Blank Windows Explorer Pane

[justinmorley]

Hey guys.
Lately, when I open up any folder, I get a blank pane (picture included.)

Do you have any ideas how to fix this?

Thanks,
Justin

 

[garysgold]

Hello Justin,

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

You could try a restore point to a time before the problem started. Info here if needed. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

You could also do a system file check (sfc). Info here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

Please keep us posted.

Gary

 

[justinmorley]

Hmm, I tried the sfc /scannow, and it said nothing was wrong.. something obviously is.

Also, I cannot boot down properly, I have to hard turn off.

I'm not sure what happened, but I don't have any restore points past yesterday.

Looks like I need to just reformat and reinstall.

Oh, do you know if I run the Windows 7 iso at boot, like I would be reinstalling, if there is a "repair" menu? Maybe I could repair whatever is wrong.

 

[limneos]

Windows installation DVD gives an options at the second screen of the setup to Repair Computer, but it mostly has to do with startup issues, not fixing corrupt installations...

I think somethink went wrong during install, if you can re-install, do it to get rid of headaches.

 

[justinmorley]

Yeah - I can restore.
I just have to back everything up.

I took everything off my external HDD because it is clicking.

 

[MasterPhW]

Yeah, have the same problem, it can be fixed, if you enter a path, but you can't move anywhere. Only killing the process and restarting the explorer seems to fix the problem for some time.

 

[Saltgrass]

I only have two thoughts about this, one is your video driver. If you are having problems shutting down, maybe it is related to that.

The second is have you changed the DPI setting for the desktop. I have seen blank windows before and it was related to that. I this case, the inside part of the window was invisible though.

 

[NosferatuX]

Well, for those considering the re-installation, if you're up for it and don't want to waste the work you've done to your system, you could do a Repair Install

 

[quidpro]

Same experience here

It is some bug. It happens on both my desktop and laptop, and yeah, it seems to be related to usb drives. Though I just now got the same behavior after trying to access another partition on the laptop, so I will add trying to access any other "volume". The explorer window will open, and the green "progress" bar will slowly make its way across the breadcrumb/directory field. Subsequent windows will open as blank after that. Killing explorer doesn't seems to work, as it never really "dies". Reboot fixes it. Not an install issue, and I'm 90% sure that reinstalling would just lead to the same thing.

 

[phillyphilphil]

I second quidpro's findings. Happens on my x64 laptop - Dell Studio 15 with a Radeon 3450.

 

[dmex]

I'm 90% sure that reinstalling would just lead to the same thing.

Happens to my comp too, A reinstall will not fix it at all

 

[Airbot]

Try re registering vbscript.dll, jscript.dll, mshtml.dll
Run elevated command prompt
type
regsvr32 vbscript.dll press Enter
regsvr32 jscript.dll press Enter
regsvr32 mshtml.dll press Enter

Sorry, disregard the mshtml.dll, it won't work from IE7 and up.

 

[quidpro]

re-registering

Re-registered the dlls on my desktop running 7, will try the laptop next.

 

[quidpro]

Problem continues

Problem still exists. Re-registering dlls does nothing.
Browsing USB drives, network drives, and even local partitions/volumes seems to cause it to kick in. And it continues on my laptop and 2 desktops I have running Win 7. Wonder what this is about...

I'm grabbing the latest 7 build/leak to see what happens with an upgrade.

Anyone else getting anywhere with this issue? Clues? Guesses?

 

[drsalvaria]

I'm having the very same issue with a Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. P35-DS3R mobo, 2.40 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo and NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS (running the newest Win7 beta drivers).

 

[quidpro]

Just a thought: I have Virtual Clone Drive installed...does anyone else with this problem have this program (or another like it) installed?

 

[drsalvaria]

As a matter of fact, I do have Virtual Clone Drive installed! I wonder if that could be the culprit...

 

[quidpro]

I just uninstalled it on my laptop. It stalled during removal and I ended up booting into safe mode to get rid of it, though I don't know if that was necessary. A plain reboot might have done just as well. I'll update, but I've got a feeling that the virtual drive has something to do with the problem. Virtual Clone Drive itself has worked fine, mounting iso files etc, but maybe this other behavior is related.

I couldn't get any other similar software to install if I remember correctly. Daemon Tools...PowerIso...anyone have any luck with these? Daemon Tools used to be my favorite back in the day, but ever since Vista it seems to have gone downhill...

Windows 7 should have such a feature built in. Then it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Chappy]

Daemon Tools will not work with W7, their virtual S/PDIF driver is incompatible.
PowerISO works fine for me so far but I've yet to mount a drive with it yet.

 

[drsalvaria]

Virtual Clone Drive and Blank Windows?

I've uninstalled Virtual Clone Drive as well. Like quidpro, the uninstaller locked up halfway through the uninstall and the computer rebooted on its own. After the reboot, the uninstall was able to complete. Now I'll see if that makes any difference with the blank window problem.