Explorer.exe Constantly crashes

[John.D]

I've got my FF on custom, the only thing thats ticked is cookies. And it hasnt crashed yet. I havent read the whole either, but you can tick these entries then tick fix checked (if you havent yet)

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [sunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"

I wouldnt leave teatimer running, it can cause probs

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [spybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files (x86)\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe

[rageagainstmachine]

briangw, it could be Winrar. i used to use V3.6, but only recently started using the new 64bit version.

Also, I decided to reinstall FF earlier. no issues so far. Still pretty basic stuff on my machine so far tho. not got any priacy enabled tho.

[sullysnet]

briangw you can try changing or moving your temp file location out of your profile and into the root. I have mine set to C:\Temp

On every machine I build I want it right there for me to clean out from time to time. I also store stuff in there for a short time.

It can be changed in the environment variables - at the search type advanced and look for "view advanced system settings" then there is a button for environment variables. On the top there is TEMP and TMP, you can change it there. It is something to try but may not help.

Also make sure you have the x64 version of Winrar since Winrar does use shell extensions and using a x32 extension on an x64 machine may not play nice.

:)

[Anonymous_101]

I havent read the whole either.

Can everyone please read at least 3 of the pages in the thread, meaning 1 to 3.

[briangw]

briangw you can try changing or moving your temp file location out of your profile and into the root. I have mine set to C:\Temp

On every machine I build I want it right there for me to clean out from time to time. I also store stuff in there for a short time.

It can be changed in the environment variables - at the search type advanced and look for "view advanced system settings" then there is a button for environment variables. On the top there is TEMP and TMP, you can change it there. It is something to try but may not help.

Also make sure you have the x64 version of Winrar since Winrar does use shell extensions and using a x32 extension on an x64 machine may not play nice.

:)

Yeah, I've been using the 64 bit version since it came out. I'll move the Temp directory out and see how it works then.

[Anonymous_101]

how do you move windows directories such as the Temp file? Im using windows 7 ultimate 64-bit.

[rageagainstmachine]

still NO crashes for me yet guys, had FF installed for a few days now too. With dont remember privacy enabled. Touch wood, But its looking like my issue was down to Winrar V3.6. after all.

[Fish]

Explorer has been crashing a lot for me lately too. reading through this thread, my thoughts are turning towards Fx and private browsing. Last night I was using private browsing, but before I closed Fx I reveted to normal browsing and closed my lid putting 7 into hibernation. Today I've opened my lid, logged on and (this is where it gets interesting) can crash explorer every time by simply right-clicking the desktop. I have Winrar installed, but I had this problem before when I was using 7zip.

I'm going to monitor this more closely to see if in my case the explorer crashes are related to recent private browsing.

[Eric Veteran]

still NO crashes for me yet guys, had FF installed for a few days now too. With dont remember privacy enabled. Touch wood, But its looking like my issue was down to Winrar V3.6. after all.

WinRAR 3.60 did have problems with the shell extension crashing. I remember reporting it to RarLabs and actually getting a response back for it. It was about the same time as a bug that caused funky characters to appear in the context menu appeared.

[sullysnet]

how do you move windows directories such as the Temp file? Im using windows 7 ultimate 64-bit.

most of them are moved or changed in the registry but I think I gave directions back a few pages on how to change in the environment variable to move your temp folder.

Here https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...amp;p=591882762

Winrar 3.90 works on x64 Win7 and x32

Edited November 25, 2009 by sullysnet

[Fish]

Quick reply to this, just to add my weight... Confirmed that I can force explorer to crash every time I right-click, after I come out of hibernation after a private browsing session.

So is this a Mozilla problem or Microsoft?

[Eric Veteran]

Quick reply to this, just to add my weight... Confirmed that I can force explorer to crash every time I right-click, after I come out of hibernation after a private browsing session.

So is this a Mozilla problem or Microsoft?

It appears to be a Mozilla problem but the devs don't seem to want to look into it going from the Mozilla discussion threads. It looks like whatever is purging the Firefox memory of browsing data after Private Browsing is causing memory corruption.

[Fish]

Well, that's a shame. I've been an avid user of Firefox since the Phoenix days. This bug, for me, is a big deal, and if the devs aren't concerned about fixing it then I will simply have to use a different browser instead.

[hairbawl87]

Yes, I have the same problem and currently my explorer.exe is not crashing. This issue has a very long history that spans from XP to 7 - just google explorer.exe frequently crashes, etc. Blame has been tossed around so many times...well, no one really knows for sure including me.

In my experiences I'll right-click something and the explorer will crash then restart and then the same thing will occur about 5-6 times until it decides to stop and it'll work great for a few days until it decides to start it up again. Completely bizarre.

I choose to believe that it's Securom DRM from games because back on XP there was a C&C (Kane's Wrath?) issue where explorer.exe will crash while right-clicking and they eventually put out a hotfix for securom to fix it. I think--and I know there are those who've supposedly done fresh installs and still report the issue--that this has somehow crossed over since the issue is the same. The eventlogs always point to ntdll.dll or msrvsomething something so they're not that much help.

I still stick with my theory on the DRM. Ever since I uninstalled Assassin's Creed a few weeks ago, I've never had a crash since. I am, of course, an avid FireFox user & I've use the Private Browsing several times since so I really think this whole "it's FireFox" is nonsense. Then again, while our symptoms the same, maybe the issue is different. I just have a hard time believing that it's FireFox and that this occurs on a clean install.

[Dazeon]

It would be really helpful if anyone that is suffering from this issue and believes/knows (can reproduce) it to be caused by Firefox, then please would you post/comment here:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=518412

The Mozilla developers are listening to an extent, they just need our feedback, especially those that can reproduce the issue.

I'm not sure if you have to register with Bugzilla, but even so, it's worth it and it only takes minutes.

At the very least, even if this turns out to be a Microsoft issue, then surely the Mozilla team carry a lot more weight than us Joe Public!

[sullysnet]

You do have to reg for Bugzilla and I plan on joining and putting the related issues I had.

It's been stated many times that this issue can be from many different things but I know for me it has been Firfox and Private Browsing mode. I've been running on the same build that I uploaded my dumps from and the filemon logs and I've been running smooth since then (knock on wood). There are many others in the same boat I am in but there are many others that have this issue

from another application or driver or something else. How can you test a Vanilla system??? You can't because what is the machine then? Useless if you ask me. So of course you need a few applications on there until you find out which of the applications are causing you the grief. This is exactly what I did and suggest that others having the issue that can't solve it to enable the dump file creation so someone can at least see if anything is obvious in the dump.

It's also way too early to blame any one person. I would just rather us get to one issue at a time and push them to the correct person to resolve all of them (if possible).

This post explains it a bit https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...amp;p=591840748

I uploaded a pre-made reg file from that link if you do not know how to create one

http://rapidshare.com/files/313253642/Explorer-Dumps.reg

once it crashes the dumps should be in C:\LocalDumps

just upload them once you receive one and have someone here try to look at it

[Anonymous_101]

Anyone have anything new?

[Fish]

There seems to be some progress being made on Bugzilla. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=518412

[Owen W Veteran]

I have the same exact issue with Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I'm gonna do a format tomorrow. Seems to be the only way to fix this annoying problem.

Makes me really disappointed in Windows 7 :/ ITS EVEN WORSE THAN VISTA. Atleast my Vista installs last more than 4 months :/

I've had the same problem too, but it's not as extreme as everyone here - happens once a week maybe, or when I launch the "Default Programs" panel. No biggie though.

[sullysnet]

There seems to be some progress being made on Bugzilla. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=518412

great, I finally signed up for the bugzilla so I could send them my dumps and filemon logs. I'm hoping they have a fix along with MS and we can finally put this to rest. Only thing left would be to solve the other random Explorer issues, if possible :)

thanks all

[Salgoth]

Actually looks like a problem with the Clipboard according to the bugzilla posts #51, 52, 53 and MS appears to be working on a fix - might explain why the behavior occurred for some who didn't use FF or "private browsing mode" at all.

[rageagainstmachine]

hmm, im have not had a crash for well over a week now. since i disabled "dont remember history" option, whcih i can only imagine works in a similar manor to private browsing.

Also, someone mentioned about DRm from assasins creed, well i have Crysis installed via steam, which has DRM. This hasnt being giving me an issue.

Im certain its FF, now, went through a period of thinking otherwise, but not now.

[Preppy Veteran]

It looks pretty certainly like it's on the MS side, given the data so far. Looks like FF found an edge case that wasn't handled correctly. Much thanks to everyone who helped provide the data necessary to figure out how to reproduce the crash. :)

I'd bet it's off in MS support's hands now + it looks like MS/FF are talking about how FF can avoid this for the time being. :)

[sullysnet]

I think it is great we all stuck together on this one to get it out there, cheers goes to everyone that helped out and stuck it out :)

thanks again Team :yes:

[Anonymous_101]

I am still having the issue but at least the Firefox team is looking into it.