Explorer.exe does not load at login

[Guest]

I have about 5 users in my office who have this issue. They boot up their
computer, login and explorer.exe does not load. None of the their icons or
taskbar appear. They can go to the task manager, start the explorer.exe
process and then their icons and taskbar appear. The problem is intermittent
so it is impossible to troubleshoot. I believe it is has to do with the
security patches microsoft has deployed in the last 8 months. We have been
using XP in this office for over 4 years and never had this problem until
recently. I am 100% positive that it is not spyware, as i have tried
rebuilding machines from scratch and they continue to have this issue. Any
feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Gerry]

KJ

Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in
the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the last boot. No
Information Reports or Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in
a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you
should double click for further information. You can copy using copy
and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further
information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

There are never any errors or warnings in the Event Viewer. Nothing to give
me any idea what could be causing it. In looking at the other posts under XP
General, it appears a number of people are having this issue.

 

[Gerry]

KJ

"In looking at the other posts under XP General, it appears a number of
people are having this issue." Which do you think are the same as yours
as I have not noticed any?

How do you know explorer.exe does not load? What evidence do you have?



--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

"They can go to the task manager, start the explorer.exe process and then
their icons and taskbar appear". Let me embelish on that - when i go to the
task manager, explorer.exe is not running. I can then manually start the
process through the task manager and then everything works fine. Thats my
evidence. I did a search under the XP General forums for "explorer.exe" and
found a number of posts that were exactly like my issue and it seems they've
all started happening in the last year. Please advise. Thank you.

 

[Bob I]

The users wouldn't happen to be hibernating instead of actually shutting
down?

Windows Explorer Does Not Start After Resuming From Hibernation
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833161/en-us

 

[Gerry]

KJ

Bob has pointed out something I was not aware of. Reason being I do not
read messages involving hibernate as it is a feature I have never used.
A lot of users who do, do seem to encounter problems. I cannot see any
real benefit to be gained from using Hibernation. It is supposed to be
quicker than starting the computer but I doubt that any significant time
is gained.

I am not sure why explorer.exe not loading at login is a problem. What
adverse affect does it have for you? My feeling is that the user starts
a programme which will cause explorer.exe to load if it is needed. I
have a number of programmes which use explorer.exe. Does the problem
arise on a normal boot when you switch on your computer? I do hope your
other users are not leaving their computers on 24/7?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Nightowl]

I am not sure why explorer.exe not loading at login is a problem. What
adverse affect does it have for you? My feeling is that the user starts
a programme which will cause explorer.exe to load if it is needed. I
have a number of programmes which use explorer.exe.

Um, Gerry, have you perhaps misunderstood the question? The OP is
talking about explorer in the context of the desktop environment, not
the file management program. I'd say users logging in and having no
desktop icons, Start Menu or Taskbar *is* a problem and a pretty adverse
effect, wouldn't you?

"IF it is needed"? (my emphasis). What on earth do you mean?

 

[Guest]

Hibernation is not a factor. This happens when a user either A. restarts the
computer or B. shuts it down for the night and boots it back up again the
next day. This issue occurs with desktop and laptop users.

This has nothing to do with Windows Explorer. This is the explorer.exe
process that begins when a person logs in. Explorer.exe is fairly critical;
if there's no icons or taskbar, they cant do anything. And the average user
does not know to go into task manager and start a service.

I've explorer a number of possibilities. I tried updating all the drivers
and the BIOS, ran a virus scan, made sure they had all the Windows Updates,
built the machines from scratch....still have the issue. All i know is this
problem started sometime after SP2.

 

[Nightowl]

This has nothing to do with Windows Explorer. This is the explorer.exe
process that begins when a person logs in. Explorer.exe is fairly critical;
if there's no icons or taskbar, they cant do anything. And the average user
does not know to go into task manager and start a service.

Yes, KJ, I understood that. It appears Gerry misread your post, as I
pointed out. Perhaps you intended to reply to him?

 

[Gerry]

KJ

I found the Start item for explorer.exe using Autoruns. The Registry
entry seems to be:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx

Is the Key intact?

It is the third item on the Log On tab.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry]

I was well aware of that explorer.exe is a Parent Process. What I am
still not sure about is the impact of it not running. I could stop it
but I rely on my computer to earn my bread. I have now located the
Registry Key which loads it on starting the machine and told KJ. No
doubt KJ will report what he finds.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Nightowl]

I was well aware of that explorer.exe is a Parent Process. What I am
still not sure about is the impact of it not running. I could stop it
but I rely on my computer to earn my bread.

Many of us do.

I have now located the Registry Key which loads it on starting the
machine and told KJ. No doubt KJ will report what he finds.

No doubt. However, your words:

I am not sure why explorer.exe not loading at login is a problem. What
adverse affect does it have for you? My feeling is that the user starts
a programme which will cause explorer.exe to load if it is needed. I
have a number of programmes which use explorer.exe.

were ready by both KJ and me as showing you were thinking of explorer's
file management and not its desktop environment -- lack of which, as he
pointed out, is most certainly a problem to inexperienced users.

 

[Gerry]

My feeling is that the

Well I have changed my mind regarding that. Does that cause anyone a
problem?.

were ready by both KJ and me as showing you were thinking of
explorer's file management and not its desktop environment -- lack of
which, as he pointed out, is most certainly a problem to
inexperienced users.

"as showing you were thinking of explorer's file management" That was
never in my mind. Why would I say this " I have a number of programmes
which use explorer.exe." if I thought that?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Sorry nightowl, that response was meant for gerry. it is apparent you're
understanding my issue.

I have checked that registry setting and it is correct.

 

[Nightowl]

Well I have changed my mind regarding that. Does that cause anyone a
problem?.

It is not a problem to me. But you have not mentioned previously you had
changed your mind. You also snipped off the first two sentences of the
paragraph I quoted: "I am not sure why explorer.exe not loading at login
is a problem. What adverse affect does it have for you?" The paragraph
as a whole reads as if you had not understood KJ was talking about the
explorer environment. Otherwise asking him why this is a problem seems
rather strange.

"as showing you were thinking of explorer's file management" That was
never in my mind. Why would I say this " I have a number of programmes
which use explorer.exe." if I thought that?

Since you say that was *not* what you were thinking, then I have no
idea. As the vast majority of Windows programs use the explorer shell in
some way[1] -- as a background, for common file manipulation, etc. -- I
really don't know what you mean.

Gerry. . . there is no need to be so aggressive/defensive. My first post
was a gentle and genuine inquiry as to whether you had misunderstood KJ.
I'm not trying to get into an argument with you or score points off you;
I come here to help and learn, and I'm sure you do too. Our exchange
seems to be taking the focus of the thread off KJ's problem so I'll keep
out of it from now on, though I'll continue reading it as I'll be
interested to know the solution.

[1]Task Manager and a Command window do not, to name but two. And of
course some apps have their own file open/save capabilities, font
loading, etc.

 

[Gerry]

KJ

Are you sure that explorer.exe is not loading on login and being
unloaded after the boot process has completed?

Do you get the problem if you create a new User Profile?
How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151/en-us

Found this thread which has many similarities:
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...b0-92e0-8881ddf5f40b&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-us
and this
http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/showthread.php?t=200753

McAfee?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry]

While "Windows Explorer" is a term most commonly used to describe the
file management aspect of the operating system, the Explorer process
also houses the operating system's search functionality and File Type
associations (based on filename extensions), and is responsible for
displaying the desktop icons and wallpaper, the Start Menu, the Taskbar,
and the Control Panel. Collectively, these features are known as the
Windows Shell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Explorer

As you say let's move on.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well I have changed my mind regarding that. Does that cause anyone a
problem?.

It is not a problem to me. But you have not mentioned previously you
had changed your mind. You also snipped off the first two sentences
of the paragraph I quoted: "I am not sure why explorer.exe not
loading at login is a problem. What adverse affect does it have for
you?" The paragraph as a whole reads as if you had not understood KJ
was talking about the explorer environment. Otherwise asking him why
this is a problem seems rather strange.

"as showing you were thinking of explorer's file management" That was
never in my mind. Why would I say this " I have a number of
programmes which use explorer.exe." if I thought that?

Since you say that was *not* what you were thinking, then I have no
idea. As the vast majority of Windows programs use the explorer shell
in some way[1] -- as a background, for common file manipulation, etc.
-- I really don't know what you mean.

Gerry. . . there is no need to be so aggressive/defensive. My first
post was a gentle and genuine inquiry as to whether you had
misunderstood KJ. I'm not trying to get into an argument with you or
score points off you; I come here to help and learn, and I'm sure you
do too. Our exchange seems to be taking the focus of the thread off
KJ's problem so I'll keep out of it from now on, though I'll continue
reading it as I'll be interested to know the solution.

[1]Task Manager and a Command window do not, to name but two. And of
course some apps have their own file open/save capabilities, font
loading, etc.

 

[Nightowl]

While "Windows Explorer" is a term most commonly used to describe the
file management aspect of the operating system, the Explorer process
also houses the operating system's search functionality and File Type
associations (based on filename extensions), and is responsible for
displaying the desktop icons and wallpaper, the Start Menu, the Taskbar,
and the Control Panel. Collectively, these features are known as the
Windows Shell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Explorer

As you say let's move on.

And your point in pontificating on a term I never used is what, Gerry?

I said I wouldn't post again in this thread but you are once again
displaying the same irritatingly condescending attitude as in the thread
last month which I ended rather than subject the group to a public
slanging match.

Please learn to recognise when people have as much of a clue as you do
(if not more). I have been using Windows since version 3.0. I build and
maintain systems. I have been posting here for five years and come here
to help when and where I can and learn much. So accept I damn well know
what the Windows shell is, just as last time I damn well knew what view
I use in Explorer and what Common Tasks are.

Newbies may need your Windows 101 lectures; I do not appreciate them.

My apologies to you, KJ.