Solved! Windows Key + E | Can't open File Explorer pinned to the taskbar

This time, we will introduce a solution for when you cannot open File Explorer by pressing Windows key + E, or when you cannot open File Explorer pinned to the taskbar by clicking it.

This method is only compatible with Windows 10. Try it if restarting your PC doesn't resolve the issue.

Solutions for when you can't open File Explorer by pressing Windows key + E or pinning it to the taskbar

symptom

1. When I clicked on the "File Explorer" pinned to the taskbar, the following error message appeared:

このファイルには、この操作を実行するように関連付けられたアプリがありません。アプリをインストールするか、または既にインストールされている場合は、既定のアプリの設定ページで関連付けを作成してください。

2. If you press Windows key + E again, the following error will appear:

Unable to identify the error

3. Then, when I typed "explorer" in Run and pressed Enter, the following error message appeared:

The same error appears even if you run "explorer.exe" directly from the "C:\WINDOWS" folder.

You can open it from the "File Explorer" menu in the right-click menu of the Start button.

Cause

The reason was previously explained Open the Downloads folder when you open Windows Explorer on Windows 10/11 It was in the registry value I edited with

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

*The author has set the value data of the DWORD value "LaunchTo" in this key to "3".

There is no problem with Windows 11.

Normally, this is not a problem, but looking back at the operations I performed just before the error occurred, I found that I had added and deleted values ​​to the following registry key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Some registry values ​​related to Explorer depend on registry values ​​related to other Explorers, and editing them carelessly can cause serious problems.

Be very careful when editing the registry.

Solution

1. Press Windows Key + R to open Run, type the following command and press Enter:

control.exe folders

2. Folder Options (File Explorer Options) will open, so check the right side of "Open with File Explorer:".

When the error occurs it is blank.

3. Change it to "This PC" or "Quick Access" and click OK.

This will open File Explorer as normal.

The problem in this case is probably caused by editing the registry related to Explorer, which automatically changed the value data of "LaunchTo" to invalid data.

After performing this operation, Open the Downloads folder when you open Windows Explorer on Windows 10/11 When I ran this, no errors occurred and I was able to open the download folder.