How to Start Explorer.exe from CMD
Starting the Windows Explorer executable (explorer.exe) from the Command Prompt (CMD) can be a useful trick for troubleshooting or performing advanced tasks on your Windows system. Whether you need to restart the file explorer due to a crash or you want to execute specific commands within the explorer environment, this guide will walk you through the steps to start explorer.exe from CMD.
Understanding Explorer.exe
Before diving into the steps, it’s important to understand what explorer.exe is. Explorer.exe is the graphical shell of the Windows operating system, responsible for displaying the file system, desktop, taskbar, start menu, and other user interface elements. It’s a critical process that needs to be running for the user interface to function properly.
Starting Explorer.exe from CMD
To start explorer.exe from CMD, follow these steps:
1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by searching for “cmd” in the Start menu, right-clicking on the Command Prompt application, and selecting “Run as administrator.”
2. Once the Command Prompt is open, you can start explorer.exe by simply typing the following command and pressing Enter:
“`
explorer.exe
“`
3. Alternatively, if you want to start explorer.exe with additional parameters, you can use the following command:
“`
explorer.exe /separate
“`
This command will start a new instance of explorer.exe, which can be useful if you want to open multiple explorer windows at once.
Restarting Explorer.exe
If you need to restart explorer.exe, you can do so by following these steps:
1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:
“`
taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
“`
This command will force-terminate the explorer.exe process.
3. After the process is terminated, you can start a new instance of explorer.exe by typing:
“`
explorer.exe
“`
or
“`
explorer.exe /separate
“`
Conclusion
Starting explorer.exe from CMD can be a handy skill to have in your Windows troubleshooting toolkit. Whether you need to restart the file explorer or execute specific commands within the explorer environment, following these steps will help you achieve your goals. Remember to open Command Prompt as an administrator to ensure you have the necessary permissions to perform these actions.
