Windows Update KB4579311 causing explorer to crash repeatedly when logging in.

Anonymous
2020-10-17T08:34:55+00:00

Hi, I've been having an issue with Windows Update KB4579311. When it gets installed it causes the Explorer to crash repeatedly until it eventually logs me in, at which point I can use it as normal. BUT, the crashing increases time it takes to log in and load everything up. It's very annoying.

What I mean by crash is that the start bar flickers on and off, over and over and over. The desktop is black the mouse curser is visible. when you press ctrl alt del that screen stops flickering, when you return back to the desktop, flicker ahoy! you can see in the task manager that the explorer is stopping and starting over and over. You cant manually end the process becuase it's starting and stopping so fast that by the time you click the end process button it's already restarted and the instance of the explorer you tried to end no longer exists.

Uninstalling KB4579311 stops the issue but when it installs it's self again the issue returns.

I'm getting tired of repeating the same steps over and over to use my computer as intended.

This is shown in the event viewer:

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 10.0.19041.546, time stamp: 0x89ce2e55

Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.19041.546, time stamp: 0x43cbc11d

Exception code: 0xc0000409

Fault offset: 0x000000000007287e

Faulting process ID: 0x21e8

Faulting application start time: 0x01d6a45d9c54ed23

Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\ucrtbase.dll

Report ID: 0fa45953-9e3f-4a5f-bafc-ee4c5229c9ca

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID:

What I'm looking for is a fix. Not a workaround.

Thanks

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-15T13:40:11+00:00

    This workaround does the trick for me, thank you very much. I'm still hoping for a permanent fix from Microsoft's end. Any of the more recent updates did not fix the issue for me.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-13T00:31:13+00:00

    From what I was able to identify, there was another issue introduced around the same time that would cause Explorer to crash on startup and were fixed relatively easily with registry modifications to the Explorer\BannerStore key on HKEY_USERS. A good way to test this was if a new user was created and it did not have the issue. However, since your issue is resolved already, that can't be tested.

    I'm reluctant to update to 20H2 if disabling Storage Services did not fix your problem originally, as that is the only thing that has resolved the issue for me thus far. However, this has had the repercussions mentioned by T-Me where several MS apps will not work until it is re-enabled.

     Guess I have nothing to lose, will report back.

    Edit: Updating to 20H2 has not resolved my issue and had infact caused even more issues. However, creating a new user account has resolved the initial issue here, which makes me believe it's an environment variable on the user account that may be affecting the system.

    Edit 2: After attempting to roll-back the 20H2 update, it failed and would not boot so I had to reset while keeping files. Opted to download from cloud for the OS reinstall. Had to reinstall several of my programs and restore data that was in the %appdata% directory (e.g., Chrome) from Windows.old, but now I am no longer having any issues.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-12T05:19:49+00:00

    This issue in whole had been fixed for me with the update or two prior to 19042.685 on 20H2, so perhaps 2 weeks now, maybe a bit more. Just got 10942.685 personally on December 9th.

    Personally, the StorSvc stuff did not fix it prior, and is enabled permanently now with no side effects.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-16T16:24:19+00:00

    Any update on this issue? Keeping this thread alive while waiting for a fix. Regards

    I had a similar problem as everyone else with Window update KB4579311. Having exporer.exe crash a couple minutes after boot where I couldn't do anything on the start menu and file explorer would not load. I was able to uninstall the update and I paused updates and that stopped the issue.

    Once patch Tuesday came around a couple days ago, I resumed updates. I let it install and it looks like KB4586781 and KB4586864 installed. The updates installed just fine and the exporer.exe crashing issue does not happen anymore at all for me. For me at least, the issue is resolved.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-09T08:15:42+00:00

    Hi I have tried the Windows Clean Reinstall, Even after that the issue appears, 

    I believe ur facing the same following issues:

    1. Clicking start menu immediately closes the start window a flickering kind of action.
    2. Right click on desktop will not show the context menus
    3. Cannot right click on task bar to open task manger.

    All these errors does not occur while u hold Ctrl+Alt button and perfomr those action.

    I infact tried stopping the Storage Service as suggested but does no favour.

    One more question is yours a Dell make laptop?

    Mine is Dell G7 i7-8750h.

    Please let me know if were able to fix the problem..

    Thanks

    Kaushal

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