Solved 7-Zip Causing Explorer to Crash

[XLR8TX]

I have been using 7-Zip for years without any problems, however yesterday it stopped working. When I try to extract (or even test) a file, it freezes then causes explorer to freeze. Some times I'm able to terminate 7-Zip from the task manager but afterwards explorer still crashes and I have to manually restart.

This only happens when I use 7-Zip on the C: drive. When I use it on an external drive there are no problems.
I ran an system scan (sfc /scannow) and it found no problems.

Any Ideas?

One more thing, I don't know if it's relevant but in the 7-Zip file manager it has two Computer icons. One is labeled computer and the other has this \\.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[margrave]

I cannot help with 7-Zip. But know that many programs install "helpers" that tie into Windows Explorer. These are called BHOs (Browser Helper Objects).

Many of them are unreliable and cause Explorer crashes. You can use Microsoft's "ShellEx View" program to find them. This program lists all BHOs. Those BHOs listed as belonging to Microsoft are generally reliable. All others are suspect. You can disable any of them. If you disable the 7-Zip BHO and the problem goes away ...

You might try getting an updated version of 7-Zip, if available. Or you can try WinRAR.

WinRAR does everything. It handles every archive/compression format known to man. It's BHOs are completely reliable. I've found it faultless on WinXP, Win 7, and Win 10 ... both x32 and x64.

 

[XLR8TX]

Is ShellEx View an actual MS program?

 

[Megahertz07]

- Schedule a Disk check. Run chkdsk c: /f. When asked if you want to Schedule to the next boot = yes.
- Run a System file check. Run sfc /scannow
- Uninstall 7 zip, download the latest one and install it.

 

[Callender]

One more thing, I don't know if it's relevant but in the 7-Zip file manager it has two Computer icons. One is labeled computer and the other has this \\.

That's normal. It opens to root.

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If you know which software you installed or updated on the day it started crashing then start investigating.

Other than that review Post #5 through to Post #10 in this thread:

explorer crashes Solved - Windows 7 Help Forums

In the meantime try setting 7Zip context menu options like this and then reboot and launch 7-Zip file manager to see if you get the same problem.

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Also you could re-enable 7-Zip context menu option and try compessing a file by launching 7-Zip from the context menu in Explorer++ portable.

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Explorer++ tends to work if problematic shell extensions crash Explorer. You'd still need to track down the issue to avoid explorer crashes.

 

[XLR8TX]

I ran a Disk Check and it found and fixed two files with bad clusters. Since then 7-zip works fine again.