Explorer.exe dies after W2K SP4

[Milo Brown]

I upgraded my system to SP4 today. Since then, when I log
in, the shell (explorer.exe) quits after it barely
starts. I can see the Start bar come up for less than 1
second and then it disappears. No icons or anything else
on the desktop appear.

I'm left with a blank desktop and no ability to do
anything except what you can do after a CRTL-ALT-DEL (Lock
workstation, Logoff, Task Manager, etc). I can logoff and
log back on with the same results. Task Manager shows
that explorer.exe is not running. In Task Manager, with
the Processes tab selected, if I select File / New Task
(Run) and navigate to explorer.exe, it'll flash on the
Processes list and immediately disappear -- ditto for the
Start bar.

I used Task Manager's File / New Task (Run) to reapply SP4
and then to back out SP4 (the system is now SP3).
However, the problem persists.

The event log shows very little that looks significant.
Only two DCOM errors with Event 10010 - The server
{..GUID..} did not register with DCOM within the required
timeout.

Microsoft's Knowledgebase did not have anything similar.

Any ideas?

 

[Milo Brown]

Figured it out.

Further searches on the Knowledgebase produced article
256194, (http://support.microsoft.com/default.sapx?
scid=kb;en-us;256194), which described the problem very
well. Copied the correct version of shdocvw.dll from
another system and my desktop is back.

BTW, if MSFT is listening, that article says shdocvw.dll
is in the %SystemRoot% folder. Believe that's wrong; it's
in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder.

-MB

 

[scratchingskull]

I am getting same error/ trouble except I am able to see
Icons on desktop. But when I click them, I get the
Explorer.exe has generated an error and will be shut
down.....". Did you ever resolve your issue, and if so how?