Windows 7 Explorer Failures - Unsolvable for the last 17 months now.

[UNCTUOUS]

This one's been around for as long as Windows 7 has been (all variants and versions), The symptoms vary between long-lasting hour glasses and an Explorer screen vanish (being replaced by a pop-up saying "Windows Explorer has failed, searching for a solution to this problem"). After a while it fades away and you can try to re-open Windows Explorer again, only to be subjected quite soonish to the same indignity.

It has (apparently) never been resolved by Microsoft and has all the characteristics of a vintage Win 98 stack overflow. If you GOOGLE the malady, you'll find literally hundreds of thousands of posts on the problem. They typically have claims of having found a solution, only to later post that they were mistaken - i.e. like Arnie Schwarz, "it's back".

I've got it on a server, a laptop and a desktop and it's really annoying. People talk about Vista's problems being a disincentive, however this beats the Vista vagaries hands down.

So if you haven't yet upgraded to Windows 7, I suggest you don't - if you value your sanity.

[Simonta]

I have three PCs running Win 7 and am familiar with many more. None of them exhibit this problem - indeed, all are remarkably stable.

This suggests that your problem is specific. Can you provide more information of when it happens or is it truly random? Does it only happen when you select or right click a file or folder? If so, what type(s) of file? What anti-virus are you running?

Without any info, this is a real shot in the dark but my money would be on your graphics driver or a registry problem. The latter is easily sorted, the former a bit trickier.

[green granite]

I have 2 M/Cs running 7 with no problems either.
You don't run 'Digital Vault' do you? as that was known to cause the problem in Vista. Otherwise what Simonta suggests.

[UNCTUOUS]

Don't run Digital Vault and the software on each computer is different (except for different versions of the MS Office suite). ReadyBoost to a fast SD card has no effect (easily provable by removing/replacing the SD card).

Microsoft is definitely not taking this disabling anomaly seriously, despite the problem being widespread and long-standing. I've noted many opinions on forums that it's just classic MS arrogance. One thing I cannot understand is the ephemeral nature of this issue (i.e. some have it consistently, others intermittently and many others, not at all).

I've tried rebooting (rather than just hibernating) - but there's no apparent difference. Defragmenting makes no apparent difference, but I am also aware that the science of defragmentation has changed significantly. Diskeeper uses an intricate proprietary technology (based upon access stats), whereas Windows 7 defragmentation is based upon old school stuff (of just stacking files contiguously).

I've now diverted my attentions to finding the best alternative shell program (to Windows Explorer). Suggestions beyond Total Commander (also affected) would be welcome.

UNC
Edited to remark that the antivirus is intentionally different on each machine (Bitdefender, AVG and AVAST). There's also a Buffalo TeraStation NAS tied into the network.

[Loose rivets]

Is total commander totally separate? i e do you not call on Explorer to use it? A couple of Goog oils seemed to imply it was just adding to the function of the MS File Explorer.


What are the demands on the system/CPU while it's thinking about working?

Have you got a machine that is not affected? I once swapped the explorer file for quite unrelated reasons.

[UNCTUOUS]

What are the demands on the system/CPU while it's thinking about working? Negligible increase.

Have you got a machine that is not affected? No I haven't. They're all similarly affected on WIN7.

Same with any of my three antivirus programs ON or OFF.

[Mike-Bracknell]

You don't happen to have any mapped drives to the Buffalo on each machine do you?

I would agree with the others here, this sounds not like an issue with W7 explorer, but rather an issue with something which is making explorer hang (waiting for something else to execute). My many W7 installs haven't exhibited the symptoms you suggest, despite me being familiar with the issues that cause them.

[green granite]

Were they a clean install or an upgrade from Vista? If the latter I suggest you try a clean install on one of the M/Cs and see what happens also you could try running any old Apps in the XP mode, might help.

[UNCTUOUS]

You don't happen to have any mapped drives to the Buffalo on each machine do you?

Yes and also Network Magic. But shutting them both down makes no difference.

All clean installations.

[AnthonyGA]

I have many Windows 7 machines running at work and none of them manifests a problem with Explorer.

A classic cause of Explorer crashes is a buggy Explorer extension. Explorer extensions change the display of folders or items within folders. If these extensions are buggy, they can crash Explorer. Unfortunately, many software products install them, and some computers with pre-installed, "home-grown" versions of Windows may have such extensions in place, too.

Normally, such gadgets allow items in certain folders to be displayed in non-standard ways. For example, a folder containing pictures in a proprietary format could display thumbnails for those pictures with an extension. But since they live right inside Explorer, a program that is sorta-kinda part of the OS, they can crash this essential program if they fail. (This is one reason why I was never in favor of the Windows 95 Explorer being cloned into NT and its successors, but I guess it's too late now.)

Anyway, if you are getting Explorer crashes, you might try to find out if you have anything in the system that might try to display the contents of certain folders in a different way, or any other extensions to Explorer.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Another classic issue is antivirus programs that install a firewall.

Get rid of these and go with Microsoft Security Essentials or an AV-only package, and use it with Windows Firewall.

[UNCTUOUS]

if you are getting Explorer crashes, you might try to find out if you have anything in the system that might try to display the contents of certain folders in a different way, or any other extensions to Explorer.

I'm unaware of any such Explorer shell "extensions". For example I've not added any proprietary right-click "open-withs" and my preview for any jpg/gif/png graphics is bog standard "as she came".

What I do have is an extensive folder/sub-folder/sub-sub folder structure to segregate dissimilar subjects. However that identical nested tree structure was never a problem with Win 98, Win XP, Win Server 2003, Vista but Win 7 cannot cope.... (apparently).

Until such time as Microslop acknowledges and addresses this fundamental annoyance, my sincere recommendation would be to stick with Vista. A properly patched Vista gives few problems. Any hiccups normally clear up on a reboot.
Another classic issue is antivirus programs that install a firewall.
I use windows firewall.

[Mike-Bracknell]

What I do have is an extensive folder/sub-folder/sub-sub folder structure to segregate dissimilar subjects. However that identical nested tree structure was never a problem with Win 98, Win XP, Win Server 2003, Vista but Win 7 cannot cope.... (apparently).

I assume you're aware of the 255 character total path limit?

[Simonta]

To add to Mike's post, the 255 limit has been there forever in 32bit Win. There is no difference in it's handling to XP or Vista. I've just tested a 255 path on 7 and it's just fine. Everything about your problem suggest it's not a Microsoft issue. You clearly know your way around Windows. I would suggest that a methodical troubleshooting approach will find the problem.

PS. Subst is an easy workaround for the 255 limit.

PPS. The childish "Microslop" type comments are not going to be helpful in getting folks to try to help. If .001% of Windows users have an issue with something, then you will find 1000's of posts from people screaming about how Microsoft need to do something. They usually do not.

[Keef]

Four Win 7 PCs that I use regularly are free of this problem.

From the way the complaint is written, I take it there is no information about the problem in the Event Log. I've had problems with peripherals, and found the logs provided what was needed to sort them.

[AnthonyGA]

I'm unaware of any such Explorer shell "extensions". For example I've not added any proprietary right-click "open-withs" and my preview for any jpg/gif/png graphics is bog standard "as she came".

You wouldn't necessarily be aware of extensions, since they are designed to be transparent. There are thousands of available extensions for Windows, and if any of these are installed and contain bugs, they can crash Explorer. On fresh retail installs of Windows 7, you shouldn't have any potentially buggy extensions installed, but OEM installs may slip in all sorts of things if it's not the standard OEM version of Windows, and many other programs will slide an extension into place during installation, in order to "improve" your experience with Windows.

I have a mix of straight retail Windows 7 installations and hokey HP OEM installations, the latter clogged with metric tons of garbage bloatware upon delivery. Neither has had Explorer crashes, though. I did manage to remove most of the HP garbage, although it's difficult and HP messes up some system parameters, too. I would have still preferred XP, but it's hard to find XP these days for new machines.

Which desktop appearance are you using? Have you tried Windows Classic? It makes fewer demands on video hardware and software and runs faster, in addition to (possibly) being less likely to expose bugs in a video driver or something like that.

[TheShadow]

Event viewer is choc-a-bloc with slight variations on the following cut and paste error message (all concerning Windows Explorer in W7):
Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 6.1.7600.16450, time stamp: 0x4aeba271
Faulting module name: EXPLORERFRAME.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bda55
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0001a256
Faulting process id: 0x7a0
Faulting application start time: 0x01cb50d00e1523a1
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\EXPLORERFRAME.dll
Report Id: c27ce8f8-bcc3-11df-b746-a4badbcedda4
This application caused a delay in the system shutdown process:
File Name : explorer.exe
Friendly Name : Windows Explorer
Version : 6.1.7600.16385 (win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Total Time : 5389ms
Degradation Time : 1075ms
Incident Time (UTC) : ‎2010‎-‎09‎-‎10T09:10:48.513502900Z


and of course NOTHING comes up under this:
To check for solutions to problems using Control Panel

1.

Open Problem Reports and Solutions by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Problem Reports and Solutions.
2.

Click Check for new solutions.

Windows will notify you if there are any steps you can take to solve problems on your computer.

[Bushfiva]

Does changing the Windows theme make any difference? Have you turned off Aero (if it's on)?

[TheShadow]

Themes make nil difference.

Don't use AERO

Just had another instance of it failing:-

"Windows Explorer has stopped working. Looking for a solution to the problem."

"Windows is restarting Windows Explorer"

[BOAC]

Unctious - from your posts I guess you are familiar, but just in case - using Event Viewer:

Use Windows 7 Event Viewer to track down issues that cause slower boot times | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=3253&tag=nl.e064)

[WhatsThatNoise]

I have the same problem on two PC's One with Win 7 Home Premium and one on Win 7 Ultimate.

The machine running Ultimate has only just been upgraded from Vista. Never had the problem then.

[TheShadow]

But it just turned up multiple instances of the abstraction below (which essentially tells you the the data-link library file is not playing the game). It doesn't get us anywhere.

Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 6.1.7600.16450, time stamp: 0x4aeba271
Faulting module name: EXPLORERFRAME.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bda55
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0001a256
Faulting process id: 0xe90
Faulting application start time: 0x01cb72ae35bfcb74
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\EXPLORERFRAME.dll
Report Id: 5c7c032c-e008-11df-890f-a4badbcedda4
- EventData

Explorer.EXE
6.1.7600.16450
4aeba271
EXPLORERFRAME.dll
6.1.7600.16385
4a5bda55
c0000005
0001a256
e90
01cb72ae35bfcb74
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
C:\Windows\system32\EXPLORERFRAME.dll
5c7c032c-e008-11df-890f-a4badbcedda4

[green granite]

TheShadow your explorerframe.dll file is out of date.


http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i11/orangeherald/explorer.jpg

[TheShadow]

You may well be onto something Green Granite. There are quite a few Google references to IE9 installation corruptions of ExplorerFrame.dll

Unfortunately I cannot seem to locate a copy of the 1460kb file (ExplorerFrame.dll version 6.1.7600.16623) to test out the theory.

TS

[Keef]

My ExplorerFrame.dll is version 6.1.7600.16385 and I've run all Windows updates. Windows updater tells me all is up to date.
I don't get the problem, either.

It seems 16623 is part of IE9. Since I don't use IE, I've not updated to IE9.
If the OP hasn't switched to IE9, the problem may lie elsewhere.

[Mike-Bracknell]

I have the exact same DLL/EXE versions as the OP (or at least the one with the trouble), and i'm not experiencing any issues.

[Mike-Bracknell]

I have the same problem on two PC's One with Win 7 Home Premium and one on Win 7 Ultimate.

It's probably best to list the commonalities you have between the two computers (and the same goes to the OP), as there's a couple of posters with multiple computers exhibiting the same issue, but a myriad of other posters saying no problems at all. Nobody so far (that i've noticed) has said "I don't have a problem with one of my machines but I do with the other"

Hence my suspicion would lie with a common 3rd-party app/add-in/piece of storage hardware.

[Loose rivets]

I hope this intriguing detective story has a happy ending.

[WhatsThatNoise]

As I said I've had problems on both units.......then I thought both have got Rapport as recommended by HSBC............

[Mike-Bracknell]

As I said I've had problems on both units.......then I thought both have got Rapport as recommended by HSBC............

Now we're getting somewhere. It may or may not be the culprit, but as Miss Marple says, you eliminate the possibilities and you're left with the killer :)

So, uninstall Rapport on one of the two PCs, and see how you get on?

[WhatsThatNoise]

Any one else who has problems got Rapport installed?

Must admit it doesn't happen a lot but only seems to be with Win7. (One PC just upgraded).

It was just annoying until I saw this thread. :confused:

[Blues&twos]

I have W7 64 bit (upgraded from Vista) with Rapport installed. Curiously, I haven't had any problems relating to Internet Explorer or Rapport, although others clearly have had all sorts of issues with both.

[TheShadow]

Repair Install - Windows 7 Forums (http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html)

.........but it seems tres complexe.


Alternatively, there's "REIMAGE REPAIR"

see tinyurl.com/2fguzz2

[WeeWinkyWilly]

Try disabling Network Discovery.

Even if you don't run a network, some API's may suggest to the operating system that it should look for one. That can result in delay (hourglassing) or in some cases failure and restart of Win7 Explorer - as it times out, unable to find the network that it believes should be there.

[TheShadow]

Appears to have made all the difference. Thanks.

Now using the proprietary Buffalo utility to access my network and ditched the MS Network Discovery with its pregnant pauses and failures.

Keef put us on track.

[UNCTUOUS]

Mike-Bracknell was also on-track towards a solution.

I've tried Start/MScfg and eliminated a lot of start-up memory-sucking parasitic "lodgers". That had also made a notable difference.

Killing off the MS Network Discovery bug seems to produce sustained Windows Explorer goodness and amicable behaviour. Time will tell. But it's always returned in the past to haunt progress.