How to Exit Explorer and Restart Explorer in Windows 10

[David Baxter PhD]

How to Exit Explorer and Restart Explorer in Windows 10 and Windows 8
by Ramesh Srinivasan, WinHelpOnline
December 25, 2015

Earlier we learnt how to exit and restart explorer shell safely in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It?s much simpler in Windows 8 and Windows 10, where the hidden "Exit Explorer" option is moved to the Taskbar context menu instead of the Start menu. Also, Task Manager has a new command in Windows 8 and Windows 10 that lets you do this task in a jiffy. The two methods are covered in this article.

Step 1: Exit Explorer in Windows 8 and Windows 10

• Press and hold the CTRL and SHIFT keys, and right-click an empty area in the Taskbar.
• Click the Exit Explorer extended menu option that appears.

This closes the Explorer shell.

Step 2: Start the Explorer Shell Manually

• To start the Explorer shell again, start Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC)
• Click the File menu, click Run new task
• Type explorer and press {ENTER}

Close Task Manager.

Exit and Restart Explorer shell in One Go
Now here is even better option. Task Manager can exit and restart the Explorer shell at once for you.

• Open Task Manager and scroll down to Windows processes category.
• Right-click Windows Explorer in the list, and click Restart

This closes the Windows Explorer shell safely and restarts it automatically!