Windows explorer restarts

ryan1mcq · 29 Jun 2021

Hi all, had to register to see if this is happening to anyone else. Ive had a quick search and couldnt find anything.

My problem is, since i updated to Windows 10 21H1, almost every time i click a task bar icon, the taskbar goes blank for a second or two then comes back to normal, it feels like windows explorer is restarting. I have quite a few icons on my task bar and have never had this happen before.

This can be quite annoying when tabbing in and out of games or re maximizing certain items on taskbar.

Has this happened to anyone else or could itr be a coincidence that this started happening since the update?

Thank you

ryan1mcq

dalchina · 29 Jun 2021

Hi, no, not heard of this.

Note the time when the problem occurs. Then have a look at your Update History- explore any red x's related to that time. What crashed - if anything?

When this happens does the desktop display also go blank- or just the taskbar?

Perform a clean boot (Google or see tutorial if unsure how). See if the same occurs.

Similarly create a new user for test purposes. Again report if the same occurs.

ryan1mcq · 29 Jun 2021

Thankss for your reply dalchina. I have made a little video here which captures the incident happening twice in quick succession so you can see visually what im trying to explain. I should also say that i run custom windows themes and icustim icons and have run them for years and years without problem. This has only just started since i updated.

dalchina · 29 Jun 2021

That looks very customised - you're using something special for your taskbar. Your first post gave no hint of this.

As such, I suggest it's a 3rd party program compatibility issue lacking any details of what you've actually got. Perhaps one of these?
How to center Taskbar icons in Windows 10

If you use the default Windows taskbar do you experience this problem?

No-one guarantees 100% retrospective compatibility when you upgrade Win 10 as far as I know.

ryan1mcq · 29 Jun 2021

Im using StartIsBack for the centred icons, taskbar colour is from the current theme which is Sweetness by niivu on deviantArt (whose themes i have used for years without issue). I am getting the issue with stock taskbar and stock icons as well, apologies i should have said this in my opening post.

I want to get across that im not complaining about compatibility or anything, was just curious if anyone else had this happen after the 21H1 update and if there was a known fix without having to reinstall everything from scratch.

dalchina · 29 Jun 2021

Well, if you wish to bring this to anyone's attention, I suggest you'd need to start a thread including 'StartisBack' in the title, as it seems it's an issue with that, not explorer restarting.

Many here use Open Shell, so you're looking for a minority audience. Have you checked to see if there's an update for it?

Good luck.

ryan1mcq · 30 Jun 2021

Thank you dalchina for your help. I uninstalled StartIsBack and everything seems to be fine now. Guess i will run things fully stock for a while but thank you again.

dalchina · 30 Jun 2021

You're welcome.. that's the problem with upgrades from MS.. you never know...

Indianatone · 30 Jun 2021

I have this exact problem on 2 different machines. Explorer crashes when clicking on the taskbar icons. Sometimes several times in a row. I have 21H1 OS Build 19043.1052 on both of them.

dalchina · 01 Jul 2021

Hi, the problem in the above thread was wrongly described- not explorer at all but Startisback.
Are you using anything that modifies the behaviour of the taskbar?
When did this problem start?
What happened just before that?

As I asked in that thread, kindly examine your Update History and show that there is a record of file explorer crashing - (screenshot please).

Again, as I asked in that thread, does your whole desktop go blank as well? What exactly do you see happening?

If you perform a clean boot (Google or see tutorial if unsure), does the same problem occur?
If you disable non-MS shell extensions using Shellexview (free) does the same problem occur?

@ryan1mcq - feel free to mark thread Solved (green button at top) to save people reading it. Thanks.