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Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working - even in Safe Mode

Anonymous
2010-09-13T15:58:28+00:00

When I start my laptop (Win7 Home Premium) I get a message "Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working - checking for a solution..." then the desktop appears. Click on anything and the "Stopped Working" message repeats, desktop redisplays but nothing starts.  If the PC is left sitting on the desktop the message and redisplay of desktop repeats continually every few minutes.

I can open the Start Menu but type into Search and the message "Stopped Working" repeats. From Start if I select All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt > then right click and select Run as Administrator, as soon as I type one character, the same "Stopped Working" message repeats again so I cannot do check disk, scannow etc. The only thing that works is Ctrl/Alt/Del for Task Manager works but even here File> New Task (Run...) causes the Explorer crash.

Tried starting in Safe Mode and Help starts automatically but is blank and the "Stopped Working" message appears.  Attempts to do anything just causes a repeat of the message and redisplay of screen.

I do not know much about these things, including Command Prompt or Safe Mode - knew enough to start them that's all. Someone did tell me about chkdsk and sfc /scannow but even in Safe Mode I can only type one character into Command Prompt and Explorer crashes is instantly.

I have read many of the answers to similar questions but I am not able to do any checks, scans or other things suggested as anything seems to trigger the problem.

Some background though probably not relevent: Windows 7 replaced Vista (which could not be fixed) about 3 months ago and had been working fine until about a month ago when it decided it was not a legal copy - it was, so Microsoft talked me through reinstalling it from the CD which fixed that problem and allowed me to register it (again!). 

Where do I go from here with the "stopped working" probem?

Allan

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2010-09-13T16:09:44+00:00

If the problem is caused by a glitch then System Restore will probably fix it. If it is caused by a virus or by some malware then you probably need to reload Windows.

  1. Keep tapping F8 during the early boot phase.
  2. Select Repair from the menu.
  3. Enter the Administrator's password when prompted. It is often blank.
  4. Select System Restore when prompted.
  5. Set Windows back to a point before this problem occurred.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-09-13T20:32:18+00:00

    When I start my laptop (Win7 Home Premium) I get a message "Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working - checking for a solution..." then the desktop appears.

    Hi,

    please download this reg file from my SkyDrive:

    http://cid-128fc518635be2dc.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/MS%20Foren/Registry/WER%5E\_Explorer.reg

    and make a double click on the file to import it. If you can't do this, run regedit.exe and import the registry file there!

    When the Windows Explorer crashes, Windows Error Reporting Service [1] creates a dmp file under C:\Localdumps. Please upload the file to your public Skydrive [2] folder and post the link here. I take a look at the dump with the Debugger, maybe I can see which Shell extension is the cause.

    André

    [1] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb787181%28VS.85%29.aspx

    [2] http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/4fc10639-02db-4665-993a-08d865088d65

    "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-09-13T17:19:03+00:00

    Thanks for the quick reply.

    I did start down that track, not really knowing what I was doing, but backed out when it requested the admin password as I had no idea what it was. If it is just 'blank' then I will give it a go and see what happens.

    Thanks again,

    Allan

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