Man, what an annoying problem this is. It sucks having to hit F5 to force Windows to display the changes you just freakin’ made whenever you delete/rename/move/copy a file or folder.
Apparently this non-refreshing File Explorer issue has existed since Windows 7 but Microsoft won’t even acknowledge it despite thousands of people complaining about it for several years. After hours of Googling for a solution and going down a lot of dead ends, here’s what eventually worked for me to fix this issue in Windows 10 Pro (Version 1809, OS Build 17763.195):
Open up a window of your busted-ass File Explorer and go here with it:
%AppData%\Microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations
If you’re in the right spot, your File Explorer should look something like this. (I’m using a dark Windows theme, but you probably have the standard white background in Explorer.)
You may have a lot more files in your folder than I do in the screenshot above, but that’s just because I already went through this process a couple hours ago and deleted a whole bunch of files from the folder the first time I did it.
Now don’t get scared, but I need you to do the same thing I did and just go ahead and delete every single goddamned file in that folder. That’s right! You heard me! Delete them all!
After you’ve deleted every file in that folder, redirect Explorer to this other folder:
%AppData%\Microsoft\windows\recent\customdestinations
Delete every single motherfuckin’ file in that folder too! Kill ’em all! Let God sort ’em out!
After you’ve deleted all the files in both of those folders, reboot and pray. Hopefully your File Explorer/Desktop will be working like they’re supposed to when you log back into Windows again.
So, what even causes this bug in the first place? Well, there’s probably a bunch of different reasons for this problem and a bunch of different solutions for it depending on your particular system setup (and Microsoft certainly isn’t providing any answers), but in my case, it appears that Explorer was getting hung up due to network folders I had in my Quick Access that were no longer online. Apparently, if the computer or network that contains those folders goes offline, sometimes Windows shits the bed and just can’t accept the fact that those folders are not currently accessible and can’t proceed normally without them. Nope, it seems that Explorer just keeps on looking for these offline folders forever and ever no matter how long they’ve been offline, which somehow breaks Explorer’s ability to automatically refresh whenever you make any changes to your local folders and files. This doesn’t happen every time a Quick Access network folder goes offline… Just sometimes… Because Windows is magical.
So, on the random day you’re faced with this issue, you gotta completely remove those network folders from your Quick Access, and that’s what you accomplished before when you deleted all those files. Now dumbass Windows won’t keep looking for those offline folders in Quick Access and screwing up your File Explorer.
scootercomputers 
Wow! I am blown away… It worked!
This no-refresh issue just started happening to me several weeks ago and it is (was) really annoying. I looked up all sorts of fixes, registry tricks, etc. but none of them worked. I was about to try to make a new profile before I came across your article today and gave it a try and after restarting, the problem is gone. Refreshing happens automatically again! Thank you so much.
I’m glad things worked out for you!
Wow! Worked for me, too! Been searching for a remedy for months, already.
Fantastic!
Came here to say two things:
1) It worked. It’s the only fix that worked from the many, many fixes out there.
2) It also removed my chrome taskbar menu where you can right click to either open a new window or new incognito window, among other things. Tried all the fixes out there for this to no avail. So, there’s that.
I too had tried everything else out on the web. Found this after a couple hours of research and failed attempts. However, I did not go quite as far as the author did in deleting the files in those two locations (I actually could not find the locations as they were entered above). Instead, based on the comment about Quick Access, I right clicked my Quick Access list and removed everything from it. Magic… Still can’t believe it is working again.
Hey….this fucking shit worked bro! You are a goddamn rockstar!
Just spent two days trying everything else including reloading windows… this was the only thing that worked! Don’t know how you figured this out but thank you.
Man I freaking love you right now. Thank you SO much. I tried everything I could find online from regedit to silly “check and uncheck” options, etc. and only your solution worked! You just saved me hours of factory resetting this laptop.
😉
It worked! And yeah this is the only solution that solved my problem. And you are funny guy 🙂 Thanks!
Interesting solution. I used what you wrote about network drives and fixed it another way.
I don’t have network drives, but I do have several external drives. They were off (this is normal) while I was having this problem so I turned them on. After that, explorer started refreshing properly.
I checked my quick access folders and none of them linked to the external drives. I turned off the externals again and explorer continued to refresh normally. Strangest fix I’ve ever encountered.
The path you quoted, %AppData%\Microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations is WRONG!
Took me quite some time to find the right destination. Thank you for the help, but is it really so hard to do it right?
Right destination (it is on the picture YOU posted):
%AppData%\ROAMING\Microsoft\windows\recent ITEMS\automaticdestinations
When I put…
%AppData%\Microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations
… as the destination in File Explorer, it automatically redirects me to the right spot.
( which is C:\Users\EXAMPLEUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations )
Also, despite what it shows in the screenshot where it says “Recent Items” in the path, when I copy-paste that very same path straight FROM File Explorer, File Explorer still keeps it as C:\Users\EXAMPLEUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations and does not include the “items” part of the path. But it still works anyway.
However, when I copy-paste your “corrected” path (it is in the comment YOU posted) into File Explorer, I get an error message saying Windows can’t find that location.
Thank you for your dumb and wrong suggestion but is it really so hard to do it right? Maybe you have a different or older version of Windows, or maybe you have an extra chromosome, but I’m prepared to offer you a full refund on the IT services I provided you since they did not meet with your 100% satisfaction.
Sorry for being a prick. It’s MS I should be annoyed about, not you, who tried to help.
I guess we can add the folder mess to the list of things that are wrong with Windows, because you are right. Actually you can’t navigate to said folder “by hand”, the only way to get there is to copy-paste in path line the link you provided (Explorer doesn’t even show “Custom” and “Automatic” folders). I used Total Commander to make sure about things and I guess “Recent” is the real name of the folder, “Items” is added by the omnipotent stupidity of somebody. Also the system obviously doesn’t care, if you add this “Roaming” or not … Go figure!
Still, it would not be a bad idea to add the info to the help post, that you cannot navigate there other way than by pasting – or navigating there in terminal window (or the alternative file manager like I did). This path is obfuscated in any possible way.
I guess I’ve learned something.
Please message me privately for the bank account details to give me the refund 😀