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Windows Explorer Keeps Crashing (Fix It Now)

Updated Feb 13, 2026

⚠️ Immediate Fix

Taskbar flickering or folders closing? The generic shell is crashing. This is usually due to a corrupt right-click menu item or video driver. Open File Explorer Options and select "Clear File Explorer History". If that fails, uninstall your fancy antivirus or PDF tool that adds icons to the right-click menu.

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Why This Happens

  • Corrupt Context Menu: A 3rd party app broke the right-click menu.
  • Video Driver: GPU driver crashing the desktop composition.
  • Corrupt History: Quick access cache is broken.

Step-by-Step Fix

  1. Clear Explorer History: Search "File Explorer Options". Under "Privacy", click Clear. Uncheck "Show recently used files" and try opening a folder again.
  2. SFC Scan: Open CMD as Admin. Type `sfc /scannow`. This repairs the `explorer.exe` DLLs.
  3. Update Video Driver: A crashing GPU driver will take the taskbar with it. Install the latest standard driver (not beta).
  4. Clean Boot: Disable all non-Microsoft startup services in `msconfig` to find the app causing the crash.
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Related Fixes

When to Stop

If Explorer crashes even in Safe Mode, your Windows installation is deeply corrupted. You need to reset the PC (Keep My Files option) to reinstall the core OS files.