Launch folder windows in separate processe

The setting as in subject selected under Control Panel - Folder Options

More than one windows explorer open. Each of them opened in other
folder. One of them opened for search function.

However, if investigating with Task Manager all windows explorer windows
lead to the same explorer process (task right click - Go to process).
The list "Processes" of task manager presents only one explorer window.

So the setting as mentioned above not really functional.

What's the reason?

kakii wrote:

The setting as in subject selected under Control Panel - Folder Options

More than one windows explorer open. Each of them opened in other
folder. One of them opened for search function.

However, if investigating with Task Manager all windows explorer windows
lead to the same explorer process (task right click - Go to process).
The list "Processes" of task manager presents only one explorer window.

So the setting as mentioned above not really functional.

What's the reason?

It depends on "how" you launch the Explorer windows, you need to launch
a "new instance" of Explorer.exe. for this to work, it won't work if you
open a file explorer windows with the Windows+E key, or if you right
click on a folder from an opened Explorer window and select "Explore",
or if you launch a search from the Start menu.

For all intents and purposes if you want to have more than two instances
of Explorer running you pretty well have to use the /root, switch for
this to work. Try this:

In the Start menu Run box enter "Explorer" (without the quotes) and then
look in the Task Manager and you will see two instances of Explorer.exe
running, one for the Desktop and Taskbar and the new one that you just
launched. If you try to start a new Explorer instance with the same
"Explorer" command it won't work, it will simply switch to the already
opened Explorer instance that you opened, you can test this by
minimizing the opened Explorer and you will see that relaunching the
command will only maximize the already opened Explorer. If you want to
start new instances of Explorer.exe you have to use the /root, switch,
run this in the Start menu Run box: "explorer /root, c:\" , now you
will see a third instance of Explorer running. And again, if you run
the same command ("explorer /root, c:\") it won't start a new instance
of Explore, you would need to run a different "/root," parameter to
start another instance of Explorer, try: "explorer /root, c:\Foldername".

If you really want to have two separate Explorers running (one for the
Desktop and one for other things) then put a shortcut on your desktop
and use it to launch the second Explorer instance, or use the Run
command as explained earlier. For all it's worth the "Launch folder
windows in a separate process" setting is usually only needed if you
experience frequent Explorer.exe crashes or if you need to test/debug
shell extensions without crashing the desktop, or if you need to run
Explorer under a different user context with the RunAs command.

John

Thanks for explanations.
I understand.
The only one thing I still don't understand is what is then
the setting "Control Panel - Folder Options - View - Launch folder
windows in separate process".

If one have to use special invocation with /root parameter,
what then this setting for?


John John - MVP wrote:
kakii wrote:

The setting as in subject selected under Control Panel - Folder Options

More than one windows explorer open. Each of them opened in other
folder. One of them opened for search function.

However, if investigating with Task Manager all windows explorer windows
lead to the same explorer process (task right click - Go to process).
The list "Processes" of task manager presents only one explorer window.

So the setting as mentioned above not really functional.

What's the reason?

It depends on "how" you launch the Explorer windows, you need to launch
a "new instance" of Explorer.exe. for this to work, it won't work if you
open a file explorer windows with the Windows+E key, or if you right
click on a folder from an opened Explorer window and select "Explore",
or if you launch a search from the Start menu.

For all intents and purposes if you want to have more than two instances
of Explorer running you pretty well have to use the /root, switch for
this to work. Try this:

In the Start menu Run box enter "Explorer" (without the quotes) and then
look in the Task Manager and you will see two instances of Explorer.exe
running, one for the Desktop and Taskbar and the new one that you just
launched. If you try to start a new Explorer instance with the same
"Explorer" command it won't work, it will simply switch to the already
opened Explorer instance that you opened, you can test this by
minimizing the opened Explorer and you will see that relaunching the
command will only maximize the already opened Explorer. If you want to
start new instances of Explorer.exe you have to use the /root, switch,
run this in the Start menu Run box: "explorer /root, c:\" , now you
will see a third instance of Explorer running. And again, if you run
the same command ("explorer /root, c:\") it won't start a new instance
of Explore, you would need to run a different "/root," parameter to
start another instance of Explorer, try: "explorer /root, c:\Foldername".

If you really want to have two separate Explorers running (one for the
Desktop and one for other things) then put a shortcut on your desktop
and use it to launch the second Explorer instance, or use the Run
command as explained earlier. For all it's worth the "Launch folder
windows in a separate process" setting is usually only needed if you
experience frequent Explorer.exe crashes or if you need to test/debug
shell extensions without crashing the desktop, or if you need to run
Explorer under a different user context with the RunAs command.

John

kakii wrote:

Thanks for explanations.
I understand.
The only one thing I still don't understand is what is then
the setting "Control Panel - Folder Options - View - Launch folder
windows in separate process".

If one have to use special invocation with /root parameter,
what then this setting for?

Without the setting you can only run one instance of Explorer.exe. When
you start Explorer it looks to see if there is already an instance of
itself running, if it sees another Explorer running it just passes the
command to the already running Explorer and then quietly exits. The
setting changes this behaviour and allows for more than one Explorer to
run at the same time.

John


John John - MVP wrote:
kakii wrote:

The setting as in subject selected under Control Panel - Folder Options

More than one windows explorer open. Each of them opened in other
folder. One of them opened for search function.

However, if investigating with Task Manager all windows explorer windows
lead to the same explorer process (task right click - Go to process).
The list "Processes" of task manager presents only one explorer window.

So the setting as mentioned above not really functional.

What's the reason?

It depends on "how" you launch the Explorer windows, you need to
launch a "new instance" of Explorer.exe. for this to work, it won't
work if you open a file explorer windows with the Windows+E key, or if
you right click on a folder from an opened Explorer window and select
"Explore", or if you launch a search from the Start menu.

For all intents and purposes if you want to have more than two
instances of Explorer running you pretty well have to use the /root,
switch for this to work. Try this:

In the Start menu Run box enter "Explorer" (without the quotes) and
then look in the Task Manager and you will see two instances of
Explorer.exe running, one for the Desktop and Taskbar and the new one
that you just launched. If you try to start a new Explorer instance
with the same "Explorer" command it won't work, it will simply switch
to the already opened Explorer instance that you opened, you can test
this by minimizing the opened Explorer and you will see that
relaunching the command will only maximize the already opened
Explorer. If you want to start new instances of Explorer.exe you have
to use the /root, switch, run this in the Start menu Run box:
"explorer /root, c:\" , now you will see a third instance of Explorer
running. And again, if you run the same command ("explorer /root,
c:\") it won't start a new instance of Explore, you would need to run
a different "/root," parameter to start another instance of Explorer,
try: "explorer /root, c:\Foldername".

If you really want to have two separate Explorers running (one for the
Desktop and one for other things) then put a shortcut on your desktop
and use it to launch the second Explorer instance, or use the Run
command as explained earlier. For all it's worth the "Launch folder
windows in a separate process" setting is usually only needed if you
experience frequent Explorer.exe crashes or if you need to test/debug
shell extensions without crashing the desktop, or if you need to run
Explorer under a different user context with the RunAs command.

John

John John - MVP wrote:

Without the setting you can only run one instance of Explorer.exe. When
you start Explorer it looks to see if there is already an instance of
itself running, if it sees another Explorer running it just passes the
command to the already running Explorer and then quietly exits. The
setting changes this behaviour and allows for more than one Explorer to
run at the same time.

John



My test can't confirm that.
Testwise I have disabled this option.
Than closed all explorer windows.
Than have opened several explorer windows for different disc locations.
Every time a new explorer window opens.

On the other hand the name of this setting is
"Launch folder windows in separate PROCESS"
not
"Allow more instances of windows explorer"

kakii wrote:
John John - MVP wrote:

Without the setting you can only run one instance of Explorer.exe.
When you start Explorer it looks to see if there is already an
instance of itself running, if it sees another Explorer running it
just passes the command to the already running Explorer and then
quietly exits. The setting changes this behaviour and allows for more
than one Explorer to run at the same time.

John



My test can't confirm that.
Testwise I have disabled this option.
Than closed all explorer windows.
Than have opened several explorer windows for different disc locations.
Every time a new explorer window opens.

On the other hand the name of this setting is
"Launch folder windows in separate PROCESS"
not
"Allow more instances of windows explorer"

The setting doesn't allow or disallow opening multiple Explorer windows,
you can open as many as you want, with or without the setting. The
setting allows you to run more than one instance of Explorer.exe, it
allows you to open explorer windows in a separate Explorer.exe process.
Take a look in the Task Manager to see the difference.

Try this:

By default the setting is disabled, it is 'unchecked' in the Folder
Options/View settings. Make sure that the setting is disabled and then
look for different running instances of Explorer.exe in the Task Manager
as you run each the following commands in the Start menu Run box:

explorer
explorer /root, c:\
explorer /root, c:\windows

Now, enable the setting and run the commands again and take note of the
instances of Explorer.exe running in the Task Manager. Do you see the
difference?

John

By default the setting is disabled, it is 'unchecked' in the Folder
Options/View settings. Make sure that the setting is disabled and then
look for different running instances of Explorer.exe in the Task Manager
as you run each the following commands in the Start menu Run box:

explorer
explorer /root, c:\
explorer /root, c:\windows

Now, enable the setting and run the commands again and take note of the
instances of Explorer.exe running in the Task Manager. Do you see the
difference?

John


Well, it seems to work when using explorer command as invocation.
However, in our network we use mainly the My Computer icon to access all
places on present discs.
And in this case this setting doesn't seem to work.

kakii wrote:

By default the setting is disabled, it is 'unchecked' in the Folder
Options/View settings. Make sure that the setting is disabled and
then look for different running instances of Explorer.exe in the Task
Manager as you run each the following commands in the Start menu Run box:

explorer
explorer /root, c:\
explorer /root, c:\windows

Now, enable the setting and run the commands again and take note of
the instances of Explorer.exe running in the Task Manager. Do you see
the difference?

John


Well, it seems to work when using explorer command as invocation.
However, in our network we use mainly the My Computer icon to access all
places on present discs.
And in this case this setting doesn't seem to work.

Try: explorer.exe /e,::{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}

Remember that if you started another Explorer without the /root, switch
that the above will open within the context of the previously launched
Explorer. In other words the above would count as the one Explorer.exe
that can be launched separately without the use of the /root, switch.

John