Windows File Explorer is a key part of the operating system. Through this we can navigate through different folders within the computer, it is more than clear that this operating system would not be the same without this utility. So what can we do when the folder and file names are not displayed in Windows 10/11? Undoubtedly, this represents a rather serious problem that we must solve urgently. Luckily, in this article we are going to see how to achieve it.
There are many reasons why filenames are not visible or appear in File Explorer. What are those reasons? The most common ones are related to corrupted system files, conflicting third-party services, startup applications, and even graphics card drivers.
Fix: Folder and file names not showing in Windows 10/11
Let’s start with the basics
The easiest way to start would be to open Task Manager and restart Windows Explorer. For this we right click on Start and choose Task Manager. Next, we look for Explorer.exe and proceed to finish its task. Then we go to the top and choose “Run new task”, write explorer.exe and press Enter.
Another basic and simple option to try that, on many occasions, ends up working, is simply to restart the computer.
Repair system files
In the event that the simplest options do not work, then we are going to proceed to look for damaged system files, which is one of the most common reasons that we find. For this we suggest making a SFC scan and a DISM scan.
Reset the graphics card driver
We will press the Ctrl + Shift + Win + B key combination to restart the graphics card driver. The key combination is quite useful to solve a large number of problems related to the GPU of our computer and one of these is the fact that the names of the files and folders are not displayed.
Reinstall the default GPU driver
One of the most common reasons behind this problem is just the graphics card drivers. So let’s uninstall and reinstall the graphics card driver.
For this we are going to have to press Start, we are going to write and open Device Manager by pressing Enter. Once the Device Manager window opens, we will expand the Display adapters section.
We select it and right-click it, we are going to choose the Uninstall device option and we proceed to restart the computer once we finish uninstalling it.
When Windows starts again, the operating system will take care of updating it automatically. In the event that it does not work, the only alternative left to us is to download the drivers from the manufacturer’s official website.
Autostart repair
Microsoft has a utility in the operating system that allows us to repair damaged files in the operating system and solve the problem. In order to use the repair, we will have to start the Windows recovery environment.
Troubleshoot in a clean boot state
When we start the computer in a clean boot state, Windows takes care of loading only the services and drivers that are strictly necessary. In this way, we can verify if the third-party services, drivers or applications are causing the problem, due to the fact that they are kept disabled.
In case the problem does not persist in this mode, then we already have a clear idea of what the problem could be: a service or application that we have installed. Then we are going to have to find the application that we have recently installed and is causing the problem
Obviously, it is not something simple and requires a lot of patience. But if this is the case, many other options we don’t have. We recommend trying to remember when this problem started and if it was after installing any applications, making any changes in Registry Editor, etc.
Update the operating system
On many occasions we have talked about the importance of keeping the operating system updated whenever possible. So we will have to press start and type Windows Update to check if we do not have optional or main updates available to install. We recommend installing everything we have available.
