Explorer.exe shell missing in registry

Question

Hi,

When I start up my computer, it takes around 10 minutes to do so.  When I finally log in, there are no desktop icons and the taskbar does not work.  Both are "busy," and clicking on my desktop causes explorer.exe to crash.  In the registry, I have no Shell for explorer.exe, but the system gives me an error when I try to make one (that it is already there).  Any ideas?

Answer 1

Hi,

A backup and reinstall would be necessary at this point. I would suggest you to run check disk from the install / recovery disc first to make sure the drive isn’t failing.

Important: While performing chkdsk on the hard drive if any bad sectors are found on the hard drive when chkdsk tries to repair that sector if any data available on that might be lost.

Hope this helps. Please do let us know if you need any help with Windows.

Answer 2

Thanks for responding!

Yes, my computer takes a long time (~5 to 7 minutes) to load.  After the initial load screen with the Windows icon and the green activity bars at the bottom, the screen goes black for the 5 to 7 minutes.  After typing in my password, it takes up to a minute to get in.

I cannot create new user accounts.  Trying to do this crashes the program (it never loads), and after this I cannot view desktop icons or the Task Bar/Start Menuwhile in Safe Mode (I can never view them in normal mode).  Similarly, I cannot browse or even point to "Computer".  Trying to open my computer, or even trying to browse its contents eg from the Task Manager causes it to crash.  My computer also has no sound or internet connectivity, although it did a dew days ago.

I cannot run virus scans either.  I was able to run sfc scannow once, but now it throws an error and will not run.  I also ran a disk check, but that did not fix the problem.

Finally, I cannot run rstrui.  System restore does not crash my computer, and the .exe shows up in processes, but it does not do anything beyond this.  It does not launch any GUI app.

When I click on the winlogon key that should house my Shell for explorer.exe, I get this error measage:

Cannot display Shell:  Error reading thr value's contents.

After clicking ok, I can view the contents in this key.  When I try to make a new String value with the name Shell, I get this error:

The Registry Editor cannot rename New Value #1.  The specified value name already exists.  Type another name and try again.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Hi,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Community!

After going through your issue description, it appears that you have an issue with computer performance issue. You can fix the issue by doing few troubleshooting methods. However, in order to guide you in the right direction; I will need some more information. Please help me by answering the questions:

Does it take a long time starting up or logging in?

You can try these methods and check the issue status.

Method 1:

If logging in, try a new user account and follow the corrupt profile steps if the new account works.

Try in a new user account.

Follow the steps mentioned below to create a new user account.

To create a new profile, you must first create a new user account. When the account is created, a profile will also be created.

Create a user account: ******http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Create-a-user-account**

If it works in a new user account then you need to fix the corrupt user profile. You may visit this link for the steps:

**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile**

Method 2:

If the above method doesn’t work, you can try by performing system restore to a system restore point where the computer was working fine.

System Restore.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/system-restore

Hope this information is helpful. If the issue still persists, I would request you to reply us with troubleshooting result to assist you further, we’ll be happy to assist you.