Windows Explorer.exe Crashing

[Harold]

I have always used Windows explorer.exe to open multiple files at the same
time by highlighting them, right clicking, and choosing "Open." Never any
problems doing this until after installing XP's SP2 build 2162. Now when I
do the same procedure the files open but Windows explorer.exe crashes
wanting to send a message to Microsoft and then it closes down. My files
remain open but Windows explorer.exe shuts down. I have tried doing a sfc
/scannow and boy was that a fiasco. In any case, it didn't find any file to
replace but I'm not sure it was an accurate run but that is a whole other
story.



Any suggestions on how to fix Windows explorer.exe short of uninstalling
SP2?



Thanks



Harold

 

[Harold]

I just found out that Windows explorer.exe also crashes if I try to do any
sharing operation.

Harold

 

[silversparkles]

Mine is doing the same thing to me everytime I try and
right-click the C drive and then properties. I thought it
was just my computer but I'm glad to know it's not. Sorry
I couldn't help but maybe it added a little more info for
the people who know how to fix it.

 

[Chad Harris]

Harold--

I'm going to assume because you posted here and not in the Beta groups that
you have 2162 from one of the Beta sites like Neowin, Bink Nu, or MSFN that
always leak builds after MSFT has gone public with a beta of some app, and
in this case MSFT went public with RC2 (2149) the first week of June. I
have a suggestion way short of formatting your box and I don't think you are
seeing a legitimate beta bug that's reproducable on that box with your right
click problem. That problem is not unknown and right click problems and
sharing problems and the explorer problems you and silversparkle mention
show up not infrequently on xp groups.

So I would definitely not label that an SP2 problem --I'd label it a problem
with that particular OS on that particular box that you chose to install
2162 on. I bet if you download that to one of your other machines you don't
see the problem and then you begin to increase your statistical test pool by
a factor of 100%--one box with the problems and one box without.

Here's what I suggest:

1) Uninstall SP2 at Add/Remove. Since the Beta testers have to uninstall to
reinstall the new builds every time MSFT Beta tests anything that is what
they have asked to be done for years and they certainly do with the public
Beta RC2 on the Technet site, they have pretty carefully crafted an
uninstall that works although I'm sure with any Beta there could be problems
with uninstalls and installs. Having said that, I don't really believe RTM
is anything ever but a refined Beta in any Windows OS. That's why there are
these newsgroups with all the good help I get on them.

2) Now you'll be back to XP out of the box or probably if you're like most
people, XPSP1. Run SFC /purge cache (takes 5 seconds) then run SFC/Scannow
on that SP1 box. You will be prompted for your CD I believe, because by
default the registry points to the CD. Also SFC is not going to give you
the customary "attaboy" that you've run it successfully on that progress bar
on your desktop. You have to go to Event Viewer in Applications or Systems
and look for the entry "Windows File Protection" at the time you ran it.
The attaboy is hidden over in Event Viewer for SFC.

*Then you can do one of two things:*

3) You can then try SP2 on that box again. Or you can do what I'd probably
do and after you Run SFC, I'd do a repair install or what MSFT calls an
upgrade install only you are upgrading from your OS. It works wonderfully
well, but there is always the caveat that you don't have 100% guarantee that
you may not lose some information so do a current Back Up and a back up is
always an important step if you are going to play with a Beta--even the
later pubic beta RC2 or the one of these leaks from the Beta sites like
Neowin.

I believe a repair/upgrade install is going to fix that box so you can run
SP2 on it. In the 3rd week of August or thereabouts, SP2 is going RTM.

I would not go to the Recovery Console on that box with the 4 most commonly
used repair moves at RC because the RC should be respected as more of a last
ditch tool, perhaps with the exception of running chkdsk /r from it unless
you are one who is very experienced with a n umber of commands in it.

The more extreme step is to format that box, but I don't think you have to
do that at all at this point.

This is from a nice site from one of the MSFT XP MVP's:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

and this is the MSKB on a Repair versus Parallel Install:
How to install or upgrade to Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316941&Product=winxp

I much prefer a *repair or upgrade* install to a parallel install because
the repair install will restore your settings perfectly and a parallel
install to another drive or another folder on your OS drive will be much
more inconvenient and have you trying to get your data out of it.

Good luck and post up what you do,

Chad Harris
_______________________________________________________________

 

[Chad Harris]

Harold--

*What error information are you getting from Event Viewer*??? It would be
the first place I'd go if I were getting this type of crash or any crash.
Also using the other error reporting tools might shed some light.

If and when you see that Explorer crash again, go to your run box and type
in "eventvwr.msc" or "eventvwr.exe" and look under System and Application at
the time of the crash and paste what error messages you are getting. That
could be a key to what's going on that probably isn't an SP2 bug. Are you
getting any page fault errors in Event Viewer? How about any error messages
on your desktop. When you click for more information and you get "Sorry for
the inconvenience Windows Explorer will close now" you should be getting
some type error on the box when you click the first hyperlink for more info,
and then when you click again you will get more, possibly in English and
possibly in Hex.

Also to context the type of problems you have been having with Windows
Explorer and right click, this type of problem is not infrequent in any
Windows OS and it would hardly be unique to XP SP2 on a single box and does
not sound like an SP2 bug given that if one does a search for this problem
using Google or anything else, many people report that problem on many
forums long before XP SP2 or XP any build was a gleam in Redmond's eye.

See:

Windows Explorer Right Click Crashes
http://tinyurl.com/6ee68

Right Click Files Windows Explorer Crashes
http://tinyurl.com/6pc8t

Right Click My Computer Crashes
http://tinyurl.com/4pnq2

You also might want to refer to this KB and find it helpful in fixing your
Explorer/files crash if you see it again on that or another box even if you
aren't getting this error verbatim.

Err Msg: Explorer Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Module Shell32.dll
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/Q237/8/88.ASP&NoWebContent=1

Additional Trouble Shooting Moves for Right Click Windows Explorer crashes:

1) Run Adaware and Spybot S+D and any other spyware checkers you have
because Spyware is not an infrequent cause of these right click problems.
Also run a current AV scan, because several viruses can cause this.

2) Boot into Safe Mode and see if these errors are reproduced.

3) Start>run>type "inetcpl.cpl">OK>advanced>uncheck enable 3rd party browser
extensions and if that fixes it you may have to look for an unstable BHO by
going to Options>Settings View Objects on the general tab from the IE
Toolbar.

2) Use msconfig as a troubleshooter by Start>run>msconfig>Startup>disable
all>OK>and then the step of disabling all 3rd party browser extensions
above.

See: How to troubleshoot by using the System Configuration utility in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&Product=winxp

Best,

Chad Harris

______________________________________________________________

 

[Harold]

Thanks Chad. I'll try what I can. Did you see silversparkles reply?

 

[Harold]

Hi Chad,

The only error around the time that I had problems was this one.



Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.2162, faulting module
rjhExt.dll, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x000780ca.



This rhjExt program is on both of my XP boxes. It is a handy little utility
that allows you to change multiple file names at the same time,
http://www.rjhsoftware.com/rjhextensions/rjhext.htm



Again, thanks.



Harold

 

[silversparkles]

You know what though? I haven't installed the SP2 yet I
don't think. Maybe my problem is something different but
it's doing the same thing as you.

 

[Chad Harris]

Harold--

1) I saw Silversparkle's reply. *He hasn't downloaded SP2 yet* and he's
having a similar problem. Did you see the google threads? There are
*hundreds of people* that have had right click problems of all stripes and
right click problems exactly like yours when doing various right click
actions with Windows Explorer and their files that don't have anything to do
with XP SP2.

Many of thoser right click problems have been around since Windows 95.

If you go to google groups with the same search words I used to get the Tiny
URL links I gave you, you will realize that.

2) If you aren't beta testing, you can still participate in the MSFT public
beta forums here, and all of the beta sites are discussing SP2 widely as are
other forums since it went Beta and you can look to see if this is a
frequent bug report in those places, but it does not seem to be the case.


3) From that error it appears your problem has nothing whatsoever to do with
Windows XP SP2, but instead is because on that box before you put on SP2 you
had an unstable browser extension some program brought in using using
RJHExtensions Organizer. You don't have to have a program remotely with that
name to have it. I'll bet if you do some looking on that box you will prove
to yourself once and for all that your problem is a BHO extension. It may
be possible that XP SP2's security buttoning down doesn't agree with this
app if you have it and then you've got a choice. You can use SP2, you can
continue with SP1 until the next service pack or Longhorn or XP reloaded, or
find a work around by contacting them at
http://www.rjhsoftware.com/contact.html

http://www.rjhsoftware.com/rjhextensions/


http://www.rjhsoftware.com/rjhextensions/rjhext.htm

3) I'd do a thorough search in your downloaded program files where I told
you to look for this BHO. I'd do a thorough spy scan.

A BHO and how to deal with them are defined here:

Browser Helper Extensions
http://tinyurl.com/47dl3

See:

http://www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/07-2003/msg00383.html

Best,

Chad harris

__________________________________________________

 

[Harold]

I think my problem is more related to the Right Click menu and possibly some
third party program I have installed. Not sure yet but I think I'd rather
stick to the third party program right now then have SP2. Maybe stupid on
my part but I use that third party program a lot.

 

[Chad Harris]

I think you can have both. If you have a machine where the 3rd party
program and SP2 are coexisting peacefully, then you might want to focus on
the fact that it's not SP2 and not the third party program, but something
else and after running SFC you might want to do a repair/upgrade install on
that box while it's SP1, or try copying explorer.exe from the box where that
program and SP1 are coexisting peacefully. If you have the program and SP2
on other boxes in your network, then it's unlikely it's that program and/or
SP2 causing the Explorer problems you're experiencing. Again, there are a
large number of right click explorer problems catalogued in the google links
I included before.

Best,

Chad harris

____________________________________________

 

[Chad Harris]

I meant to say you might want to take a box where that 3rd party program and
SP2 are coexisting peacefully and copy explorer.exe from it after setting a
restore point and see if that will work. Because if you have a box with
them both doing well together, then there are other reasons for your problem
on the problem box. If that won't work, I'd try a repair/upgrade install
while the problem box is SP1, or ultimately you can back up and format the
box.

I think the history of what that 3rd party program and SP2 do together on
several boxes would be key.

Best,

Chad Harris
_____________________________________________________

 

[Harold]

Thanks Chad. I had already copied the Explorer.exe from the working box to
the one with problems and it still had the same problems.

However, I hadn't thrown this into the equation until now, but!! If I would
double click on the My Computer icon it seemed to open a version of
Explorer.exe. I could then drill to whatever folder I wanted and then I did
not have a Right Click problem while using the My Computer icon. It was
inconvenient because it took more clicks to get where I was going but it
worked perfectly once there. Do you think this is anything of significance?

 

[Chad Harris]

This new tidbit suggests you have an Explorer problem (exactly what is the
lesion I don't know) that is probably not SP2. Since you have that box as
SP1 again I would do an inplace upgrade or repair (same thing) install via
the KB and link I gave you from Michael Stevens. You boot from the CD (put
it first in order in your bios) and then select upgrade. It'll do the rest
and it'll copy files from the CD and probably make the Explorer problem go
bye bye. Then put SP2 on the box. I would imagine the message MSFT will
have about SP1 after SP2 is RTM is to replace it with SP2. If they are
spending $250 million in the SP2 ad campaign starting next week to promote
SP2, I believe they will be promoting it to replace SP1 because it has a
number of predominantly security oriented features that SP1 does not have.
They have locked IE down tighter which is why there will be some 3rd party
software and hardware incompatibility issues when it releases.

Also, as I said before anytime you have an explorer problem you can also
try it in safe mode and if it works that suggest some 3rd party and you can
use msconfig to troubleshoot. But I'd just go on and do a repair/upgrade
install on that SP1 box right now or else put up with the workaround
drilling Explorer.

There are some regedits which may change the way explorer displays and help
you here:

http://tinyurl.com/6ctlc


Chad Harris

_____________________________________________________________________

 

[DanielLJ]

*Harold--

*What error information are you getting from Event Viewer*??? I
would be
the first place I'd go if I were getting this type of crash or an
crash.
Also using the other error reporting tools might shed some light.

If and when you see that Explorer crash again, go to your run box an
type
in "eventvwr.msc" or "eventvwr.exe" and look under System an
Application at
the time of the crash and paste what error messages you are getting.
That
could be a key to what's going on that probably isn't an SP2 bug.
Are you
getting any page fault errors in Event Viewer? How about any erro
messages
on your desktop. When you click for more information and you ge
"Sorry for
the inconvenience Windows Explorer will close now" you should b
getting
some type error on the box when you click the first hyperlink fo
more info,
and then when you click again you will get more, possibly in Englis
and
possibly in Hex.

Also to context the type of problems you have been having wit
Windows
Explorer and right click, this type of problem is not infrequent i
any
Windows OS and it would hardly be unique to XP SP2 on a single bo
and does
not sound like an SP2 bug given that if one does a search for thi
problem
using Google or anything else, many people report that problem o
many
forums long before XP SP2 or XP any build was a gleam in Redmond'
eye.

See:

Windows Explorer Right Click Crashes
http://tinyurl.com/6ee68

Right Click Files Windows Explorer Crashes
http://tinyurl.com/6pc8t

Right Click My Computer Crashes
http://tinyurl.com/4pnq2

You also might want to refer to this KB and find it helpful in fixin
your
Explorer/files crash if you see it again on that or another box eve
if you
aren't getting this error verbatim.

Err Msg: Explorer Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Module Shell32.dll
http://tinyurl.com/ndbi

Additional Trouble Shooting Moves for Right Click Windows Explore
crashes:

1) Run Adaware and Spybot S+D and any other spyware checkers yo
have
because Spyware is not an infrequent cause of these right clic
problems.
Also run a current AV scan, because several viruses can cause this.

2) Boot into Safe Mode and see if these errors are reproduced.

3) Start>run>type "inetcpl.cpl">OK>advanced>uncheck enable 3rd part
browser
extensions and if that fixes it you may have to look for an unstabl
BHO by
going to Options>Settings View Objects on the general tab from th
IE
Toolbar.

2) Use msconfig as a troubleshooter b
Start>run>msconfig>Startup>disable
all>OK>and then the step of disabling all 3rd party browse
extensions
above.

See: How to troubleshoot by using the System Configuration utilit
in
Windows XP
http://tinyurl.com/2n3yf

Best,

Chad Harris

______________________________________________________________

-
DanielL

 

[DanielLJ]

I am wondering if you found a solution to this issue of explorer.ex
crashing when you right click on a program shortcut or try to create
shortcut by right clicking on a program executable. Like you, thi
right clicking problem with Windows Explorer arose after th
installaion of SP2 for Windows XP Professional. I have three computer
on which I installed XP2 and the problem is only arising on the on
computer, namely the one with the RAID array setup. The error messag
says that the instruction at "0x0351415b" referenced memory a
0x00000000. The memory could not be "written"....this is a consisten
error message. The first few numbers can vary but the last 4 digit
are always the same, "415b".

Dan


-
DanielL