File explorer works on one account, not on the other.

[jsmith24]

Hi all,

This probably isn't specific to Windows 10, but it just started happening after upgrading to 10 yesterday. The basics:

- Two accounts on system, both administrator level.
- Everything worked fine on both immediately after install/upgrade.
- At some point on one account, File Explorer stopped working properly. If I run explorer.exe or go to "This PC", works fine. If I click File Explorer from the Start button, the little wheel spins for a few seconds, then the screen blinks, icons reload, and nothing happens. The same thing happens with Windows key+E.

I did manage to unpin the File Explorer from the task bar and repin it from the Windows directory, and it seems to work fine there, but I can't get Windows-E or the link on the Start menu to work.

Is there a way to reset this? I've already tried a System Restore with no luck.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[John Byrne]

Hi Jack

After reading through the problem that you are facing on your version of Windows 10 I can see that this is the exact same problem that I am facing, except on my computer I have only 1 account which is a administrator.

The problem that you have described matches my own perfectly, I try to open my windows start button and click the quick access button to "File Explorer" and it begins to load - eventually leading to a brief blink of the screen and everything looks the same but "File explorer" of course has failed to open or even remotely allowed access.

I can access through "This PC" just fine, and search through my system drives "C and E" but when I go to a document or any other file location that is within the user location files it does the blink and everything is gone, leaving me on the desktop screen, wondering I am supposed to do about this. I have tried many troubleshooting techniques but all have failed, and the some aren't even able to open because they will not load just perform the blink action and I am back on my desktop.

Anyway I really don't know what to do, so I called the support line of Microsoft to see what was going on, after spending roughly 60 minutes on the phone with a level 1 technician, she found that any troubleshooting was futile and I have been referred to speak to a level 2 technician tomorrow, as she said the problem was "Complex" and "Was cause by files on the OS not performing correctly".

If you want I can keep you updated, and let you know if I get a fix from this technician tomorrow.

Regards,

John

 

[jsmith24]

Hi John,

I'm sorry to hear that you're in the same boat as me, but glad at the same time - misery does, indeed, love company! Please do keep me updated. I've been doing this since the early 80s and never seen anything so frustrating.

Thanks!

Jack

 

[davidhk129]

Create another admin account. See if the new one works correctly.
If yes, one account is corrupted. Backup whatever you want to keep and delete the corrupt account.

 

[John Byrne]

Create another admin account. See if the new one works correctly.
If yes, one account is corrupted. Backup whatever you want to keep and delete the corrupt account.

Yes, I have already used another hotmail email to test if I can open file explorer on another admin account, but it just acts the same way. I don't think there's any corruption because my computer was fine before Windows 10 .

 

[davidhk129]

1. Run a system file check to look for corrupt files. It will try to do repair if any found.
Right click at Start button > select Command Prompt (Admin) > at the flashing prompt, copy/paste this.....
sfc /scannow
> press Enter.
It will take quite sometime. When finished, it will give you one of the 3 reports : (paraphrasing )
1. No integrity violation.
2. Found corrupt files and repair successfully.
3. Found corrupt files but unable to repair.
If report is #1. Your issue lies elsewhere.
IF report is #2, go see if everything is now working ok.
If report is #3, please do the following........
Right click at Start button > select Command Prompt (Admin) > at the flashing prompt, copy/paste this.....
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
> press Enter.
Again, it will take some time. When finished it will give you a report.
If it says operation successful, go see if everything is now working ok.

 

[jsmith24]

Well, we set up a new admin account and started copying files over from the old account to the new one. It seems to be working, though it's taking so very, very long to copy all those files.

One thing that may be of note: we set up the new account as a local account, not with an MS e-mail sign in. Once we get it copied, we're going to set the sign in back to the old e-mail and see what happens. I think we just had something corrupted in the old user's NT ini or something.

I'll post back later.

Jack

 

[Kazutadashi]

I'm not sure if this pertains to your problem, but I also was having issues with opening File Explorer from the Windows 10 start button. It would open up, freeze, then explorer.exe would then proceed to crash. After some testing I managed to pinpoint it to a file, or the functionality of quick access. I changed File Explorer to open to: "This PC" and unchecked "Show recently used filed in Quick access" and "Show frequently used folders in Quick access" from the folder options menu, and everything has worked just fine after that. This was right after I installed the Windows 10 update.