Windows Explorer Crashing

jazabelle

I'm having an issue with my computer. I had to reformat it recently due to slowness and crashes.

Since then, windows explorer keeps crashing. It's when I open up any folders - it's fine until then, and it crashes, closes everything and reopens it.

It means I can't get very far into my file structure, as it pretty much always happens.

I have an Asus running Windows 7. The windows files are on a recovery partition.

I've had so many computer problems lately, I'm pulling my hair out.

Any help is appreciated please.

forgotmyname

Hard drive failing?

I find a PC can start to slow as the hard drive takes a few seconds longer for each task where it needs to read the data twice to verify it.

Done all the updates? Overheating? Cleaned the fans and heatsink?

matttye

Open the start menu and type in 'cmd' in the search box but don't hit enter. When cmd.exe appears in the list of files to open, right click on it and click on 'run as administrator.'

In the black window that appears, type in 'sfc /scannow' and hit enter.

That should scan for and repair any damaged system files.

If that doesn't help, you should try checking the disk for errors.

You can find instructions for that here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-vista/check-your-hard-disk-for-errors

That's a Windows Vista article but the procedure is the same in Win7.

jazabelle

I don't mean crashing as in freezing. A box comes up that says: "Windows explorer has stopped working." It checks for solutions, closes all my documents down, the start bar vanishes, and then reappears.

This only happens when in folders.

Thanks, I've tried the scannow. A black box appears, then vanishes straight away. Is that right?

jazabelle

forgotmyname wrote: »

Done all the updates? Overheating? Cleaned the fans and heatsink?

Yes, a little, and no - but this started happening as soon as I reinstalled windows. It feels like a specific fault, but I don't know what.


Followed the other link to fix the harddrive, but it's saying the harddrive is in use so it can't do it.

Cyberman60

I would run a virus check and also chkdsk utility. Any problems here could be giving you this headache.

A few months back I was getting constant crashes and the computer was telling me it was a hard drive failure. It was not .... it was a leaky program (svchost) that was grabbing so much memory that it was causing the disk to crash. I cleared the problem by reinstalling/rebuilding the operating system and key programs. No problems now for months !!! :j

matttye

jazabelle wrote: »

I don't mean crashing as in freezing. A box comes up that says: "Windows explorer has stopped working." It checks for solutions, closes all my documents down, the start bar vanishes, and then reappears.

This only happens when in folders.

Thanks, I've tried the scannow. A black box appears, then vanishes straight away. Is that right?

Did you run CMD with elevated permissions (i.e. by right clicking and going to 'run as administrator') ?? It closes immediately if CMD is not run as an administrator.

Try the disk checker and see if that helps as well.

Also worth doing a malware scan with Malwarebytes.

jazabelle

Okay, I've done a virus scan (nothing) and Malwarebyte, which found a few things. Still crashing.

I then did the check disk for errors, it said the harddrive was busy but it would schedule it for when the computer was next turned on. Restarted, and it said it couldn't run the scan because of a problem with an installation.

Yes, I'd stupidly missed running cmd by admin, sorry. It's now running.

jazabelle

The scan has finished. It says it's found some corrupt files, but was unable to fix some of them. It says to see more details look at CBS.log, but everytime I get there it crashes. I did manage to click the .txt file but it said I didn't have the permissions.

jazabelle

C:\Windows\system32>chkdsk
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is OS.

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
382464 file records processed.
File verification completed.
618 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
44 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
458144 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
382464 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
37841 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
35977616 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

706358135 KB total disk space.
117517812 KB in 171397 files.
206456 KB in 37842 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
506231 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
588127636 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
176589533 total allocation units on disk.
147031909 allocation units available on disk.

dogmaryxx

Possible solution

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

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-explorer-in-windows-7-keeps-crashing-and/c6fddc14-7649-4334-ac9a-6d049fd503bd