Step-by-Step Guide to fix Start Menu & File Explorer in Windows 11

A step-by-step troubleshooting guide that you can follow if you face File Explorer or Start menu issues on 25H2 Windows 11. 

Before you begin:
Back up important items in an external drive or OneDrive, whichever you prefer, and further create a restore point. Search “Create a restore point,” then go to system Protection and create. Reset and Refresh are the last resort.

Quick checks—try these first

1. Restart Windows. Many transient issues clear on a reboot.
2. Restart File Explorer / Windows Shell
   
   • Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc → Processes → find Windows Explorer → Restart.
     

Or run from an admin command prompt:

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

start explorer.exe

This immediately refreshes the shell.

Check for updates

• Open Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates and install anything pending. Microsoft frequently ships fixes (including emergency patches) that resolve Start menu and File Explorer problems after a feature update. Restart your PC after the update is done. 

Run system health checks 

Open Windows Terminal (Admin) or the Command Prompt and run the following in order:

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

• sfc /scannow repairs protected system files.
  
• DISM repairs the Windows image if SFC cannot.
  After this finishes, reboot and test the Start menu & File Explorer.

Re-register or reset Start menu and Windows Search (PowerShell)

If Start or Start Search is broken, re-registering the Start app packages often helps.

First reset Windows Search:
Open Windows Terminal (Admin) and execute the command:

Get-AppxPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.Search | Reset-AppxPackage

Then reboot. This resets the Windows Search app. 

Note: Re-registering may restore defaults for pinned items. Please don’t do it until you’ve backed up critical shortcuts.

Rebuild the Search Index (if search/recommended results fail)

If search results are missing or slow:

1. Settings → Privacy & Security → Searching Windows → More search indexer settings → Advanced Options → Rebuild.
   
2. Moreover, rebuilding can take minutes to hours depending on disk size. 

Clear File Explorer history and reset options

• Open File Explorer → click the three dots → Options → General → Clear.
• In the View tab, uncheck customizations that you suspect, like preview pane and details pane, to test stability. This fixes crashes caused by corrupted history or preview handlers. Also try toggling Show preview handlers.

Test for third-party conflicts 

Third-party shell extensions often break Explorer or Start:

Do Reboot as recommended by Microsoft:

• Press Windows + R, type msconfig, click on the services tab, and check to hide all Microsoft services. Then select to Disable all, and go to the Startup tab, which opens the Task Manager. After disabling startup items, restart your PC.

Thus, if the issue disappears, re-enable startup items one by one to find the culprit.

Troubleshoot File Explorer crashes 

• Disable preview handlers temporarily 
• Check Event Viewer: Windows Logs → Application: look for Explorer.exe or ShellExperienceHost errors to identify offending DLLs or extensions. 
• If a particular folder causes a crash, try removing network locations or media files from it. Explorer crashes are often caused by bad thumbnails/codecs.
  If you identify a shell extension, tools like ShellExView can help disable non-Microsoft extensions.

Test with a fresh user account

Create a new local administrator user and sign in. If Start and File Explorer work in the new profile, the issue is limited to your user profile (corrupt settings); thus, migrate data and recreate the profile. This narrows the scope quickly.

Conclusion

Additionally, Microsoft has been rolling out a redesigned Start menu in 25H2. If your Start behaves oddly after the 25H2 update, check release health and resolve issues on Microsoft’s release pages. 

At times, Microsoft delays or patches the rollout. If you are an advanced user, you can disable features with ViVeTool. However, it is advanced and unsupported by Microsoft; you can just use it only if you understand the risks.