What is Explorer.EXE?

Explorer.EXE is part of Microsoft® Windows® Operating System and developed by Microsoft Corporation according to the Explorer.EXE version information.

Explorer.EXE's description is "Windows Explorer"

Explorer.EXE is digitally signed by Microsoft Windows Publisher.

Explorer.EXE is usually located in the 'C:\WINDOWS\' folder.

None of the anti-virus scanners at VirusTotal reports anything malicious about Explorer.EXE.

If you have additional information about the file, please share it with the FreeFixer users by posting a comment at the bottom of this page.

Vendor and version information [?]

The following is the available information on Explorer.EXE:

PropertyValue
Product nameMicrosoft® Windows® Operating System
Company nameMicrosoft Corporation
File descriptionWindows Explorer
Internal nameexplorer
Original filenameEXPLORER.EXE
Legal copyright© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Product version6.00.2900.2180
File version6.00.2900.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)

Here's a screenshot of the file properties when displayed by Windows Explorer:

Product nameMicrosoft® Windows® Operating System
Company nameMicrosoft Corporation
File descriptionWindows Explorer
Internal nameexplorer
Original filenameEXPLORER.EXE
Legal copyright© Microsoft Corporation. All rights..
Product version6.00.2900.2180
File version6.00.2900.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-..

Digital signatures [?]

Explorer.EXE has a valid digital signature.

PropertyValue
Signer nameMicrosoft Windows Publisher
Certificate issuer nameMicrosoft Windows Verification Intermediate PCA
Certificate serial number6113452f000000000036

VirusTotal report

None of the 56 anti-virus programs at VirusTotal detected the Explorer.EXE file.

None of the 56 anti-virus programs detected the Explorer.EXE file.

Filename variants

Explorer.EXE may also use other filenames. The most common variants are listed below:

Folder name variants

Explorer.EXE may also be located in other folders than C:\WINDOWS\. The most common variants are listed below:

Hashes [?]

PropertyValue
MD5a0732187050030ae399b241436565e64
SHA256cbfbcc43b18deca5619706fc134d25e0dcebcd5257d0a70f5782c42e5c2fcec9

Error Messages

These are some of the error messages that can appear related to explorer.exe:

explorer.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

explorer.exe - Application Error. The instruction at "0xXXXXXXXX" referenced memory at "0xXXXXXXXX". The memory could not be "read/written". Click on OK to terminate the program.

Windows Explorer has stopped working.

End Program - explorer.exe. This program is not responding.

explorer.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

explorer.exe - Application Error. The application failed to initialize properly (0xXXXXXXXX). Click OK to terminate the application.

What will you do with Explorer.EXE?

To help other users, please let us know what you will do with Explorer.EXE:



What did other users do?

The poll result listed below shows what users chose to do with Explorer.EXE. 30% have voted for removal. Based on votes from 365 users.

User vote results: There were 110 votes to remove and 255 votes to keep

NOTE: Please do not use this poll as the only source of input to determine what you will do with Explorer.EXE.

Malware or legitimate?

If you feel that you need more information to determine if your should keep this file or remove it, please read this guide.

Please select the option that best describe your thoughts on the information provided on this web page


Free online surveys

And now some shameless self promotion ;)

A screenshot of FreeFixer's scan result.Hi, my name is Roger Karlsson. I've been running this website since 2006. I want to let you know about the FreeFixer program. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that analyzes your system and let you manually identify unwanted programs. Once you've identified some malware files, FreeFixer is pretty good at removing them. You can download FreeFixer here. It runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/2008/2016/2019/Vista/7/8/8.1/10. Supports both 32- and 64-bit Windows.

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Comments

Please share with the other users what you think about this file. What does this file do? Is it legitimate or something that your computer is better without? Do you know how it was installed on your system? Did you install it yourself or did it come bundled with some other software? Is it running smoothly or do you get some error message? Any information that will help to document this file is welcome. Thank you for your contributions.

I'm reading all new comments so don't hesitate to post a question about the file. If I don't have the answer perhaps another user can help you.

Roger Karlsson writes

6 thumbs

Explorer.exe is the executable for Windows Explorer. It's a legitimate file from Microsoft.

# 28 Jan 2010, 4:47

Anya writes

3 thumbs

explorer.exe is a corrupted file in my windows pack. I did everything to fix it but it corrupts my other files slowly everyday. I had no choice but delete it. After deleting it, i lost all desktop icons, tabs, toolbars, status bars and everything in my pc's interface. Now i am looling for a clean file with manual on how to install it again. I am a website writer.

# 18 Apr 2010, 8:56

Roger Karlsson writes

-1 thumb

@Anya: The System File Checker (sfc.exe) can probably solve the problem. You can read more about it here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747

To start the system file checker, click Start -> Run, and type "sfc.exe /scannow", without the quotes. It will scan all system files and probably detect that explorer.exe is missing and restore a legitimate copy of the file. You will probably need your Windows installation CD while running sfc.exe.

Did this solve the missing explorer.exe problem?

# 19 Apr 2010, 0:45

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