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Applies to Windows | Windows 7 | Performance & system failures
566017 views

Windows Explorer in Windows 7 keeps crashing

and restarting
SO

SonyBoy_Fusion asked on November 26, 2009

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 preloaded 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?*

988 people had this question

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Answer
XD

xdozex replied on January 15, 2010

In reply to SonyBoy_Fusion's post on December 4, 2009

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!

603 people found this helpful

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Answer
Shekhar S replied on November 27, 2009
Accomplishments
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.
2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup items check box.
4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable
All.
5. Click OK.
6. When you are prompted, click Restart.
7. 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

8. Also you need to uninstall and reinstall the problem software on your computer.
Reset the computer to start as usual
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Restart.
Method 2.
I would alsorecommend 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/enus/default.htm
The following thread discusses about removing viruses and malware online:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/enUS/vistasecurity/thread/ba80504b61f14d71960f
b561798b7b42

Hope it helps.

Thanks and Regards:

Shekhar S Microsoft Support.
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum

Thanks and Regards,

Shekhar Sharma

29 people found this helpful

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All replies (122)

Answer
Shekhar S replied on November 27, 2009
Accomplishments
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.
2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup items check box.
4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable
All.
5. Click OK.
6. When you are prompted, click Restart.
7. 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

8. Also you need to uninstall and reinstall the problem software on your computer.
Reset the computer to start as usual
9. 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.

10. 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.
11. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Restart.
Method 2.
I would alsorecommend 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/enus/default.htm
The following thread discusses about removing viruses and malware online:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/enUS/vistasecurity/thread/ba80504b61f14d71960f
b561798b7b42

Hope it helps.

Thanks and Regards:

Shekhar S Microsoft Support.
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum

Thanks and Regards,

Shekhar Sharma

29 people found this helpful

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AW

Reply

Alex Went replied on November 27, 2009

If you're using the Nvidia graphics driver for example on a Sony machine try disabling it. This has got
rid of the problem for me.

10 people found this helpful

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LM

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Lisa M. replied on December 1, 2009

Accomplishments

In reply to Alex Went's post on November 27, 2009

Thank for your visiting the Microsoft Answers Community.

Please follow the steps outlined by Shekhar and let us know if this worked. Also, as Alex suggested
above, try disabling 3 party applications. Some people have also had success with removing other add
ons: click here
Lisa
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

1 person found this helpful

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SO

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SonyBoy_Fusion replied on December 4, 2009

In reply to Lisa M.'s post on December 1, 2009

Ironically, I haven't had the problem since my initial post.
However, you were all very helpful.
To Shekhar: I went into Safe Mode and followed your advice...but I didn't find any issues with explorer
afterward.
To Alex: Yea, I have a VAIO. How do I disable the NVIDIA driver? And if I actually do that, what will
manage my graphics card my computer came with NVIDIA...I haven't upgraded my graphics card or
anything like that.
To everyone: You all told me about how 3rd party applications may interfere with the way Windows7
works...interesting enough, I'm a Firefox user and now that I haven't had the Explorer issue, Firefox
crashes instead. I checked online and found that a lot of people have that same problem coming from
Firefox. I guess I'll uninstall Firefox and stick with IE. I don't think Firefox is a 64bit application anyways,
so maybe that's why it's been giving me issues.
Thank you all so much, you've all been very helpful!

4 people found this helpful

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Answer

Reply

XD

xdozex replied on January 15, 2010

In reply to SonyBoy_Fusion's post on December 4, 2009

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!

603 people found this helpful

Helpful

DB

Reply

Don't Buy a DELL replied on May 16, 2010

MICROSOFT: THIS OCCURED ON 5/14/2010. IMMEDIATELY AFTER A 2007 UPDATE.

i TRIED ALL OF YOUR SUGGESTIONS!!!!
SEND OUT AN UPDATE FIXING THE PROBLEM NOW!

12 people found this helpful

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LM

Reply

Lisa M. replied on May 22, 2010

Accomplishments

In reply to Don't Buy a DELL's post on May 16, 2010

Dont Buy a Dell,

In order to assist you and give you focused help, I would suggest posting in your own thread, since your
problem is different from the original poster.
Lisa
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

1 person found this helpful

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SU

Reply

superg05 replied on July 15, 2010

In reply to xdozex's post on January 15, 2010

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!
thanks i have had this problem for over a week soon as i would log on windows explorer would crash
and restart in an endless loop but my guest account worked just fine for some reason so i have been
using that i have not tryied restarting since i just got it working again to see if it will stick but so far
happy camper will update you if it stops working

20 people found this helpful

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John Barleycorn replied on July 27, 2010

In reply to xdozex's post on January 15, 2010

This solution did not work for me. Still crashes.

13 people found this helpful

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JB

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John Barleycorn replied on July 27, 2010

In reply to Shekhar S's post on November 27, 2009

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 6.1.7600.16450, time stamp: 0x4aebab8d
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16559, time stamp: 0x4ba9b802
Exception code: 0xc000041d
Fault offset: 0x000000000003d9e7
Faulting process id: 0xef8
Faulting application start time: 0x01cb2da555299f21
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 99fab07b999811dfbee10011d888d5e9

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