create a new folder somewhere you like
- inside it, paste the app "nircmd.exe"
- still inside it, create an expkill.txt file with the command informed by Franck:
nircmd.exe win close class "CabinetWClass" - change the .txt file extension to .bat file, turning into expkill.bat
- create a shortcut to this file and change its name to just "expkill"
- move this shortcut to the 'user folder'
Result
now whenever you type the steps below, windows explorer windows will be closed WITHOUT terminating the explorer.exe process
- [CTRL + R]
- expkill
- [ENTER]
Note
Don't know how to access the user's folder?
Follow the instructions:
- type [Win + R]
- type just a dot:.
- type [enter]
- the folder you open is the user's folder
