How can I restart explorer.exe process without losing the opened windows just like it does when I reboot my PC or simply logout.
I've set the option so windows are restored when I login.
I've tried the tutorial here about it but it didn't work. explorer.exe restarted but the windows didn't restore after it restarted.
How can I restart explorer.exe without losing the opened windows?
Depending on, what you are trying to achieve, the other option would be to use an alternative file manager.
You can restart it without closing explorer's windows, but not via a command, that would close all explorer processes, but via a task manager, like option one. But at first you have to separate it. Run CMD and copy/paste:
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" /v "DesktopProcess" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v "SeparateProcess" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
Login may be a different thing. I just mentioned that so I could remove that case out of the equation of whom would help. It wasn't meant as if I had done a step to complete it.
I already have those two set to 1. Thank you regardless.
My objective is to restart all explorer.exe processes in one go and then start them again with all windows as it was afterwards.
One of the main objectives here is for software installations that require explorer.exe to be turned off while they install but it is definitely not limited to that use-case.
You can always hit Ctrl-Alt-Esc to launch Task Manager, then type "explorer.exe" into the "Run new task" item from the File menu. I've used this many times to relaunch File Explorer/Explorer after killing it (or losing it) for various reasons. But that doesn't put you back where you started your old Explorer processes from, even if it is a viable way to (re)start the program when Explorer itself is out of action (and all the shell stuff that goes with it).
HTH,
--Ed--
Thanks for trying but I already knew that one...
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