How to exit Explorer in Windows 11?
May 20
In previous versions of Windows, it was easily possible to exit Windows Explorer if needed:
Ctrl + Shift + Right-click the taskbar, then select Exit Explorer menu item.
In Windows 11, this no longer works. Did Microsoft move the functionality elsewhere?
1 answer
Accepted answer · original discussion
May 20
Short answer:
Press Win + T, then Alt + F4, then Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Esc.
Long answer:
The functionality was moved into Shut Down Windows dialog. Applying step #3 there does the job.
- Press Win + T to activate Windows taskbar.
- Press Alt + F4 to display Windows shutdown dialog.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Esc to cancel the dialog.
(The Esc key activates the Cancel button and the modifiers are taken into account. When Explorer sees them, it will exit. You can equally use them while mouse-clicking the Cancel button.)
Source: A comment in Q/A "How do you add a Windows environment variable without rebooting?"
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May 21
May 21