Windows 10 File Explorer won't open, causes Windows Explorer to crash

I am having the exact same problem.  Many of my desktop apps won't load either.  This is unacceptable.

I upgraded to Windows 10 a few days after the release. I upgraded from Windows 7 Professional, and since upgrading to Windows 10 Pro, my File Explorer does not open. Whenever I click on File Explorer in the Start Menu, it freezes and the screen flashes. Then it goes back to the desktop and Windows Explorer no longer works. I am forced to CTRL-ALT-DELETE to log out. 

I hoped that the latest update would fix this issue, but it has not. Is there a fix to this, or are some of my files corrupt? Will I need to do a clean install? 

I thought that I was the only one! exact same problem - 7 pro to 10 a few days ago.

File explorer will not open.  Photo app opens for a few seconds then closes.

Not what I was expecting from Microsoft!!

I have exactly the same problem. When trying to load File explorer from the start menu or the taskbar, the screen flashes blank and then returns without opening file explorer. Task manager does not report an active explorer process. However if I search for a file or directory in the search bar and then click on the file, Explorer opens correctly.

I have restored my windows 7 and the re upgraded to Windows 10 with the same result. I have an NVidia graphics card.

I'd be keen to know if, like me, you can open a file explorer window by searching for a known file or directory in the search box and clicking on it. I can do this though not launch from the task bar or the start menu - when I get the flashing screen then nothing. This suggests that the bug is triggered when opening in the file explorer window in the root directory, or the recently used files (these are the two options in the file explorer settings). When I first upgraded I was able to reset the directory that was opened on launch to the c drive (not the recently used files) and I worked correctly for a while (ie could open from the task bar and start menu)

Also.

1) I am using dual monitors.

2) I haven't checked to see if a file explorer window was opened in another virtual desktop. I can no longer check as I have reverted to win 7. Perhaps someone with this bug could check this.

I had this problem as well, and after searching online went back to pre-Google days and did some proper fault finding.

In Windows 10 I checked the Event Viewer under Windows Logs>Application and found repeated errors corresponding to the failed attempts to open Explorer

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 10.0.10240.16405, time stamp: 0x55b4596f
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.10240.16384, time stamp: 0x559f38c3
Exception code: 0xe06d7363
Fault offset: 0x000000000002a1c8
Faulting process ID: 0x2a88
Faulting application start time: 0x01d0d67efa1aec92
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report ID: 1aa4c0ea-794f-4131-90f5-94e1119eab9f
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID:  

Searching for "Windows 10 Explorer 0xe06d7363" this (back to the modern Google era) I found the following article:

Windows 10 file explorer crashes explorer.exe

and following the recommended answer by using Shell Extension Manager for Windows which is by nirsoft, I disabled any questionable application extensions (7-Zip and AutoCAD in my case - multiple entries each).

A restart later and it's all fixed! Google knows all!