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[solved] Windows 10 Explorer (incl. Taskbar) crashes randomly every ~2 minutes

Anonymous
2018-05-12T16:59:38+00:00

Hi.

I have a freshly installed Windows 10 Pro on a top spec PC. I am a capable power user, very careful about what I install or run on my computer.

It used to work fine for a while, but now my problem is similar to this one: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_10-start-winpc/windows-10-taskbar-keeps-crashingrestarting/2501a0e9-af66-4cb0-998d-357f1cde395d

This is a significant problem mainly because it happens every minute or two and because every time it happens, Windows Explorer closes and I have to re-navigate to my desired file folder again.

So, here's what happens:

  • Every 2 minutes or so, the taskbar goes all black - there are no icons there any more
  • If I'm in the middle of an action (like entering a formula or using a menu in Excel) that program will hang or freeze momentarily. If typing a formula in Excel, I will need to re-enter it.
  • The taskbar flickers once and then the icons reappear. It's as if the taskbar is constantly rebooting
  • The above issues are annoying, but at least the programs I am using (Excel, etc) remain open.
  • The biggest problem is that Windows File Explorer appears to restart every time the taskbar does. As stated above, this means I have to navigate to find whatever files I need to use all over again.

It's totally ridiculous. It's a serious bug that is hampering my ability to do work on this computer. As of now, I completely regret upgrading from Windows 7. How long does a roll-back take?

There are other posts regarding this, but none of the answers are satisfactory.

So I am asking again.

Here's what "View all problems" shows:

I've been using Linux for many years and I'm not familiar with how to investigate problems on modern Windows.

Please help.

UPD: Solved by agreeing to install a pending update.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Vijay A. Verma 104.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-05-12T17:40:02+00:00

    Please try these options one by one and check after each option.

    1. Run Start menu troubleshooter

    http://aka.ms/diag_StartMenu

    1. Reinstall Start Menu

    Windows Key+X > Click Powershell (Admin) > Copy the below and paste into Powershell > Enter > Reboot your computer

    Get-AppXPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

    1. Run Built-in & Guided Walk through Windows update troubleshooter

    Built-in : Windows Key+X > Click Settings > Click Update & security > Click Troubleshoot > Click Windows update > Click Run the Troubleshooter

    Guided Walk though - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10164/...

    1. Run SFC/DISM

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

    1. Also you should run CHKDSK. To run CKHDSK -

    Type cmd in Windows Start Search box

    Right click on cmd.exe > Run As Administrator

    Type following and Enter to fix problems on the C: drive while you're using it, and will use as much system resources as allowed so that it will run as quickly as possible.

    chkdsk c: /r /scan /perf

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-05-12T17:49:44+00:00

    Honestly, I would be shocked if any of that works. System restore has 95% better chance of fixing it. If not, I can highly assume a clean install is needed.

    I would try system restore. If that does not work, and he has a clean install of v1709 or earlier, then install v1809. If he has v1809 on the clean install, I would then see if he has the cumulative update after v1803, uninstall the cumulative update and reinstall using the stand alone installer.

    I would never use windows update for service packs, creators packs or cumulative updates.

    All Windows major updates for download:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4043454/windows-10-windows-server-update-history

    V1803 Update assistant or Media tool for DVD/USB install:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2018-05-12T17:34:18+00:00

    I would not attempt to fix this. waste of time. I would do a new clean install.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2018-05-12T17:55:12+00:00

    If the issue persists I might suggest to obtain a user mode dump of the crash to get more information on the crash.

    You can configure Windows to create user-mode dumps. Create a System Restore Point first.

    If you copy and paste the following in Notepad and save as a .reg file (save with the .reg extension and give it any name such as dump.reg), then right-click the .reg file and select "Merge" to add to the registry, a .dmp file at the time explorer.exe crashes should be created in the C:\CrashDumps folder:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\explorer.exe]

    "DumpFolder"=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,43,00,72,00,61,00,73,00,68,00,44,00,75,\

    00,6d,00,70,00,73,00,00,00

    After Explorer (explorer.exe) crashes, can you then make the .dmp file available (provide link) via a public folder on OneDrive or similar site.

    Here's a link on using OneDrive:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/onedrive/sha...

    More info on collecting user-mode dumps:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb787181(VS.85).aspx

    To stop the creation of the user mode dump files run the following registry file:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\explorer.exe]

    You can delete the C:\CrashDumps folder anytime.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-05-12T17:35:55+00:00

    If it ran good for awhile, did you just install a new windows update that caused this. Check and see. If not, use system restore and restore PC back to before this issue happened.

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