File Explorer multiple (50+) processes

I use lots of windows explorer / File Explorer sessions on any given day (I typically have 5-10 going at once). I rarely reboot my computer; I just let it sleep and wake, which is important for the way I work (I'm forced to reboot about once a month due to updates). For the last several months, I've noticed that every few days, all my visible File Explorer windows are gone from the taskbar without explanation (and alt-tab confirms there aren't any visible sessions), so I will simply open new ones. Nothing obvious in the event viewer to suggest why they are gone.

Today, File Explorer was extremely slow enumerating files on launch, with basically a white screen and a green progress bar running across the top indefinitely. I've seen this before and restarting is my usual remedy. I was about to reboot (the magic cure-all) when I looked at the task manager / processes tab, and scrolled down to the 'windows processes' section, and noticed approx 50 'Windows Explorer' processes, each with different memory allocations. All were showing either zero or very low CPU usage (eg 0.1%), no disk, no network, no GPU, etc. Details tab shows pretty much the same, with different process IDs for each explorer.exe, all running under my login.

So it looks like something is killing off the 'visible' (UI) portion of my explorer sessions, but not the background process. Any suggestions as to how to troubleshoot this further? I'm pretty sure this problem has spanned several update cycles.

Windows version: 22H2 (22621.2428).

I thought was just me. Not 50, but running processes with no explorer to access. Not often but it does happen. Can’t recall if it’s happened since 23H2, but there is a possibility.

You obviously read like you know what you’re doing. Does SFC or DISM processes have no effect? Quite frankly I’ve not taken much notice of the episodes so haven’t thought to try.

Also, were any of those showing as being in efficiency mode (the little green leaf thing)?

antspants said:

... Does SFC or DISM processes have no effect? ...

Click to expand...

I'll give both of them a shot. Thanks.

johnlgalt said:

Also, were any of those showing as being in efficiency mode (the little green leaf thing)?

Click to expand...

I've now rebooted so can't say for sure but I don't believe any of them were. I see that symbol on other entries and would have noticed it, I believe.

After rebooting, I have three 'File Explorer' windows open, with three corresponding taskbar entries (stacked), and three 'Windows Explorer' entries in the task manager under the 'Apps' heading, and one Windows Explorer entry under the 'Windows Processes' heading. I'll start paying attention to whether / when that number grows, as the days go by and the File Explorer windows mysteriously disappear. Perhaps the 'Apps' transition to 'Processes' or something when the UI bombs. I'm assuming the one Windows Explorer session under 'Windows Processes' is the explorer instance that runs things like the task bar, etc.

That is what I'm thinking as well.

But when I used the analyze wait chain function, I see this instead:



Heck, I'm gonna kill mine and see what happens, as it is the only one, and I'm 90% sure it is the desktop view and taskbar and such.

Well now, there's a mystery! This morning, I still have 2 File Explorer sessions (windows) active (not sure if I closed the third one manually, or whether it crashed), and visible on the task bar, and 2 'Windows Explorer' entries under 'Apps' in the Processes View, plus 1 'Windows Explorer' entry under 'Windows Processes'. BUT - if I go to the 'details' tab (that's where you get the 'Analyze Wait Chain'), I only see TWO 'explorer.exe' entries total, contradicting my theory from yesterday.

Further - on the processes tab, the Windows Explorer App entry is a single 'parent' entry with two child entries (corresponding to the two explorer windows), but if I right-click the parent, and use the 'Go To Details' option, it takes me to one of the two 'explorer.exe' entries in the details tab (suggesting one explorer.exe session is supporting BOTH the windows explorer sessions). But when I scroll down the processes area to the single 'windows explorer' entry under windows processes, a right click / Go to details' action on it takes me to the details tab, but with nothing highlighted; it does NOT land me on the second explorer.exe entry as I expected.

Doing the 'analyze wait chain' on the two explorer.exe sessions tells me 'explorer.exe is running normally'.

I'll continue to observe ...

Yeah, the one that is waiting on search is probably because a search indexing operation is scheduled, and once the schedule is met it is no longer needed, so it gets terminated.

Do you use explorer tabs or independent explorer windows? Wondering if you have the same results if using one window, many tabs.

antspants said:

Do you use explorer tabs or independent explorer windows? Wondering if you have the same results if using one window, many tabs.

Click to expand...

I use independent explorer windows. I rely heavily on 'Alt-tab' to switch between windows (a habit developed over decades, so hard to quit) so the single-window-multiple-tab option doesn't offer me anything useful, unfortunately. If there's some compelling reason to try it, I'm all ears but I just can't get excited about it! When 'Edge' started allowing 'alt-tab' to switch between tabs, it was a big deal for me and caused me to switch from Chrome, to some extent - alt-tab is that important to me.

At the moment, everything is exactly as it should be. I have four Explorer windows open and I have four corresponding 'Apps' entries in 'Processes', plus one entry under 'windows processes'. And when I use right-click / go to details, I'm taken to the first of two explorer.exe entries for the four 'windows' sessions, and I'm taken to the second of two explorer.exe entries for the 'processes' entry.

You can create a shortcut to avoid Windows restart.
Additionally this might solve some problems:

Steerpike said:

I use independent explorer windows. I rely heavily on 'Alt-tab' to switch between windows (a habit developed over decades, so hard to quit) so the single-window-multiple-tab option doesn't offer me anything useful, unfortunately. If there's some compelling reason to try it, I'm all ears but I just can't get excited about it! When 'Edge' started allowing 'alt-tab' to switch between tabs, it was a big deal for me and caused me to switch from Chrome, to some extent - alt-tab is that important to me.

At the moment, everything is exactly as it should be. I have four Explorer windows open and I have four corresponding 'Apps' entries in 'Processes', plus one entry under 'windows processes'. And when I use right-click / go to details, I'm taken to the first of two explorer.exe entries for the four 'windows' sessions, and I'm taken to the second of two explorer.exe entries for the 'processes' entry.

Click to expand...

I get it. And to be honest, I couldn’t give you a compelling reason because I use alt-tab as you do. I have not quite gotten used to new tabs, I quite frankly forget they are available because of my current habits.

TairikuOkami said:

You can create a shortcut to avoid Windows restart.

Code:

taskkill /im explorer.exe /f & explorer.exe

Additionally this might solve some problems:

Code:

rem 1 - Launch folder windows in a separate process
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v "SeparateProcess" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

rem 0 - All of the components of Windows Explorer run a single process / 1 - All instances of Windows Explorer run in one process and the Desktop and Taskbar run in a separate process
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" /v "DesktopProcess" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

Click to expand...

Very cool

TairikuOkami said:

Additionally this might solve some problems:

Code:

rem 1 - Launch folder windows in a separate process
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v "SeparateProcess" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

rem 0 - All of the components of Windows Explorer run a single process / 1 - All instances of Windows Explorer run in one process and the Desktop and Taskbar run in a separate process
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" /v "DesktopProcess" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

Click to expand...

Can you explain how the first item relates to the second item? First item makes each folder window a separate process; get that (and there's still a UI switch for that under options / view / advanced settings). Second item mentions separating desktop and taskbar from 'the rest' ... but isn't desktop and taskbar already covered by a separate explorer.exe session? In my observations, I have one process for all the windows sessions, and one process 'extra' - which I assumed was for desktop and taskbar. If you don't implement the first command, but do implement the second command, then - assuming you have one explorer window open - how many explorer processes are there in total? 2 or 3?

@Steerpike
You would employ the first edit if you want all explorer.exe tasks to run in separate processes and the second edit if you want all explorer.exe tasks to run as a single process.

Since explorer.exe (Windows Explorer aka File Explorer) is the main shell, it will often spawn additional tasks when needed, which accounts for the additional processes in Task Manager.

Personally, I prefer to let Windows handle it as using either of the above edits can create resource hogs, but you can experiment and see how each method performs for you. Just make sure you back up the default settings first.

I have also noticed that the most number of Windows explorer processes appear when Defender initiates a background scan and they usually disappear before the "Microsoft scanned your system ..." message appears, but there are many reasons for the additional tasks.