Windows Explorer has done it again!

I had one case today about the Win XP Pro updates issues.

After updating one BOX from MS update site, updating all the ciritical issues, 15 updates, successfully installed all of it (for around 1hr and 15min), well restarted, then BOOM!

I am stuck with the scenario that "Windows Explorer has encountered an error... sorry for the incovenience". I can only do some browsing after pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del and running tasks. Even using Firefox from browsing and doing some search. Even using Admin, Safemode, can't bring the Explorer up.

First things I have done is run my Firewall Manually and the AV and some Anti-Spyware and connected to the net (even up to now).

I cannot bring up the Control Panel and other dependent program since the problem is with Windows Explorer (Damn)! Been following the tips I've found in the following thread here -

1) http://www.antionline.com/showthread...explorer+error - comparing the problem with the situation in this thread, in my case, I could not bring-up the win explorer at all. Always giving error message..

2) http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=266551 - Patch is updated successfully and ask for a restart (but I am not 100% sure) because of the error

3) http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=266632 - the update is finish, the problem is after restarting.

To Sum up:
- Can't bring up the windows explorer
- Start Menu is not showing
- Only Ctrl Alt Del saves me from the ill-fated Windows and a little help from Firefox for exploring. Seems everything related to Windows Explorer is dead.

Been wandering around to see what can I do, but not a clue. Been reading M$' site (Help and Support - Issues after you install updates to Internet Explorer or Windows) and not yet figured it out. Some reinstall or uninstall maybe will work but I would like to go to system restore (but explorer prevents it and return me the error thing).

What could I do besides restoring. THE BOX is safe, I can say that. I've run the AV, and Spyware/Adware tools, and check by HJT before proceeding to the online update.

BOX Details:
Windows XP SP2, v.2055 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2055) - one thing I noticed, it did not update.
-- Newest Version is: 6.00.2800.1106! - analysis in http://www.hijackthis.de shows this. I think somewhat it has not updated

succesfully in this part (I am not sure).

BTW, attached is one of the error logs from the system, might be some help

Up to now I am still searching... But I'm sleepy...

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated!

Sorry for being dumb dead but could not do anything right now. Need some advice.

Help!

Yo!

Are you able to boot it in safe mode?

Also, I know some service packs ask you if you want to save your "original configuration" (whatever that means) and revert back. The installation didn't happen to ask you to do that?

One more thing, if you are able to boot in safe mode, are you able to open up add/remove progs list from control panel? Are you able to remove the latest patch installed?

Shooting in the dark here....

if worse comes to worse, you can always do the R-word (I know what TigerShark is going to say to that "it's the very last resort")

-ik

p.s. is the cat running on rar archive??!?

as opposed to the nasty "R" word that Iron mentioned, use the nicer Repair option. On the down side you will have to go back through and do the setup (you wont lose your files, you will just have to redo the welcome begining thing that windows has) OR............ look at these

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=306599

Quote:

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When you start your computer, Microsoft Windows may start to a blank desktop and you may receive an error message similar to the following
Error loading EXPLORER.EXE. You must reinstall Windows.
Explorer.exe unknown program name

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Have you tried hitting ctrl-alt-delete and then using run to type in explorer.exe? or did that still give you the error?

Try that and let me know what you get

check this link it might help u said u have been lookin around so you might have seen it i know its for windows 2000 but i think the dll files are about the same between the two os's http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;256194 it sounds like its missing a file or has a corrupt file are u getting any error messages at all

also i just remembered that for the upgrade to service pack 2 from sp1 you should get 2
explorers:explorer and explorer(1) for the upgrade i know its in the system 32 folder i cant remember where else now possible it is either looking to the wrong one of those 2 or the secound one didnt get created at all

FFR. Fdisk, format, reinstall.

And before someone decides to pull out the reddots on me, listen. The SP1 and SP2 service packs are no small matter of change, and even doing an SP2 uninstall can lead to system instability due to how IMMENSE these system configuration changes are.

If it has gotten to the point that explorer.exe is having stability issues, then you run the risk that it may not be explorer.exe but a .dll tied to the explorer.exe. This can mean trouble, but you won't have any way to know about it. If you try to 'Repair' the system, you may fix the explorer.exe problem but will end up with an incredibly unstable system due to the now mixture of updated files and repaired origonal files. Bad bad times, as the 'Repair' feature in XP is one of the worst possible things to preform on a computer.

It may be a driver error. It may be a virus that you can't detect because it's already altered your algorithm definition files for your Antivirus. Whatever it is, your system is not going to remain stable ,and more importantly it will no longer be 100% trust worthy that everything is still tip-top secure and safe. Save yourself the hassel, the time, and backup the data you need on that drive and just FFR it into a cleaner and stabler fresh Windows installation.

guardian,

While I do agree with you that (at this point) it's probably better to reinstall, I wouldn't be so quick to say it's a virus, just because this started happening _immediately_ after the patches were installed... More than likely, I would say something got screwed up during the patch install. Like venom said, it could have been a corrupted file, maybe he was running some app that tied up a critical file and made it read-only during the install -- who knows... guardian brings up a good point in saying that even if you do get it running though, your system is probably going to be unstable from here on out.

I would suggest to ScratchOnTheBox that in the future, before running critical patches, you back up your box using Ghost. That way, even if the patch install screws up, you can always revert back to what you had in the matter of 30 minutes, and possibly troubleshoot the problem...

And yeah, I realize MS comes out with 300 patches every week... so you'd be spending a lot of time making the ghosts... but what I mean is, make a ghost of a single stable version of windows that you know works well, and take it from there. It's always better than reinstalling from scratch.

Now among your updates in that box was one of them SP2?

I have had similar problems with a Canon Printer.. problems like Control panel not browseable or even the my computer folder as part of the list..

Also check the firewall settings..there is a command line trick for that

and in your story do please realise that while there is a relationship..

IE Explore (IE 6), Windows Explorer, and Explorer.exe are different..

also

Quote:

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Newest Version is: 6.00.2800.1106!

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hmm is it? I have Version: 6.00.2900.2180 .. so it sounds like your information is wrong.. and the IE version in the box is closer to current than your information.. certainly not fully uptodate

And Blooody hell you attached an XML file as TXT.. how about just plain ZIP next time...?? or even attach a corectly formatted XML file huh..

Update

OK. There is an update here. Now, I can run in the task, iexplore and it is working, but going back to the explorer.exe problem, still returning “Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.” error message.

Iron-Kurton
- I can boot in safe mode , using Admin. Same problem. Using iexplorer, I can browse Control Panel – Add Remove Prog, but… now I get it, seems the updates are not there in the list (I remember before way back 2 years ago, when you look at the Add Remove Prog in Win XP, the updates are showing in the Add Remove List. Now it’s not. So, the update is not completed successfully after restart.

- The “R” word is close to being done. But I am still curious!

Spyrus
- The Explorer.exe is there and maybe it is corrupted and I suspect, coupled with other corrupted dll files (as Guardian Alpha had mentioned).

Quote:

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Have you tried hitting ctrl-alt-delete and then using run to type in explorer.exe? or did that still give you the error?

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- Yes I have done it (even up to now I am doing it), explorer.exe seems keep on returing the same error message (see attached)

venom96737
- http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;256194 - I had tried this but it did not help. (after renaming) Returns a file not found message when I run explorer.exe. I’ve renamed it back to the original.

- Explorer files, yes there are two (2) files, located in Windows folder. One is exe file (file version 6.0.2900.2055 – with the PC icon – this when run, gives the error) and one is Windows Explorer Command file (with folder icon).

guardian alpha
- FFR. Fdisk, format, reinstall – I am closer.

Quote:

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If it has gotten to the point that explorer.exe is having stability issues, then you run the risk that it may not be explorer.exe but a .dll tied to the explorer.exe.

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- a very important point.

Iron-Kurton
- You hit me again. Actually, Ghost had been my friend since I first messed up with XP last year. But it was a bad move when I abandoned the idea just last month. When I stop using Symantec’s Norton System Work 2004. *sighed. The last update of my Ghost backup is gone. Guess I’ve been dependent and *smiling with the System Restore for a while now. BTW, Data is still intact and no problem. I can run Winword and the other Office gangs, can browse the web (after manually starting ZoneAlarm), AVG still starts. The “good guys” did not (Ad-Aware, Sypot, SpySweeper, XoftSpy). Still I’ve managed to backup four days ago is the Registry and the system restore is updated up to yesterday before live update (any help?).

Und3ertak3r
[QUTE]Also check the firewall settings..there is a command line trick for that[/QUOTE]
I miss this part. Please enlighten me. Thanks.

-I agree with you about the different identities of IE, Win Explorer and the Explorer.exe. So the scenario is, Explorer.exe is not working and returning the same error (now in zipped xml format as attached), iexplore.exe is now working perfectly fine.

*- and yes, BOX is currently updated with Win XP SP2

Thank you for all the response. Now you are most probably my “Response Team”.

Summary
- stil the same problem with explorer.exe
- iexplore.exe is up.
- Help&Support (Help – F1) is up
- Control Panel & System properties is accessible.
- Taskbar and Start Menu is dead (I want to go to system restore)
- D:\Documents and Settings\dumbuser\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories – system tools not present here
- I’ve checked my system logs, security audit has no breaches. Too much REDS in the system and application logs (wow!)
Last Question, How can I run System Restore by command in the new task?

But still the Problem is the same. Although I am very very close to “R” or better “FFR”, I am still willing hear some more guidance. Please pardon my curiosity. Many thanks again!

*I will try to run the update again…

Yo!

New update

windows update - found one item and install it... I will restart.

if it will be the same, maybe this will work: found the system restore command - %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

I'll update you guys!

Yo!

Quote:

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- Control Panel & System properties is accessible.

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If you can access the Control Panel & System, can't you access system restore by first selecting the Performance and Maintenance option, the bottom left icon when you open the Control Pannel menu, then select it and you should see a "System Restore" optioin under the See Also option on the top left of the Performance and Maintenance menu?

Thank you for the quick tip, Outer_Heaven.

Have tried accessing it and found out that the update cleared my original Restore Point.

Anyway, anyway, I've done the quickest way... CLEAN INSTALL ON ANOTHER PARTITION. And now I'm on the peak of checking the messed-up XP. Digging digging digging...

Thanks again, guys!

I am almost finished with the new installation and doing lots and lots of update with AV, FIREWALL, ANTI-SPYWARE/ADWARE (good guys) and the rest.

If ever, any more comments and suggestion would be gladly and happily appreciated.

Yo! :D

Walang anuman pare:D

So, you've learned some Filipino Language? And been to the Philippines several times, huh? Where, in Subic? or Clark? Or the Southern part? Anyway, glad to hear the language again.

Thanks again (Salamat ulit)!

Yo!

Did you try to get your paws on an Uncorrupt version of eplorer.exe ? From another box somewhere?

at any rate it doesnt sound like that would do though, seeing as all MS code is so intensively insestuously intertwined.

Good luck with your new partition!

fractal.design,

Hi!

I've done some work-around with the explorer.exe (back it up first) and had copy from another partition (good XP), but it didn't work. I've also messed up with the uninstall procedure for the updates, but it turns out to be a more complicated situation, LoLz.

What I learned from this case is, to try to back it up before updating... And now I am doing it everytime there is a moajor update with XP.

Now I am running 2 XP OS's... both with backup schedules and such... still observing other issues when it comes.

And now I sleep...

Cheers!

Yo!

I was going to suggest that you do a dual boot if you were going to do a reinstall.

1. You can learn another OS while still able to use one you are familiar with.
2. When your OS has a problem, you can boot to the other OS and see if it has the same problem or if it is just OS related and not PC related.
3. AtheOS, BeOS, DOS, BSD, Linux, Another Microsoft Windows, Minix, OS/2, and UNIX to name a few is what you can learn by having a dual boot system.

Just a thought, knowledge is power... :D

Cope57,

I had done several multiboot system before.

Using Windows 98, Win2K Server, WinXP, and Red Hat Linux (the combination of these OS's). It's kinda quite a good learning experience but I need more time for it.

For the case of what I am doing right now, 2 XP OS's I am doing this way for isolating issues pertaining to updating XP (perhaps something to do with HARDWARE since the BoX is coming old), once this procedure I am doing will be stable in the coming 3 months, I will definitely retain one stable OS (XP). But for the time being, what I am doing is (in a routine basis), update OS 1 and test it, once OK (without any unstable state), back it up and do the same procedure to OS 2 and so on and so forth. It's convenient for me eventhough updating tools take some time for my dial-up connection. But it's working just fine.

Thanks for the TIP about pursuing Multi-platform OS's.

Yo!

Uh, is it me, or didn’t anyone else notice this?

explorer.exe version 6.0.2900.2055 ?

ntdll.dll ......... version 5.1.2600.2055 xpsp_sp2_beta1.031215-1745
gdi32.dll ....... version 5.1.2600.2055 xpsp_sp2_beta1.031215-1745
kernel32.dll .. version 5.1.2600.2055 xpsp_sp2_beta1.031215-1745
user32.dll ..... version 5.1.2600.2055 xpsp_sp2_beta1.031215-1745

Did you try to install/update SP2 over a beta version ??

/slightly off topic

This tool is useful for telling you what software versions you have.

It also checks Windows updates and tells you if they have installed properly or not :)

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

It is free and works with all modern versions of Windows. It gives you other system information. Sure there are more detailed hardware information tools out there but this is the best one I have found so far for software.

Only about 700k of download as well, so it isn't bloatware ;)

IKnowNot,

Quote:

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Did you try to install/update SP2 over a beta version ??

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- You catch it! Cheers! it is possible that XP SP 2 was installed with a Beta version before I had done the Windows online update.
- I did not notice, and why Windows update never alerted that issue? Better investigate back again the shop about "their" updated BoX. I will try to find out when and where did they acquire the SP2 beta.
- You got it IKnowNot, maybe this is the root of the failure update.

Quote:

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After updating one BOX from MS update site, updating all the ciritical issues, 15 updates, successfully installed all of it (for around 1hr and 15min), well restarted, then BOOM!

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- Guess before running update again, checking the update history of the BoX is a better add-on procedure to make sure a smooth start of process.

I'll check them (the shop) about the history of their BoX before doing any update again.

and nihil,

Quote:

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It is free and works with all modern versions of Windows. It gives you other system information. Sure there are more detailed hardware information tools out there but this is the best one I have found so far for software.

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- I'll check it out now...

Thanks again for the update, guys!

Yo!

Quote:

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Better investigate back again the shop about "their" updated BoX. I will try to find out when and where did they acquire the SP2 beta.

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Maybe you should tell them to RTFM.

Readme for the Beta Version of Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Windows XP

Quote:

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Important
• Beta versions of software are intended only for installation in a test environment. We advise against installing and evaluating beta software on any production computers.

• If you install the beta version of SP2, you must uninstall it before you install the commercially released version of the service pack.

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Sure I will tell them that too...

And for me, most of the updates I had made so far for SP2 were boxes with SP1 (not beta) installed. But in this specific BoX, the case is SP2 is already installed, I guess I assumed that SP2 is perfectly in place when I did the windows update (Assumption is the mother of all *****ups)! I definitely learned some lesson here.

BTW, I had inquired locally here for the CD version of SP2 but could not get with the provider yet. I just advice with clients (that don't have the "GOOD DSL" connection yet) to try to ask their PC supplier instead for the SP2 CD (final) if they really want to update their Box. Cause realy it is frustrating to update to SP2 using dial-up.

Yo!

Possibly order a free sp2 cd from ms and make a few copies ?

Quote:

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/slightly off topic
This tool is useful for telling you what software versions you have.

It also checks Windows updates and tells you if they have installed properly or not

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

It is free and works with all modern versions of Windows. It gives you other system information. Sure there are more detailed hardware information tools out there but this is the best one I have found so far for software.

Only about 700k of download as well, so it isn't bloatware

---

- Actually, it is quite a good analysis that this software is producing... It digs from hardware to software details. Even detected my updates ---> Marks a HotFix that verifies correctly.

- I've done the diagnostic in my own BoX and I am glad for the results. Some of you AO guys would want to try this also to check your Windows BoX.

Thanks nihil!
*

Quote:

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Possibly order a free sp2 cd from ms and make a few copies ?

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- Yes. I'm on it...

Yo!