What happens if you end explorer.exe in different versions of Windows?

Timestamps:
00:00 - Title
00:05 - Windows 95, 98, ME
00:24 - Windows XP
01:57 - Windows Vista
04:08 - Windows 7
05:29 - Windows 8.1
11:28 - Windows 10
Text-to-speech version:
• What happens if you en...
Music:
Kevin MacLeod - Voxel Revolution
Kevin MacLeod - Newer Wave
Kevin MacLeod - Ice Flow
Kevin MacLeod - Delightful D
Kevin MacLeod - Raving Energy
What Happens if You Have More than 26 Drives on Windows?
• What Happens if You Ha...

[@DigitalPlayground4789XRP]

why is not windows 11?

[@World_of_OSes]

This video doesn't show Windows 11 because Windows 11 was not released at the time of upload. Here is a video showing what happens if you end explorer.exe in Windows 11: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aUZ42Kh6-CgM0

[@GuriSidhu-fk2cv]

😥

[@weegeenumberone2]

Windows 11 does the same thing as Windows 10 does, I believe.

[@AllOSes123]

@@weegeenumberone2yeah I ended it on my windows 11 system

[@kevingimenez-zy1cm]

@@World_of_OSes normal no beta

[@World_of_OSes]

If you accidentally ended explorer.exe and don't know how to fix it, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, then click 'Task Manager', then 'File', then 'Run new task', then type 'explorer', then click 'OK'.

[@stephenb.8381]

Due to Windows just running on top of DOS, it isn't very surprising that it won't allow you to kill the explorer process in Windows 9x. The same behavior seems to be present on earlier versions (tested on Windows 3.10 with Massimiliano Leo's Advances Task Manager) when you kill it's equivalent progman.exe. It would be interesting to see how NT versions (2000 and earlier NT-OSes) would behave, as they came out parallel to the showcased DOS based Windows versions. 👍 On Windows 95, I was able to kill the explorer process by attaching a debugger. It seems to have fallen into DOS mode, however, somehow the VGA driver out...

[@mehdinecef]

What about Russian? My computer is Russian, so i dont know what to do

[@World_of_OSes]

@@mehdinecef Если вы случайно завершили explorer.exe и не знаете, как это исправить, нажмите Ctrl + Alt + Delete, затем нажмите «Диспетчер задач», затем «Файл», затем «Запустить новую задачу», затем введите «проводник», затем нажмите "ОК".

[@Victor_Venezuela]

It's work too with Ctrl+Shift+Esc, to open task manager.

[@shaimanoorzai9161]

what about fixing metro app in windows 8.1 like u used (metro clock metro calculator)

[@A-Random-Guy]

It's funny how ending / restarting explorer.exe fixes a lot of problems especially in windows 11 (currently)

[@sunnyegg9887]

I think I have an idea why

[@tredI9100]

@@sunnyegg9887The Windows 11 explorer is just riddled with glitches

[@TheAmazingBoy69]

nope its better than older version, and UI is 100000% good than windows 10, ah man win10 crap @@tredI9100

[@thinhbui4182]

Yeah, would rather use phoqued (cr4Cl

[@ducksongfans]

Fr in widniws 10 it fixed the task bar stik being there is Fullscreen

[@lulz_wav]

I actually do close explorer.exe when I'm running processes that require too many resources, it won't save much, but it helps.

[@chromegism]

You belong in an asylum

[@thepersonandtheguy]

never in my life would i have the balls to stop literally any windows background task with task manager

[@lolase13]

Same

[@Waffle0.]

This is the only pin i literally love

[@thestupidguy12345]

bros still alive after 2 years

[@user-tt4pb1nn2f]

I always do this because I have 4 gigs of RAM and I'm on windows 11 Where are a lot of useless system processes that I kill

[@Solent19]

D O I T! :)

[@IrisGalaxis]

Up until a few years ago when I bought a decent computer, I had a 4GB RAM Win10 laptop which I always used with explorer off just to conserve as much RAM as possible and make it at least a bit faster. I used CMD for everything. I made a custom prompt in CMD which showed me the date and time. When I really needed an explorer window, I had a trick: start control.exe (Control Panel) and then just type in the path for whatever folder I needed in the address bar of that window. That'd bring up an explorer window without starting the taskbar and desktop, which would have taken ages to load.

[@KiraYoshikage-oy9rb]

i still have a laptop like that and am using right now 💀

[@remymario]

LMFAO do you recommend this? like, was the RAM conserved worth the inconvenience? my win10 6GB ram laptop’s RAM is constantly taken up by just firefox, i wouldn’t need the date and time custom prompt because i use a desktop at the same time

[@BGFutureBG]

my man used Linux without using Linux

[@ibnu7942]

​@@BGFutureBGwindowless Windows

[@coolgameriguess]

For anyone wondering, the date and time in CMD command is: prompt $d $b $t $b $p $g

[@angelcaru]

9:50 I guess you could say that... slipped through the cracks

[@kirbykirbykirbykirby]

ba dum tss

[@Cjnator38]

ba dum 🗿

[@αβγδε]

What is the difference between Windows 7 and Windows Vista?

[@barry7235]

vista is older ig

[@World_of_OSes]

I didn't do Windows 11 in this video because Windows 11 wasn't released at the time of making this video. I have since done Windows 11 in a different video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aUZ42Kh6-CgM0

[@1MercuryOxide1]

Okay👍

[@Syvarnal]

Oh k

[@sillyborja]

do people really not know how to check upload dates

[@World_of_OSes]

@@sillyborja If you sort the comments by newest first, there are loads of people asking about Windows 11.

[@LittleSkeppy]

lol@bad_piggies_glitch_be_like

[@MUSiCK9]

I always ended explorer.exe for that extra fps for my older laptop, always helped a tiny bit.

[@MUSiCK9]

@radishcatish Remember to keep something like task manager up so you can actually open up programs! ..What PC are you running anyway? Laptops back then were terrible due to most of them having no dGPU and only having iGPU which at the time. Were just not made to play games.

[@NekoSam395]

In Windows 11, with StartAllBack activated, something weird happenned - The wallpaper will changes into your accent color that you used before (for me, brown) - The minimized window is messed, maybe because it has rounded corners - Animation, mica, etc still works - Same as another systems, classic Alt + Tab dialog will apprears if you pressed that button

[@mxaa9776]

I actually knew what would happen with windows 10 cuz i accidentally did it while ending background tasks to free up memory. Luckily it wasn't that hard to fix, just open cmd with a shortcut and start explorer from there.

[@ArtKater]

i personally think that ending explorer.exe is a decent way to refresh windows interfaces in case they froze

[@donnyyulianto5459]

Well mine is refresh i use windows 10

[@mrglennquaqmire89.]

yes

[@backhdlp]

I wonder what led Microsoft to think that making the process for the desktop shell and the process for the file explorer the same was a good idea.

[@gteixeira]

Because most components are shared so even multiple explorer.exe plus the shell instances all share the same memory for common components, thus saving memory.

[@backhdlp]

@@gteixeira how tf does a shell share so many components with a file manager?

[@tails2012tim]

Real

[@thiemnguyen705]

0:00 Title 0:05 Windows 95, 98, ME 0:24 Windows XP 1:57 Windows Vista(Aero) 4:08 Windows 7(Aero) 5:29 Windows 8.1(Aero) 11:28 Windows 10[21h2] 13:49 End screen

[@bloro6389]

I tried it out, on NT 4.0, it the same as Vista; minimising programs makes them end up as small ribbons where the taskbar usually would be, and on 2000, it's the same as with XP, but the desktop background disappears and reverts to the colour you specified for it.

[@samstfsaviation_331]

yeah because they're NT i guess

[@nelsonnimo511]

​@@samstfsaviation_3318887

[@vidakk406]

I knew this without trying, i just understand how windows works, especially Windows 8.1 and i love ur channel

[@MinhLe-jy2mv]

So the explorer.exe is like a built-in program to show up icon and taskbar for easy access Kinda like old windows

[@Sparkette]

Explorer.exe actually has an undocumented quit function built into the shutdown dialog. Try pressing Cancel on that dialog while holding down Ctrl, Alt, and Shift.

[@superNova5837]

i actually knew about the classic alt tab menu mainly because windows 10 broke so it was in certain places giving the 8.1 gray theme Locking and unlocking the device gives you the light blue version

[@LetGoMyLegosTyler]

windows 10 is so broken

[@World_of_OSes]

You can get the classic Alt+Tab switcher anytime you want without ending explorer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hobVlYmnrbunas0

[@thnx_cul8ter360]

@@LetGoMyLegosTyler still better than 11

[@Garwinium]

Windows 8 was truly one of the operating systems of all time

[@skolitor]

when I wanted to play a heavier game on my old computer, I opened it and just left the task manager open, and closed the explorer, so I could have more ram dedicated to the game.

[@FatheredPuma81]

I use to do this back in the day with a game booster. 12MB of RAM was huge when you only had 512MB.

[@World_of_OSes]

What OS?

[@FatheredPuma81]

@@World_of_OSes XP of course.

[@GoodGuySemi]

I actually once closed it not knowing what it was, and had to find a way to manually start it again, which is probably easier to all of you than I make it out to be, but you all are also maybe 100 times more knowledgable of this stuff.

[@pmcthepro]

Incorrect. I am not more knowledgeable

[@faetalize]

It's okay. You could've just restarted the PC.

[@PronunciationPam-ho3bu]

I did the same but instead just restarted the laptop

[@rafaelbluestacks3561]

When you end Explorer on modern versions of Windows like 8,10 or 11 taskbar icons and homescreen wallpaper ALL of them dissapear the wallpaper is changed to the asset color of your preference

[@gogogamedev]

One time my computer's File Exploerer was corrupted, so when it started it looked like that. (Black background, no desktop, no taskbar) I had to reinstall windows from a USB to fix it.

[@mindfuzz9999]

i liked the attention to detail in this video! i clicked to find out what it would do in windows 9x, as all NT versions have a similar shell. didn't expect to actually learn anything about every major NT version LOL i found it interesting how the desktop background stopped staying around once 8.1 (and by extension 8) hit. i guess the shell was either refactored or completely rewritten for the start screen. also didn't know there was a difference between metro apps and UWP apps - thought they were all just UWP. is windows 10 backwards compatible with metro apps (and is win8 somehow forwards compatible with UWP? assuming they're built on the same foundations)?

[@Cyberfishofant]

now i want answers

[@killuad0]

@@Cyberfishofant looks like you will never have or gonna take a long time

[@Cyberfishofant]

difference between metro and UWP seems to be - UWP is able to use the same code for phones and pc - UWP supports more win32 apis - UWP has native code support

[@killuad0]

@@Cyberfishofant makes sense

[@chexo3]

You should try writing a program that just kills explorer on 95/98/ME to get around the check that opens the shutdown dialog

[@World_of_OSes]

That would be interesting...

[@elijahtorres2688]

Vista brings back some Windows Chicago (Windows 95 Beta) vibes with the minimized programs turning into little bars like in Chicago (Build 73)!!!

[@gapp8163]

When explorer was never run since the system logon (possible if the Shell value in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WWindows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon (if I remember correctly) is not set to explorer.exe), windows maximize to the entire screen, even covering the gap where the taskbar would be. You can also drag the window past the gap. Also in Windows Vista and 7 there is no background but the "Desktop color" is still shown (you can set by clicking on "window color" at the bottom of the Personalization menu when Aero theme is not enabled, and select "Desktop" in the first drop-down menu). Also Windows 8.1 will show a black background instead of the accent color, I believe.

[@World_of_OSes]

I did that in a different video by renaming explorer.exe: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZLRdaBqm5eAmZI

[@DohiMissed344]

those mini bars from windows vista and 7 remind me of those toolbars fron windows 3.1

[@Andrecio64]

Some big, corrupt or damaged programs or archives does crash Explorer.exe, but it's easy to put it back on via Task manager.

[@KbluebrryRoblox]

Windows 8.1 has the most strangest behaviour when we end explorer.exe by far

[@syst3mwolf]

I miss Win 7. It was my favorite.

[@stephvp2102]

FAX

[@Nikooo4ka]

Im on windows 7

[@SomePolishGuyLikesTech]

M too

[@syst3mwolf]

@@Nikooo4ka lucky you

[@LetGoMyLegosTyler]

same :(

[@MirkoMazzoni2000]

Explorer.exe fact: If you run explorer.exe (meaning starting a new process) while explorer.exe is running (ot sometimes because of a failure that I still can't explain) it opens the Documents (or whatever is opened) 📂 (at least in XP but idk if this applies to other OSes)

[@braulioxdp]

Porque de echo son el mismo programa

[@darkfrozen1860]

First interacted with explorer.exe when my aoe II the forgotten won't run on aero windows 7 so have to kill explorer task to run it in the normal colors. Great video btw satisfying 😁😁

[@anywaytechreview]

if your turn off explorer.exe on windows 10 and windows 11, it automatically restored or aleast it restarted taskbar on its own within few seconds

[@nonotatalllol]

9:46 Wow that timer really looks like squid game

[@SOTP.]

Never thought killing explorer could make a video like this. Pretty cool.

[@thiemnguyen705]

WHAT

[@thiemnguyen705]

LONGHORN lol EXPLORER

[@thiemnguyen705]

If you talk to dwm

[@Odswietny]

I used Winaero Tweaker to add the "Restart Explorer" option to the desktop context menu.

[@flormilone]

In ANY VERSION of Windows, you can close explorer.exe from the task manager and start a new task with the same name, it's a quick restart when your memory it's "tired". You're welcome.

[@rafaelryan2]

0:31 i thought the cursor was an ant on my phone screen

[@_GhostMiner]

I still don't understand why Micro$oft decided to make the wallpaper dissapear on Windows 8+

[@World_of_OSes]

Probably something to do with adding the Metro UI.

[@russianyoutube]

I don't think they control that

[@_GhostMiner]

@@russianyoutube obviously they can. They develop the os!,

[@amitzy_anims]

Did this by accident recently cuz file explorer was lagging lmao

[@Googleuser-tk8xy]

Thanksss brooo thankss a lot

[@jessemiller2335]

i remember sometimes on vista explorer.exe would straight up be deleted on some installations, unsure why. probably infected on those installations without notice cuz i was kind of an idiot as a kid unless vista just did weird stuff like that as well

[@Victor_Venezuela]

explorer.exe: Run it back! **runs** it's fixed now!

[@fitmotheyap]

I wonder why in newer windows things depend on so much other things

[@subhikshajayasree1126]

Thanks lifesaver ✨

[@TheAmazingBoy69]

I did in windows 11, It does nothing or the screen will be turned off for a sec and starts again. After newer updates in windows 11 (new patchs), there is only restart button instead of end task button only for windows expolrer.

[@codfish1113]

when I was little there was a bug that hit my netbook that caused explorer to not load and i thought Windows broke, until I learned CTRL+SHIFT+ESC and the Run dialog box, with the feeling of being a pro hacker being present (i was 9 at the time)

[@addo9697]

i used to do this at school and trigger my classmates cuz they didnt know how to put back the taskbar in its place

[@haijehiemstra2883]

Win95/98/me having the shutdown menu open up is probably a remenant off win1/2/3, As in those versions, To end you're windows session you had to close explorer or something, which would make sense to why its bringing up the shutdown menu in 9x versions, Probably a leftover from the older versions, Due to 95 being based off 3.1/3.11, which still has code for checking wether explorer.exe is trying to close (Which in 3 it would ask to confirm), Probably from my guess is that they changed the confirmation window into the shutdown menu, And used a hacky way off triggering it (Ending explorer.exe).

[@Sanker1]

This is actually a good tip for potatoe pcs, just open your game and end explorer, when you are done just re-open explorer

[@slicerthe84th]

FUN FACT: you can run explorer acciosated programs with explorer.exe ended (with command prompt in task manager)

[@superjd44]

i once ran file explorer with explorer stopped

[@coolplayer832]

you also cannot Turn up the volume when explorer.exe is end task.

[@YomActual]

Never thought about the File Explorer task shutdown, but somehow though about the This PC task shutdown...

[@JuBa012]

I knew about the classic alt tab switcher, because there is a registry tweak that always enables classic Alt Tab.

[@youtuber269]

I have classic alt+tab but I use winaerotweaker

[@JuBa012]

@@youtuber269 Doesn't Winaerotweaker activate that registry tweak?

[@World_of_OSes]

You can also get the classic Alt+Tab switcher by pressing L-Alt + R-Alt + Tab.

[@JuBa012]

@@World_of_OSes Didn't know that

[@StickRV]

I used this tactic on my old laptop, it reduces a bit of cpu usage

[@nathanrobloxyt]

This channel is underrated!

[@user-do7pn9hr1q]

i remember ending explorer when it froze and couldnt close and being scared because i suddenly couldnt see anything on my windows 10

[@alimprolegend]

Your channel its so underrated if we talk about subs

[@rhnn9399]

finally minimal window manager like on windows using this method

[@minecraftian_5b]

There is a chance of getting explorer ended after you open your pc, this happened to me and it was horrible lol

[@dedogamer]

u skiped win 8 and went straght to 8.1 try again

[@Striker_green]

Isn’t that the same? But just modified to have the start button

[@exiavaganza]

pin of shame

[@AlexOop2013]

Sad pin of shame

[@dedogamer]

​@@Striker_green theres more settings that been changed and because of that may act different

[@dedogamer]

@@exiavaganza ​ @JimGreen-bg3ix theres more settings that been changed and because of that may act different - what i commented is not a pin of shame

[@kxtz0]

On Windows 11(maybe 10 as well) if you end dwm.exe you get aero (edit: aero basic ty world of oses for the correction) back for a few seconds

[@World_of_OSes]

Aero Basic, not Aero glass.

[@cassiuscartland]

I wonder for 7 and 8 and vista when you minimised windows if it would be different if you had the taskbar in another loaction

[@LazyTechNerdCG]

I am actually wondering.. Where do you get all of your virtual machines, if they are? I'm really fascinated by this kind of stuff, and I want to complete my OS collection in VirtualBox. I await your response. Also, keep up the great videos! :)

[@World_of_OSes]

Windows 10 and 11 you can download from Microsoft's website: www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/ Operating systems older than Windows XP you can get from WinWorld: winworldpc.com/library/operating-systems The rest you can get from Get Into PC: getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/

[@LazyTechNerdCG]

@@World_of_OSes Thank you so much! I have most OSes that you also have, but some do not work right, or at all. Again, thank you so much, and keep up the great work! :D

[@teamok1025]

@@World_of_OSes i remember winworldpc

[@LazyTechNerdCG]

@@buizelmeme6288 I did, but I can’t get VMware tools to install in windows 7.

[@buizelmeme6288]

@@LazyTechNerdCG oof, I feel that pain

[@GarretTheCarrot56]

Cody Can't Eat This Confirmed

[@World_of_OSes]

This video doesn't show Windows 11 because Windows 11 was not released at the time of upload. Here is a video showing what happens if you end explorer.exe in Windows 11: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aUZ42Kh6-CgM0

[@MSTendo64]

UWP = Universal Windows Platform

[@Insertdisks_101]

What happens if you end explorer.exe in Windows 10 but in tablet mode?

[@PGold3]

I keep accidentally doing this thinking its just the file explorer that im closing.

[@ieatmypoop]

ONE OF THE MUSICS ARE IN A GAME CALLED 3DASH

[@CosmizEve]

i used to have to do this a lot with my windows 11 laptop because it was so buggy! thankfully with my new pc it hasn't done crap like this

[@kcapila]

So I have a disc for an old game called Ceaser 3. Whenever I try to start it for some reason it makes the entire desktop go black and the only way to fix it is to eject the disc. Could anyone explain what is happening?

[@Incognito-pk2ct]

When I minimise Google Chrome with killed explorer, strange thing happen

[@arjumanbanu7019]

like?

[@maxwellcatlol]

I am know who you

[@blueberrycmd]

yeah that is

[@World_of_OSes]

@@arjumanbanu7019 Try it and see

[@Osdamart]

Wait, I use Linux, why am I watching this? Xd (Good video, bro).

[@TheSkubna]

I used to close explorer to get a little more ram from my pc back in 2004

[@erik-html]

One time I was looking at some files and the File Explorer window was not responding, so I opened task manager and ended explorer.exe… I thought my computer broke

[@TheShowest]

I remember shutting the file explorer to save some ram, but ended up crashing my pc 💀

[@cylan787]

I used to end this process accidentally a lot when my PC lagged.

[@omegadavids6362]

Try now with Windows 11 + server and Beta versions

[@World_of_OSes]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aUZ42Kh6-CgM0

[@PhuongChinhVN]

I have end task file explorer in my win 11 First the pc screen completly white but you just need to turn of the pc by press the start button in case and then open it restart and your pc completly fine

[@mylvie]

what happens in older NT versions like NT 4.0? it seems like DOS versions are what causes the shutdown

[@World_of_OSes]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZLRdaBqm5eAmZI

[@lukandrate9866]

I installed process hacker and accidentally suspended explorer.exe, everything was just frozen

[@wuesz]

i remember that! i always used winxp that way because my computer was so slow 😂

[@senpai12349]

oh so this bug (which i thought) was because of this i always thought my monitor was damaged but I just used to end explorer.exe cuz i have bad pc

[@ItsClarawrrr]

I find closing explorer.exe helps when my windows 10 is freezing, one thing i haven't seen in this comment section that i usually do is instead of command prompt i usually open task manager and just right click any process and open file location then i go to the windows folder and start explorer from there, maybe more steps but i guess it's always what I've done since i don't know anything about command prompt.

[@абщхда]

Just tried on Windows 11 on computer class because I tried to close game. You will get black taskbar but wallpaper and programms will be there.

[@World_of_OSes]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aUZ42Kh6-CgM0

[@camboi6103]

I still wonder why windows let's you end task or delete important OS things

[@reneablackheart9563]

On windows 10 ive only ever had to restart explorer once cause the taskbar froze

[@FUKSOW46]

Wait how this happened in win10 when i turn off explorer.exe through task menager i only won't able to acces it and nothing else happened

[@309electronics5]

I actualy did it on windows 11 and it removed the searchbar and things, but i did manage to restart it up again using the "run a program" button and locating to explorer.exe

[@World_of_OSes]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aUZ42Kh6-CgM0

[@nomadshiba]

explore exes from different versions of windows on different versions of windows

[@lelocraft1361]

I made the file explorer stop by mistake in windows 11 it gives a white screen

[@SheltonMantonOfficial]

If you do it on Windows 11 and it makes the background turn into a black screen and the only tab that’s open is task manager and you have to restart your computer

[@World_of_OSes]

You don't have to restart your computer, you can run explorer from Task Manager which will bring the taskbar and desktop back.

[@SheltonMantonOfficial]

@@World_of_OSes well that’s helpful knowledge, thanks

[@snpedcomrade9024]

This is so weird.. i accidentally ended the explorer.exe process in task manager and immediately, the screen turned black. But, i didnt search up this video for a fix as i restarted my pc and its back to normal

[@MaciekGames6289]

My best music in 5:03

[@nationalyouthcomputertrain1565]

I've tried also on my Windows 11 computer and it does the just when Windows minimized it just show as a blackbar and It has White background instead of the black background

[@World_of_OSes]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aUZ42Kh6-CgM0

[@Insertdisks_101]

What happens if you end explorer.exe while in Tablet Mode?