Several users are getting different kinds of issues after installing the cumulative update ‘KB5006050’ on their devices. Unresponsive Start Menu/Taskbar, File Explorer Not responding, and slow opening Context menu are some of the issues that you may encounter after upgrading to Build 22000.176 in the beta channel.
If you have already upgraded your system to this OS Build and are facing trouble operating your PC, try applying the solutions discussed in this article. In case none works, simply uninstall the patch update that has triggered this issue on Windows 11 PC.
Fix – File Explorer Not Responding in Windows 11
If File Explorer stops responding after a recent patch installation on Windows 11, go through the below suggestions and see if any helps to fix this issue. The below fixes have been listed in increasing order of complexity, so start with the one that possesses less difficulty –
1] Restart File Explorer
Since Windows Explorer is crashing or not responding, restart it once and check if starts working fine. If you don’t know how to restart file explorer, use these steps –
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch the Task Manager.
- When it opens up, go to the Processes tab.
- Inside this tab, look for “Windows Explorer” under Apps. If you don’t find it here, the Explorer must not be running on your computer. Either run it once or look for it by scrolling down to Windows processes on the same tab.
- When located, right-click over it, and hit the option – Restart.
- Wait for a few seconds while File Explorer is restarting.
- After it started again, reboot your PC.
Sign back into your PC and check if the explorer starts working all right.
2] Repair Corrupt files using SFC
It could be possible that you have installed a buggy cumulative update on your computer. Though you can’t confirm this by any sort, perform an SFC scan, and see if it fixes ‘Files Explorer not responding’ on your PC.
Here’s how you may initiate an SFC scan –
- Launch Command Prompt having admin rights.
- When this opens up, type the following, and press Enter –
sfc /scannow
- The whole scanning and repairing process will take 10-15 minutes, so wait patiently.
- Once this is over (reaches 100%), restart your PC.
If the File Explorer is still not responding or crashes sometimes, follow the next workaround.
3] Manually Change the Time
According to a few users, they solve this issue simply by changing the current time of their devices by 24 hours. Go and check if this works in your case as well –
- Go to the bottom right corner of the taskbar and right-click on it.
- Hit Adjust date & time.
- Turn off the toggle switches – “Set time automatically” and “Set time zone automatically“.
- Look for the”Set the date and time manually” setting on the same window.
- When found, hit the Change button beside it.
- Just increase the current timings by 24 hours.
- Close all running windows, and restart your PC.
This should fix the unresponsive Explorer or Context Menu issue on Windows 11. Check and confirm by opening them multiple times.
Note: If you don’t find any issue now, re-visit the date & time setting page, and turn On the toggle switches that you disable before. Make sure to hit Sync now under Additional settings as well.
4] Uninstall Lately installed Cumulative update
If none of the above methods work to fix the “File Explorer not responding” issue on Windows 11, try removing the root cause that has begun such an issue. In short, you should uninstall any preview build that you have installed recently.
You may uninstall the latest cumulative update via the Control panel by following these easy steps –
- Launch Control Panel first and navigate to the path below –
Programs > Programs & Features
- Click “View installed updates” on the left pane.
- Right-click on the recently installed cumulative update (starting with KB), and hit Uninstall.
- When asked whether you want to uninstall this patch update, hit Yes.
- Your PC will restart next and remove the selected cumulative update.
Now that you have removed the recently installed cumulative updates, check if this resolves Taskbar or Explorer issues on Windows 11.
