Windows Explorer in Windows 7 keeps crashing and restarting

Anonymous
2009-11-26T02:42:50+00:00

It happens at random times...but conveniently after a Windows update. I'll be looking up a file...or trying to delete a file, then all of a sudden, i see the little progress bar thing and it's closing Explorer, then that goes away and another one shows up saying "Restarting Windows Explorer"...I've ran a few virus scans in case it's a virus...but I don't think that's the case.

Oh and I noticed that a lot of the problems reported were from people that upgraded to Windows 7...my laptop is a new computer that came pre-loaded with Windows 7.

Anyone else in my shoes? Does anyone know if Microsoft is working on this issue?

*original title - Windows Explorer in Windows 7 keeps crashing...then trying to restart...anyone else have that problem? Anyone know if Microsoft is working on an update or something to fix it?*

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2010-01-15T17:15:30+00:00

Just in case you haven't fixed this issue yet. I had the exact same problem and found a pretty fast and painless solution. I can't tell you why it was happening, but the fix worked. And it didn't involve disabling my video card drivers (make NO sense, doing this would pretty much make your video card useless...not an option for me when I bought a $600 video card).

Navigate to this folder (assuming your Windows is installed on your C:\ drive):

C:\Windows <- Inside this folder you should find the file "explorer.exe". Select that and press "CTRL+C" (this will copy the file, do NOT cut, just copy).

Then paste the copied file into:

C:\Windows\System32

And like magic, no more explorer crashing :). Hope that helps!

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Anonymous
2009-11-27T01:08:13+00:00

Hi SonyBoy_Fusion,Welcome to Microsoft Windows 7 Answers Forum! 

Method 1

Please check whether you face the same issue while working in the safe mode.

Step 1 Safe Mode

  1. Restart your computer.
  2. When the computer starts you will see your computer's hardware being listed. When you see this information start to gently tap the F8 key on your keyboard repeatedly until you are presented with the Windows 7 Advanced Boot Options screen.
  3. Using the arrow keys, select the Safe Mode option you want.
  4. Then press the enter key on your keyboard to boot into Windows 7 Safe Mode.
  5. When Windows starts you will be at a typical logon screen. Logon to your computer and Windows 7 will enter Safe mode.
  6. Do whatever tasks you require, and when you are done, reboot to go back into normal mode.

Steps 2. Clean Boot

If the issue existed in Safe Mode perform Clean Boot troubleshooting to find the root cause of  the issue:

Clean Boot Troubleshooting:

  1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

   User Account Control permission.

   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the

   password, Or click Continue.

  1. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
  2. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup items check box.
  3. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
  4. Click OK.
  5. When you are prompted, click Restart.
  6. After the computer starts, check whether the problem is resolved.

If the issue is resolved check which third party is causing the problem, referring the link given below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

  1. Also you need to uninstall and reinstall the problem software on your computer.

Reset the computer to start as usual  

  1. After you have finished troubleshooting, follow these steps to reset the computer to start as usual:

Click Start, type msconfig.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. 

  1. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue. On the General tab, click the Normal Startup option, and then click OK.  
  2. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Restart.

**Method 2.**I would also recommend you to run online Virus Scan to remove any infections, if present.

Follow the link below to run the free online scan:

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

The following thread discusses about removing viruses and malware online:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistasecurity/thread/ba80504b-61f1-4d71-960f-b561798b7b42

Hope it helps. 

Thanks and Regards:

**Shekhar S - Microsoft Support.**Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-02-09T17:04:14+00:00

    dear Shekhar S

    what was that?

    my windows explorer had the same problem as explained above and I tried your solution, after restarting my computer my windows did not start any more.

    I had to use safe mode and undo what I had done in msconfig.

    I was scared to death!!!

    thank God that after restarting again everything was alright!

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-02-11T20:30:50+00:00

    Thanks, xdozex, I like you have no idea why this would work, but it did.  Thanks for the fix.  All the other ideas did not seem helpful at all.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-02-17T02:30:13+00:00

    Good gravy, this problem was driving me insane.  I had the same Windows Explorer loop.  Finally figured out what worked for me (after a week of ridiculous troubleshooting).  In my case, the Windows Explorer crash loop just occured under one user ID.  This had started happening after I updated my NVIDIA driver, so I figured it had to be related.  WRONG.  Anyway- to cut to the chase, this was caused by Microsoft Office 10 Beta.  I had the MS Office 2010 Beta installed and I haven't yet bought the program now that it's out of Beta.  I uninstalled Office 2010 and voila!  No more explorer crash loop!  The bad module was "msoshext.dll".  Which I tracked down to Office.

    Here was my specific error information:

    Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 6.1.7600.16450, time stamp: 0x4aebab8d

    Faulting module name: msoshext.dll, version: 14.0.4514.1004, time stamp: 0x4abe0a6c

    Exception code: 0xc0000005

    Fault offset: 0x000000000009ba9c

    Faulting process id: 0x122c

    Faulting application start time: 0x01cbce455637468f

    Faulting application path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE

    Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE14\msoshext.dll

    Report Id: 946fcf75-3a38-11e0-95a5-00248c2b1da7

    As a bit of help, to track down your error, here's how to get in to the Event Log for those who don't know how to get there:

    • Open Event Viewer by clicking the Start button ![](http://res2.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/Windows Vista/main/4/f/4f6cbd09-148c-4dd8-b1f2-48f232a2fd33/4f6cbd09-148c-4dd8-b1f2-48f232a2fd33.png), clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, clickingAdministrative Tools, and then double-clicking Event Viewer.‌![](http://res1.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/Windows Vista/main/1/8/18abb370-ac1e-4b6b-b663-e028a75bf05b/18abb370-ac1e-4b6b-b663-e028a75bf05b.png) If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
    • Once in Event Log click on "Windows Logs" in the folder tree to the left.  Then scroll down looking for Red Circles with Exclamation points.  The Source column will just read "Application Error".  click on it and read what it says in the viewing pane.  Look for one that references "Faulting application name: explorer.exe".
    • Look in the viewing pane and you should get a lot of information like I referenced above, describing the faulting module.

    Before doing this, I also copy/pasted explorer.exe into the windows/system32 folder.  It didn't fix anything.  Removing Office did, however, just wanted to let folks know I did that copy paste thing just in case you have to do that to get it to work.

    So seriously Microsoft- this Explorer crash loop is ridiculous.  It seems like lots of things cause this but this is so frustrating (rendered my PC useless for the most part- even in safe mode) and common that I really, really, really hope you guys get a fix in for this for Win 7 SP1.  PLEASE.

    Anyway, hope this helps some other folks out there as I hadn't yet seen this solution posted.  Good luck!

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