Solved Windows Explorer Not Responding

juniorgeek · Jun 5, 2012

Hey Everybody,

Has anyone experienced "Windows Explorer Not Responding" ?

I have this problem, its been in my computer since the Vista i used to have, (by default), now i have Windows 7, but the problem is still there.
It happens especially when i am working on my HDD, when i have 2 (or so) windows open and am copying or deleting or Even "just going through the files" in the HDD.. suddenly at some point the Windows Explorer will Stop Responding! Get Stuck and give up two dialog boxes - 1) windows explorer is not responding, windows is trying to check the problem (...slightly different wording) and 2) windows explorer is restarting!!
A person once told me it is to do with my hardware.. but i dont think so, cause this problem only started after 2 years or so of using the laptop with windows Vista.

So, the Question is "what triggers such response?" and "what's the Solution?"

Thanks Friends.

F5ing · Jun 5, 2012

Very well may be hardware. I'd check the health of the hard drive first. You might have an option in your BIOS to see what the HD's SMART values are. You could also use SeaTools | Seagate. Make sure you have all your user data backed up before running extensive tests.

You might also try running sfc /scannow in an elevated command prompt to check/repair system files. See http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

karlsnooks · Jun 5, 2012

juniorgeek,

First, help us to help you.

Use following procedure to fill out your system specs. Read and follow the procedure. Use SPECCY to gather the info. SPECCY allows you to copy and paste.

Update your SevenForums System Specs
User CP (located on the top menu bar) |
Your Profile | Edit System Spec (left-hand column)

To gather info, use Speccy (my favorite) or SIW or System Info

ADD the word laptop or desktop or netbook to the
“system manufacturer” block, for example,
Toshiba Satellite L305D notebook.

Provide full windows version info, for example:
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Use the “Other Info” block for Optical Reader,
Mouse, touchpad, wifi adapter, speakers, monitor, etc

Scroll down and click on SAVE CHANGES.
====================================================
Awaiting your post informing of the updated specs.
thanks,
karl

Night Hawk · Jun 5, 2012

Hello there! junoirgeek Welcome to the Seven Forums!

I've neen running into the same problem long before Vista and 7 came along. Often having numerous background processes from 3rd party programs as well as other things trying to save data to the drive can get in the way when trying to move, copy & Paste in particular with a large number of files or with large filas, folders, or trying to browse through while having one or more web browser windows open.

The explorer.exe file gets taxed dealing with any fragmented files regardless of a drive showing 0% fragmentation individual files being stored can be. Since the explorer.exe is the main shell executable file for many things it can stall especially when a Windows install is two or more years old!

Generally when you start seeing this you will also start seeing program stalls and errors as well as each problem starts appearing on it's own. The System File Checker can help find any main files now missing or in need of replacement as FSing advised there as well as the need to fill out some general system information while this is mainly an OS issue.

Errors on the hard drive however certainly won't help any! A hard drive diagnostic tool like the SeaTools or WD Lifeguard diaganostics if you are running a WD drive won't hurt any to run even if only to check for any bad sectors.

Lately after a May 2010 clean install and restoration of a full system image backup later that year it was time to simply see another clean install here when WE and other errors were growing in number! It was time for a complete drive wipe and clean install to solve everything!

Should I also mention the amount of clutter in the system registry after a few years time?! That's often the most commonly overlooked source for various problems!

Layback Bear · Jun 5, 2012

Their are many things that can cause this problem. I would run sfc /scannow from the cmd prompt as admin. first. System File Checker checks and corrects Windows 7 files. Run it two or three times. It can't hurt and may help.

Night Hawk · Jun 5, 2012

I mostly ran into this when copying a large folder with plenty of files let's say one main folder holding 158gb even where the copy and paste process simply locks up. When pressing the control alt delete key combot to end that process I go right back and start it all over and then finally the entire contents would be copied from one drive to another.

Sometimes this would ba after a quick restart of the system mind you which then tends to reset everything if perhaps something else was accessing the same files you were working with and got in the way. Besides certain Windows processes 3rd party apps you might have running in the background like your av program running a scheduled scan could be getting in your way.

One thought about this would be testing the idea by reducing all unnecessary startup items in the msconfig for extras not essentials to see if the problem still comes up on you. This can indicate if this is all due to a 3rd party app or if it persists be then looked at as OS related. And running the SFC tool a few times with the 7 dvd won't hurt any for sure but take a little longer since each run will tend to last several minutes.

FliGi7 · Jun 6, 2012

This is often due to one or more of the following:

Corrupt sectors on hard drive/failing hard drive
Third party codecs installed that cause the explorer process to hang
Corrupt system files, which can be fixed with SFC /scannow

juniorgeek · Jun 6, 2012

karlsnooks said:
juniorgeek,

First, help us to help you.

Use following procedure to fill out your system specs. Read and follow the procedure. Use SPECCY to gather the info. SPECCY allows you to copy and paste.

Update your SevenForums System Specs
User CP (located on the top menu bar) |
Your Profile | Edit System Spec (left-hand column)

To gather info, use Speccy (my favorite) or SIW or System Info

ADD the word laptop or desktop or netbook to the
“system manufacturer” block, for example,
Toshiba Satellite L305D notebook.

Provide full windows version info, for example:
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Use the “Other Info” block for Optical Reader,
Mouse, touchpad, wifi adapter, speakers, monitor, etc

Scroll down and click on SAVE CHANGES.
====================================================
Awaiting your post informing of the updated specs.
thanks,
karl

Thanks for your consideration

, but i dont get one thing, that what information do you want which would help you on telling me what the cause of "windows explorer not responding" ??:sarc:
i mean if it is something in particular, i definitely dont have any problems in giving the details..

juniorgeek · Jun 6, 2012

Night Hawk said:
I mostly ran into this when copying a large folder with plenty of files let's say one main folder holding 158gb even where the copy and paste process simply locks up. When pressing the control alt delete key combot to end that process I go right back and start it all over and then finally the entire contents would be copied from one drive to another.

Sometimes this would ba after a quick restart of the system mind you which then tends to reset everything if perhaps something else was accessing the same files you were working with and got in the way. Besides certain Windows processes 3rd party apps you might have running in the background like your av program running a scheduled scan could be getting in your way.

One thought about this would be testing the idea by reducing all unnecessary startup items in the msconfig for extras not essentials to see if the problem still comes up on you. This can indicate if this is all due to a 3rd party app or if it persists be then looked at as OS related. And running the SFC tool a few times with the 7 dvd won't hurt any for sure but take a little longer since each run will tend to last several minutes.

Hey NightHawk, thanks for coming here

remember we discussed about the Physical Memory Usage? i recently installed nfs undercover and well, other than the graphics card, as i only have a default graphics card in my laptop, all the requirements for the undercover are met.. and i have seen a greatly surprising effect... the game didnt work as it should have (meaning that the videos on the start and the icons whatever are very smooth and great but when its turn for the game screen to come on, its only white screen i see and nothing else, p.s. audio is there as if the video would be with the audio..)
well, thats the game, but the great effect was in the task manager the physical memory was down to 455 !!! thats the lowest i have seen.!!
i have uninstalled the game as it didnt work, but have now Carbon, which does though there is something which is giving a slightly slow affect, other than that its great..
so the physical memory is also lower than before by the msconfig.. but the surprise is it went down to 455!!:shock:

karlsnooks · Jun 6, 2012

juniorgeek said:
karlsnooks said:

juniorgeek,

First, help us to help you.

Use following procedure to fill out your system specs. Read and follow the procedure. Use SPECCY to gather the info. SPECCY allows you to copy and paste.

Update your SevenForums System Specs
User CP (located on the top menu bar) |
Your Profile | Edit System Spec (left-hand column)

To gather info, use Speccy (my favorite) or SIW or System Info

ADD the word laptop or desktop or netbook to the
“system manufacturer” block, for example,
Toshiba Satellite L305D notebook.

Provide full windows version info, for example:
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Use the “Other Info” block for Optical Reader,
Mouse, touchpad, wifi adapter, speakers, monitor, etc

Scroll down and click on SAVE CHANGES.
====================================================
Awaiting your post informing of the updated specs.
thanks,
karl

Click to expand...

Thanks for your consideration, but i dont get one thing, that what information do you want which would help you on telling me what the cause of "windows explorer not responding" ??:sarc:
i mean if it is something in particular, i definitely dont have any problems in giving the details..

I wish you a good and pleasant day!

F5ing · Jun 6, 2012

juniorgeek said:
Night Hawk said:

I mostly ran into this when copying a large folder with plenty of files let's say one main folder holding 158gb even where the copy and paste process simply locks up. When pressing the control alt delete key combot to end that process I go right back and start it all over and then finally the entire contents would be copied from one drive to another.

Sometimes this would ba after a quick restart of the system mind you which then tends to reset everything if perhaps something else was accessing the same files you were working with and got in the way. Besides certain Windows processes 3rd party apps you might have running in the background like your av program running a scheduled scan could be getting in your way.

One thought about this would be testing the idea by reducing all unnecessary startup items in the msconfig for extras not essentials to see if the problem still comes up on you. This can indicate if this is all due to a 3rd party app or if it persists be then looked at as OS related. And running the SFC tool a few times with the 7 dvd won't hurt any for sure but take a little longer since each run will tend to last several minutes.

Click to expand...

Hey NightHawk, thanks for coming here
remember we discussed about the Physical Memory Usage? i recently installed nfs undercover and well, other than the graphics card, as i only have a default graphics card in my laptop, all the requirements for the undercover are met.. and i have seen a greatly surprising effect... the game didnt work as it should have (meaning that the videos on the start and the icons whatever are very smooth and great but when its turn for the game screen to come on, its only white screen i see and nothing else, p.s. audio is there as if the video would be with the audio..)
well, thats the game, but the great effect was in the task manager the physical memory was down to 455 !!! thats the lowest i have seen.!!
i have uninstalled the game as it didnt work, but have now Carbon, which does though there is something which is giving a slightly slow affect, other than that its great..
so the physical memory is also lower than before by the msconfig.. but the surprise is it went down to 455!!:shock:

Is this thread dead now? Have you solved the problem described in your original post? Or are you no longer worried about solving it?

Night Hawk · Jun 6, 2012

Well junoirgeek's reference to his other thread brings up another thought as to why he is running the "WE not responding" type errors of only having 1gb of memory. The fact that the ram taken was suddenly freed up once the game was uninstalled should be seeing a somewhat better overall performance.

I was forced to run an old desktop that only saw a quick temp install of the 32bit 7 when a new supply cooked a brand new board on the present build when first put together.

WE could be hanging at times since at times when all available gets taken when you have other processes running in the background and why disabling the unessential startups was advised until you are able to increase the amount of memory

What karlsnooks was looking for earlier when pointing at Speccy and SIW is two system information programs. The SIW or System Information for Windows program is an excellent freeware for listing all software as well as hardware information. Never be without it!

Meanwhile it's good you saw the idle processes now only taking a lower figure there since any 1gb system is rather bottle necked as far as what you will be able to run. If this had been the 64bit 7 on there instead you might have gotten in down to about 800mb since the 64bit keeps more data in ram with far less swapping out to the drive.

Recently when a friend asked about how to speed things up on his better half's Vista laptop(which also came with only 1gb pair of 512s) I had to advise him right off replacing the 120gb 5,400rpm sata with a larger faster 7,200rpm drive and replacing the factory sodimms with a pair of new 1gb sticks would definitely be the better move. The old Toshiba model maxes at 3gb only having three memory slots to begin with.

When you look at a new 7 laptop these days you will see 3 or 4gb for the 32 and 6gb even more on some for the 64bit. You generally see about 3.5781gb approximate depending on hardwares for both the 32bit Vista and 7 Home Premium editions. The more full featured edition obviously have additional background services running and will tend to see a bit less.

But with ram prices dropping lately the boost in memory would one step in eliminating the stalls seen with WE since more ram would be available for running more things. The increase in ram would be removing some of those bottle nexks you are running into.

The other things recommended here can be a help too while going for the increase in memory would still be the best advice. If you need help in finding a good deal as well as the right memory to go with let us know. The make and model laptop of course would be a help here with a good lookover of the specs on it.

FliGi7 · Jun 7, 2012

F5ing said:
Is this thread dead now? Have you solved the problem described in your original post? Or are you no longer worried about solving it?

This. Juniorgeek, what have you done so far based on the suggestions provided?

juniorgeek · Jun 7, 2012

FliGi7 said:
F5ing said:

Is this thread dead now? Have you solved the problem described in your original post? Or are you no longer worried about solving it?

Click to expand...

This. Juniorgeek, what have you done so far based on the suggestions provided?

No, this thread is not Dead! I was talking to Night Hawk about the previously discussed issue with Night Hawk...

i have run tests for corrupt system files and corrupt sectors but apparently there is nothing corrupt! i also tried CCleaner and that has given some issues which had to be solved and are solved by it now, as of yet i havent experienced any windows explorer not responding... but i cant say for sure if everything is perfectly alright now because the "no response" occurs with varying times! there is no certain frequency or time for it to happen... it just happens and just disappears ...
for now CCleaner has cleaned somethings.. lets see..

juniorgeek · Jun 7, 2012

F5ing said:
juniorgeek said:

Night Hawk said:

I mostly ran into this when copying a large folder with plenty of files let's say one main folder holding 158gb even where the copy and paste process simply locks up. When pressing the control alt delete key combot to end that process I go right back and start it all over and then finally the entire contents would be copied from one drive to another.

Sometimes this would ba after a quick restart of the system mind you which then tends to reset everything if perhaps something else was accessing the same files you were working with and got in the way. Besides certain Windows processes 3rd party apps you might have running in the background like your av program running a scheduled scan could be getting in your way.

One thought about this would be testing the idea by reducing all unnecessary startup items in the msconfig for extras not essentials to see if the problem still comes up on you. This can indicate if this is all due to a 3rd party app or if it persists be then looked at as OS related. And running the SFC tool a few times with the 7 dvd won't hurt any for sure but take a little longer since each run will tend to last several minutes.

Click to expand...

Hey NightHawk, thanks for coming here
remember we discussed about the Physical Memory Usage? i recently installed nfs undercover and well, other than the graphics card, as i only have a default graphics card in my laptop, all the requirements for the undercover are met.. and i have seen a greatly surprising effect... the game didnt work as it should have (meaning that the videos on the start and the icons whatever are very smooth and great but when its turn for the game screen to come on, its only white screen i see and nothing else, p.s. audio is there as if the video would be with the audio..)
well, thats the game, but the great effect was in the task manager the physical memory was down to 455 !!! thats the lowest i have seen.!!
i have uninstalled the game as it didnt work, but have now Carbon, which does though there is something which is giving a slightly slow affect, other than that its great..
so the physical memory is also lower than before by the msconfig.. but the surprise is it went down to 455!!:shock:

Click to expand...

Is this thread dead now? Have you solved the problem described in your original post? Or are you no longer worried about solving it?

No, this thread is not Dead! I was talking to Night Hawk about the previously discussed issue with Night Hawk...

i have run tests for corrupt system files and corrupt sectors but apparently there is nothing corrupt! i also tried CCleaner and that has given some issues which had to be solved and are solved by it now, as of yet i havent experienced any windows explorer not responding... but i cant say for sure if everything is perfectly alright now because the "no response" occurs with varying times! there is no certain frequency or time for it to happen... it just happens and just disappears ...
for now CCleaner has cleaned somethings.. lets see..

FliGi7 · Jun 7, 2012

Ok, if SFC /scannow didn't find any corrupted files that's good. What issues did CCleaner find and solve, specifically. We need to know what the results of these things are so we can progress forward in trying to help you solve this issue. A complete list of all programs installed on your machine would be helpful as well.

juniorgeek · Jun 7, 2012

Night Hawk said:
Well junoirgeek's reference to his other thread brings up another thought as to why he is running the "WE not responding" type errors of only having 1gb of memory. The fact that the ram taken was suddenly freed up once the game was uninstalled should be seeing a somewhat better overall performance.

I was forced to run an old desktop that only saw a quick temp install of the 32bit 7 when a new supply cooked a brand new board on the present build when first put together. WE could be hanging at times since at times when all available gets taken when you have other processes running in the background and why disabling the unessential startups was advised until you are able to increase the amount of memory

What karlsnooks was looking for earlier when pointing at Speccy and SIW is two system information programs. The SIW or System Information for Windows program is an excellent freeware for listing all software as well as hardware information. Never be without it!

Meanwhile it's good you saw the idle processes now only taking a lower figure there since any 1gb system is rather bottle necked as far as what you will be able to run. If this had been the 64bit 7 on there instead you might have gotten in down to about 800mb since the 64bit keeps more data in ram with far less swapping out to the drive.

Recently when a friend asked about how to speed things up on his better half's Vista laptop(which also came with only 1gb pair of 512s) I had to advise him right off replacing the 120gb 5,400rpm sata with a larger faster 7,200rpm drive and replacing the factory sodimms with a pair of new 1gb sticks would definitely be the better move. The old Toshiba model maxes at 3gb only having three memory slots to begin with.

When you look at a new 7 laptop these days you will see 3 or 4gb for the 32 and 6gb even more on some for the 64bit. You generally see about 3.5781gb approximate depending on hardwares for both the 32bit Vista and 7 Home Premium editions. The more full featured edition obviously have additional background services running and will tend to see a bit less.

But with ram prices dropping lately the boost in memory would one step in eliminating the stalls seen with WE since more ram would be available for running more things. The increase in ram would be removing some of those bottle nexks you are running into.

The other things recommended here can be a help too while going for the increase in memory would still be the best advice. If you need help in finding a good deal as well as the right memory to go with let us know. The make and model laptop of course would be a help here with a good lookover of the specs on it.

Thanks alot Night Hawk !! you are a Real Help!! Thanks again. this is great information and specially explaining everything needed!
ok, thats cool, i got the problem i have..
i am looking to betterment in my computer home

but i have seen some latest deals like getting a new computer in exchange of the old one (and of course paying the difference) hehe
but if you can tell me about a good laptop which has enough ram and hdd plus other necessities for our kind of things (like Ps, AE, games, Audio Editors, etc..) and of course looking at the prices, it would be a Great help!

Thanks
i was thinking Apple, but i am not sure if that is the correct choice in todays world for us>?
I do have Speccy, btw. It gives all the information, incl. Temperature! just didnt post it, lazziness

hehe

Night Hawk · Jun 7, 2012

A good basic laptop like an HP, Toshiba, or other will start off about $400 these days. The OS will also play a role with 32bit 7 laptops typically 3 or 4gb and the 64bit models seeing about 6gb on average.

The individual features as well as seeing a cpu that won't be the lower end for stock as well as the size of the main drive will also effect the pricing. As far as OS wise the preference here of course is for the 64bit while the laptop I bought as a gift for someone last year has the 32bit 7 HP. Pro x64 would be on any laptop if I was shopping for one now simply out of personal preference.

Besides features, cpu, hard drive size, screen size, an important item is factory support and of course warranty. You have to add in the extra for any extended warranty plan if you opt for one.

As far as OS when pricing softwares for the other OS don't be shocked by the higher prices! :shock: Plus a great number of the Windows games and apps won't be able to run on the other OS there if they won't run on a VM.

juniorgeek · Jun 9, 2012

FliGi7 said:
Ok, if SFC /scannow didn't find any corrupted files that's good. What issues did CCleaner find and solve, specifically. We need to know what the results of these things are so we can progress forward in trying to help you solve this issue. A complete list of all programs installed on your machine would be helpful as well.

It did clean stuff, but hoe do i get it now? when i cleaned it, i did not make a list of it, how can i get the results from the ccleaner now? i see no apparent option as to display the previous cleaning results...
and about the softwares i have here - nothing much, just 3 games, couple of adobe softwares and apple softwares, skype, teamviewer, and the antivirus - thats it.

juniorgeek · Jun 9, 2012

Night Hawk said:
A good basic laptop like an HP, Toshiba, or other will start off about $400 these days. The OS will also play a role with 32bit 7 laptops typically 3 or 4gb and the 64bit models seeing about 6gb on average.

The individual features as well as seeing a cpu that won't be the lower end for stock as well as the size of the main drive will also effect the pricing. As far as OS wise the preference here of course is for the 64bit while the laptop I bought as a gift for someone last year has the 32bit 7 HP. Pro x64 would be on any laptop if I was shopping for one now simply out of personal preference.

Besides features, cpu, hard drive size, screen size, an important item is factory support and of course warranty. You have to add in the extra for any extended warranty plan if you opt for one.

As far as OS when pricing softwares for the other OS don't be shocked by the higher prices! :shock: Plus a great number of the Windows games and apps won't be able to run on the other OS there if they won't run on a VM.

hmm.....so i see, thanks for the info. i have seen some laptops recently and i think about $1000 would be fine but i am not good at the knowledge of these new terms like i7, i5, and in graphics cards so i may have to look into these and know what processor is the best one to go with (and RAM and HDD should be as big as possible, right?

) just the processor and the graphic card info i would look into before i decide what i am going for and the last thing is which company is it going to be from..!

hehe these company wars these days are just too fantastic to go for window shopping !! know what i mean?

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