Windows Explorer quits unexpectedly

[Gary Amundson]

Windows Explorer (not IE) just quits with no warning or
messages. Doesn't matter what I'm doing, copying, moving,
viewing, or doing nothing at all, Windows Explorer just
quits all by itself (if more than one explorer window
open, they all quit). You can see it redraw the task bar
as Windows Explorer restarts itself. This can happen at
any time, within seconds of a fresh boot or it can go
hours without doing this.

I'm having this exact same issue on 2 different XP Pro
machines and have been living with it for a couple of
months now. I even reformatted one machine and
reinstalled everything, but the problem came back almost
immediately.

Would love to find the culprit here...

Thanks in advance!

 

[Michael Evans]

I'm having the exact same problem on an XP Home machine
now. I've reinstalled several times and no fix. I'm
hesitant to format, so...

Hope someone knows what's goin' on, heh.

 

[Sport]

This seems to be a common situation; I am having the same problem with a
WinXP Pro machine that has all patchs and is at SP1b.

 

[cimex]

It never hurts to scan for viruses and spyware. Spybot and AdAware are good
for the latter.
Also, have you looked in the Event Viewer?

 

[Bee]

Windows Explorer (not IE) just quits with no warning or
messages........You can see it redraw the task bar
as Windows Explorer restarts itself. This can happen at
any time, within seconds of a fresh boot or it can go
hours without doing this............
.....<snip>....... I even reformatted one machine and
reinstalled everything, but the problem came back almost
immediately......<snip>

Hey.....No one mentioned any check on malware!! Before delving into the OS,
part of it is out of bound to MS outsiders anyway, 'round up the usual
suspects'.
Anti-virus, anti-spyware/adware
Hardware check: CPU temperature, fan speeds
Power supply (low capacity, spikes),
RAM check ( integrity, paging capacity),
HD test (manufacturer's pgm)
CheckDisk
Software check: Syst File Check
Event log for error(s) - report back
Turn off Explorer, reboot, turn it back on
Repair or reinsall Explorer
Uncomfortable to say this, but a clean install may well be unavoidable.
This is how I would approach the problem as I see it.

 

[jro]

I too have this problem and have tried everything Bee has mentioned (except
a reinstall). It is more of an annoyance than a major issue. The event log
entry I get is an informational one stating the shell has terminated
unexpectedly and explorer.exe has restarted. The source is winlogon.exe (not
the virus winlogin.exe). In my case, it seems to occur when I click on the
start button or my computer.

My wife's computer does not exhibit this behavior and about the only
difference between the two systems is that I use the USB adapter with my
2wire router and she uses the Ethernet, so I have suspected the 2wire USB
drivers. I also suspect it may be NAV 2003.

I also believe the cure may be worse than the disease.

Jay

 

[Gary Amundson]

I do get the same event log message (I assume, mine has
Event ID 1002, you didn't say what yours was). Same
text "The shell stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was
restarted."

I don't use USB for networking so that's probably not it.

I run TrendMicro PCCillin, I ran Spybot S&D, both find
nothing.

And of course, my machine has all the latest XP updates
courtesy of Windows Update.

I find this to be a GREAT annoyance as I use Explorer to
copy files quite often. I can't copy more than a few MB
before Explorer dies.

And as I wrote before, reformatting and rebuilding didn't
solve it for long (not even a day)

 

[cimex]

Gary, you certainly have a very annoying problem. If you happen to end up
reformatting Again...
Be careful with the MS Updates, not all of which you actually need. Add them
one at a time, or in small batches, testing after each addition. The same
goes for anything else you add after the OS.

 

[Tim]

I have the same problem, have done everything but put a
new hard drive in. I have an HP 751N and a Dell
Inspiron, both are doing the exact same thing as
explained below. Does anyone have a solution?

 

[CWatters]

I'm having the exact same problem on an XP Home machine
now. I've reinstalled several times and no fix. I'm
hesitant to format, so...

Hope someone knows what's goin' on, heh.

Is it a problem with just one folder?

Do you have a shortcut on the desktop setup to point to this folder? Does it
only crash if you access the folder via the shortcut and not via My
Computer? Is the "application event" (see Event viewer) this one....

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Error
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 13/11/2003
Time: 23:56:59
User: N/A
Computer: NAME:
Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2800.1221, faulting module
shell32.dll, version 6.0.2800.1233, fault address 0x000c745f.

If so try deleting the shortcut and then re-creating it as follows: Go to My
Computer, right click on the folder and select "Create shortcut". It should
offer to create one on the desktop. Select yes. The short cut should have an
arrow on it unless you have been tinkering with XP settings.. Shortcuts
created some otherways seem to have a problem.

Someone gave me this fix only yesterday.