Open in New Process - Folder

How to Open Folder in New Process in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to open a drive, folder, or library window in a separate new explorer process in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

   Note

This is not the same as just having a folder open in a separate new window. Those two folder windows would still just be running in the same single explorer.exe process.


Having a folder open in a separate process will allow multiple instances of the open folder window to be running with each instance running with a separate explorer.exe process. If one of these instances should close or crash, the other instances would be completely unaffected by it.

   Warning

This can increase the stability of Windows 7 by opening every folder in a separate part of memory. Use this setting if your computer frequently crashes, and you are trying to minimize problems or troubleshoot. Be aware, however, that doing this could slow down the performance of your computer.

   Tip

To see what processes (ex: explorer.exe) are running:

• Open Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESCAPE).
• Click on the Processes tab. (See screenshots below)
• Under Image Name, look for how many explorer.exe processes you have open. You will have one for each new folder process you open.

OPTION ONE

To Manually Open a Folder in a New Process

NOTE: This will allow you to manually open a selected folder window in a new separate process.
1. Press and hold the Shift key, then right click on the drive, folder, or library that you want to open in a separate process, release the Shift key, and click/tap on Open in New Process. (See screenshot below)

2. This will now open the selected folder in a separate window that is in a new process.

OPTION TWO

Turn On or Off to Launch Folders in Separate Process in Folder Options

NOTE: This will set Windows to always open all folder windows in a separate new process or not when they are opened.
1. Open Folder Options in Windows 7 or Windows 8, and click/tap on the View tab. (See screenshot below step 4)

2. To Launch Folder Windows in a Separate Process when Opened
NOTE: Folders open in the same process as each other, but a separate instance to the process that provides the Shell.
A) Check the Launch folder windows in a separate process box. (See screenshot below step 4)

B) Go to step 4.
3. To Not Launch Folder Windows in a Separate Process when Opened
NOTE: Folders open in the same process as each other, in the same instance to the process that provides the Shell. This is the default setting.
A) Uncheck the Launch folder windows in a separate process box. (See screenshot below step 4)
4. Click on OK. (See screenshot below)

OPTION THREE

Turn On or Off to Launch Folders in Separate Process using a REG File

1. To Launch Folder Windows in a Separate Process when Opened
A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.
Launch_Folder_Windows_in_Separate_Process.reg

Download


B) Go to step 3.
2. To Not Launch Folder Windows in a Separate Process when Opened
A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.
NOTE: This is the default setting.
Not_Launch_Folder_Windows_in_Separate_Process.reg

Download


3. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

4. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

5. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

6. If open, close and reopen Windows Explorer (Window 7) or File Explorer (Windows 8) to apply.
NOTE: If you do not see a change, then log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply.

7. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Open each Folder in the Same or Own Separate New Window in Windows 7
• How to Open each Folder in the Same or Own Separate New Window in Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove "Open in new process" Context Menu in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Use "Open in New Process" Context Menu Item With or Without Shift+Right Click

 

[NormCameron]

Another spot-on effort brink. Great Tutorial

 

[Brink]

Thank you Norm.

 

[dew1]

thank you , Always a creative

 

[JoHn87]

cheers. I'm trying it for a few days.

So this has no benefit in performance(but does it help, if you got more RAM or not? or better cpu??)

 

[Brink]

Hello John,

Say you have multiple Windows Explorer windows opened with all of then opened and using the same process (ex: explorer.exe in Task Manager Processes tab), and if that explorer.exe should crash or freeze, then all of these multiple Windows Explorer windows running under this process will as well.


Say instead you have one Windows Explorer window opened in one explorer.exe process and open another Windows Explorer window with a new explorer.exe process, and if one of those explorer.exe processes crashes, then the other one will not be affected by it. No performance benefit with this other than more redunancy and reliability. Think of it how Internet Explorer does this with mulitple tabs. This is why you see multiple iexplorer.exe processes entries in Task Manager. One for each tab + Internet Explorer itself. If one tab should crash, the other ones still work and you just need to close the crashed one.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[JoHn87]

thanks for the explanation brink.

This can increase the stability of Windows 7 by opening every folder in a separate part of memory. Use this setting if your computer frequently crashes, and you are trying to minimize problems or troubleshoot. Be aware, however, that doing this could slow down the performance of your computer.

After trying it for a week, it's slow my PC, had some freezes, and long loading time on opening explorer.exe :devil: Just like you said it would.

Everything back to normal, after unchecking it.

 

[Brink]

Hello John,

Well, it was worth a try I suppose.

 

[aaaaaa]

Has anyone actually tried this and looked at the task list? I never see more than two explorer.exe's running, no matter what I try. Can anyone confirm? Screenshots would be cool too.

 

[Brink]

Hello A, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It's confirmed. You can see screenshots of two explorer.exe processes opened in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial.

 

[aaaaaa]

hey,

perhaps I should have added a little more detail. When I try this out, I always get one process for the desktop instance of explorer, and one process for the file manager window of explorer. If I launch two, three, or twenty file manager windows, I still only ever have two instances of explorer.exe running.

Am I misunderstanding what the purpose of "open in a new process" means? Or is something just really strange with my installation of Windows? I have a suspicion that the true answer to both of those is "no", and that this is just a bug in Win7. So if anyone could confirm that (by saying so, or taking a screenshot of 3+ explorer.exe processes), that would be great.

 

[Brink]

Is it like this even when you use OPTION ONE to open it in a new process?

 

[aaaaaa]

yes, I have tried both ways... restarted to make sure that the folder options setting took effect as well.

 

[Dwarf]

That is perfectly normal. When you have the option Launch folder windows in a separate process checked, it does not mean that each window that you have opened opens in a separate process (just to confuse things). What this actually does is separate the main explorer process (the one that provides the main Shell and the desktop) from your open folders.

Option enabled (checked):

Folders open in the same process as each other, but a separate instance to the process that provides the Shell.

Option disabled (unchecked, default):

Folders open in the same process as each other, in the same instance to the process that provides the Shell.

 

[aaaaaa]

Ahh, ok. That would make sense (even if it seems somewhat contradictory). Thanks for the info!

 

[Dwarf]

You're welcome.

I suppose it does sound confusing and contradictory. Perhaps the option would have been better called Launch folder windows in a separate process from the Shell, but that would probably be too long to fit in the dialogue box.