Windows explorer.exe hangs on user login

[aaronIT]

Can anyone possibly help me with this problem?

At my place of work, we run Windows XP pro Sp3 as our baseline image on
laptops and desktops. However for some time I have been trying to track down
an issue that occurs when users login on the domain.

The problem is that after a user has authenticated themselves at the login
screen, and the profiles/GPO have finished processing; all the users see is
their wallpaper with no icons/start menu – it all just appears to ‘hang’ when
the windows login process is running... the problem will fix itself if you
leave the windows logon run by itself for about 5-10 mins. To get around this
‘wait time’, you can press ctrl+alt+delete and access the task manager and
then start a new task for ‘explorer.exe’ – the windows login seems to
continue to load immediately, showing the desktop icons/start menu etc.

I have goggled this problem for a while and other people seem to be
experiencing this problem on a variety of service pack versions of windows.
We also experience the problem across different hardware models (HP dc7100
sff, Hp Dc7800 sff and Hp 6710b laptops etc).

Thanks in advance,

aaron

 

[Ronaldo]

The causes could be several... the main cause is to many third party startup
applications, followed by spyware infections, innefficient configurations,
memory consuming settings.


The first: and obvious thing to look for is the running startup apps in
Start\Run\type; msconfig\OK\Stratup tab... and uncheck unnecessary
applications.

Second: delete cookies & Temporary Internet Files, and system and user temp
files, delete excesive internet historial... install CCleaner for this job.

Third: install antispyware-antitrojan applications; Malwarebytes
anti-Malware, A Squared free, Super Antispyware, Spyware
Terminator... are some of the best security applications.

Fourth: Configure the visual settings in Control
Panel\System\Advanced\\Performance\Settings\Visual Effects.. and according
to the installed RAM memory, click on "Adjust for best performance" to use
the classical Windows appearance or "Custom" and leave the following boxes
checked to keep some most of the Windows XP style combined with good
performance.

These settings give the best combination of appearance and performance: "Use
visual styles on windows and buttons", "Use common tasks in folders", "Use
drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop"

Also check the Registry (Start\Run\type; regedit\click ok), and look for a
key named "Explorer.exe" at the end of the following path... if such a key
exits, delete it.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File
Execution Options\Explorer.exe