How to fix error error-too-many-open-files in Windows 11

Solution Steps

1. 1 Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog. Type 'cmd' and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open Command Prompt as administrator. Click Yes if prompted. This gives you the elevated privileges needed to change system settings.
2. 2 In the Command Prompt, type 'wmic process get processid,commandline' and press Enter. This lists all running processes and their command lines. Look for any program that might be leaking file handles — often it's a game, a development tool, or a service. Note the process ID (PID) of any suspicious program.
3. 3 If you identify a problematic program, close it normally. If it's stuck, open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc, find the process, right-click it, and select 'End Task'. This frees up the file handles it was holding.
4. 4 To increase the system-wide limit for open files, you can modify the registry. Press Windows key + R, type 'regedit', and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems. Find the 'Windows' value, double-click it, and look for the 'FileCacheLimit' or 'SystemCacheLimit' entries. Increase the value (e.g., from 0x1000 to 0x4000) to allow more open files. Be careful — this is a risky operation, so create a restore point first.
5. 5 After making changes, restart your computer. This ensures the new limit takes effect and clears any lingering file handles from the previous session.