Windows Server 2022 - explorer.exe Hang

Question

I have a Windows Server 2022 VM which is running Terminal Services Role.

I have an issue where the Taskbar stops working (clicking start menu, icons on taskbar, right clicking start bar; nothing happens) If I press the Windows key 5 times it would refresh the explorer process and the taskbar would work again.

There is very little that I can make from the Event logs. All I get for each crash is:

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Details
8 March 2022 13:50
Date
(101)
Category
1002
Event ID
Content
The program explorer.exe version 10.0.20348.558 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Security and Maintenance control panel.

Process ID: 2ad48

Start Time: 01d832eac1cebdcb

Termination Time: 0

Application Path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Report Id: f16be525-b419-4ef9-992c-13281dad3b65

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID:

Hang type: Unknown

---

8 March 2022 13:50
Date
None
Category
1001
Event ID
Content
Fault bucket 1806118060089513186, type 5
Event Name: AppHangB1
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: explorer.exe
P2: 10.0.20348.558
P3: aac38ef2
P4: 75cc
P5: 33554432
P6:
P7:
P8:
P9:
P10:

Attached files:
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.44b06364-d5f2-4099-a847-675d9996501b.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml

These files may be available here:
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppHang_explorer.exe_7724c9a607c88e37f8cf15ab8d4929236712c_9a67017a_2fb02f31-3c24-46bf-abe4-191a3ec33733

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: f16be525-b419-4ef9-992c-13281dad3b65
Report Status: 268435456
Hashed bucket: c13f401e3cbd0863a9109ece720d94e2
Cab Guid: 0

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hello @Toby Hayton

I can understand you are facing issue with Explorer or Task bar hang in Windows 2022 VM.

Please follow below steps to resolve the issue.

1. Please first of all try to Power-Cycle the VM to end the hung processes or services.
2. Press CTL + ALT + END keys to get Task Manager and observe which processes consuming more resources as It may be due to VM suffer low resources in that case try to Expand disk space and try to increase RAM.
3. Disable any Antivirus program you may have for temporary purpose.
4. Cleanup below Temp folders
   C:\Windows\Temp
   %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp

Hope this answers your question :)
Thank you.

--
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Answer 2

Check if you are experiencing the same issue with reg key bloat as here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/752491/server-2022-and-teams-bloats-hkey-local-machinesys.html

Answer 3

I have the same problem, any advise would be welcomed.

Answer 4

I have the same issue here, this seems to be a flaw in the Windows Server 2022 .
Any Advise is welcomed.

Answer 5

Hey guys,

I am facing the same problem too... I already tried solutions from:

https://de.minitool.com/datensicherung/windows-10-explorer-stuerzt-immer-wieder-ab.html

https://www.easeus.de/daten-wiederherstellen/windows-explorer-stuerzt-immer-ab.html

Nothing worked for me. We are working with a Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Setup. The Servers are cloud hosted by AWS. Some of them are working without any issues and Some Clients connecting to the Terminal Servers are facing the explorer to hang. It crashes several times sometimes, one after another. But only for some clients of the same server, not for all, really strange.