File Explorer crashing (constantly), mostly in directories with images

The same thing happened on my machine and after identifying and deleting all corrupt image files the problem remained. The solution for me was to move all user created video files onto an external HD.

Anyway in your case it looks like the culprit is one or more corrupt image files.

Look at item 7 in this article for confirmation.

Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working Fix | gHacks Technology News

If you need help in identifying corrupt images I'll post a link to the software that I use but a simple solution would probably be to suspect the folder that you just opened when explorer crashed.

I took a look at that reg file but the only comment that I can make is that perhaps Windows Error Reporting is disabled on your machine or else there's something wrong with the code in the file.

Since the problem started when you copied files from your backup drive to your current drive I'd still suspect media file corruption rather than shell extension issues. As for SFC - I'm no expert on that and tend to find that it will often detect problems when run that are not really problems at all. (Like if you've made custom changes such as disabling hibernation).

Upload the log for an expert on system files to look at.

Other things tat you could try:

Remove all media files and folders - copy them back to your other drive (must be external) then disconnect the drive and reboot. If the problem remains then media file corruption isn't the issue. Media files means any image or video file that you've created/ downloaded.

Temporarily disable thumbnail caching:

Thumbnail Cache - Enable or Disable

Set view for all folders to "Always show icons, never thumbnails" and uncheck "display file icon on thumbnails"

webbeetle said:

Thanks, YES, Windows error reporting is disabled because I use my notebook very often without internet access (because I cannot get any whilst on the road) - will enable it temporarily.

It's possible that you might need to re-merge that reg file after enabling WER for the registry settings to take effect!

On another note: Until the probem is fixed there's a handy utility that can restart Explorer with a single click.

Sordum's Small tools | Sordum.org

Rexplorer is part of Sordum's Small Tools package. If you extract the files and copy rexplorer.exe to somewhere handy you can run it when needed.

I'm wondering if that dump file is being created now that you've enabled WER?

It's not something that I could analyze but if it's present you could upload it for someone to look at.

On another note: If you're still stuck after trying suggestions you could tale a look at shell extensions just to rule them out as a possible culprit.

If you can pin down the date when the problem started - you can take a look at:

ShellExView - Shell Extension Manager For Windows

Download link is near the bottom of the page. You need "Download ShellExView for x64" for your machine. If you extract the files and run the executable you'll get a list of shell extensions. Sort them by date (newest first) by clicking on the "File Created Time" column. If you see anything that was installed on or just before explorer started crashing try disabling it.



If you navigate to the shexview.exe executable and right click it then choose "copy as path" paste the result into notepad.

You should see something like this:

"C:\Users\Username\Desktop\NirSoft\shexview.exe"

If you modify the text and add /stext extensions.txt (including the space) you should see something like:

"C:\Users\Username\Desktop\NirSoft\shexview.exe" /stext extensions.txt

Copy that text into your Run dialog box. Start> Run then press enter.

Attach the results to your next post. You'll find them in the same folder as the shexview.exe executable with the filename "extensions.txt"

I know of a tool that will deal with corrupt image files but only .jpg extension.

webbeetle said:

I didn't have time to deal with anything today because I had to go to a government office (here in Montevideo), where one sits around all day waiting...

I've got a explorer.exe.2036.dmp file by now, but I have no idea how to
a) upload it here, as it is NOT a supported file format
b) or how to open and read it...
(I found somewhere a reference to WinDbg, but don't seem to have that installed on my notebook - right now I rather stay away from installing new things onto an instable system, otherwise I would continue my "real" work and install wampserver next, which I actually need to pre-customise a WordPress server install.)

Usually a dump file will upload if it's zipped. See:

Dump Files - Upload to SevenForums

You don't need to install the software suggested - it's your choice. Hopefully the dump file will help!