Windows 7 Bug?

[mikeyo]

Hi

I am using Windows 7 X64 Ultimate (clean install).
When opening up lots (75-80) of Windows Explorer Windows using the short key combination (WINDOWS KEY & E), I manage to crash Explorer.exe every time.
I suspect this must be a bug that is currently undetected as I cant find any info about it on the web.

Can everyone here have a go and try to reproduce the bug?

Thanks.

 

[Bill2]

Why do need to open 75-80 Explorer windows???!!!

 

[mikeyo]

Why do need to open 75-80 Explorer windows???!!!

That's not the point, the point is that it crashes Win7, at least it does for me on multiple machines, some clean installs, some not. Tried it?

 

[pparks1]

Yes, mine crapped out at exactly 80 explorer Windows with Ctrl-E. Running 64-bit Ultimate with 8GB of RAM. Just got a cursor and the spinning blue wheel.

 

[Win7User512]

Maybe it is a feature that prevents malware from opening so many windows.

 

[CarlTR6]

A bug? Maybe, maybe not. How many instances do you think should be opened at one time? Infinite? Everything has limits.

I pick up a vibration on my motorcycle at about 105 mph. Is that a bug? So may factors are involved at that speed - the trueness of the tires, tire balance, tire wear patterns, road/track surface, suspension settings, etc. I am close to the upper limit at that speed; close to the limit for which my bike was designed. That doesn't make it a bug or defect.

 

[Product FRED]

A bug? Maybe, maybe not. How many instances do you think should be opened at one time? Infinite? Everything has limits.

I pick up a vibration on my motorcycle at about 105 mph. Is that a bug? So may factors are involved at that speed - the trueness of the tires, tire balance, tire wear patterns, road/track surface, suspension settings, etc. I am close to the upper limit at that speed; close to the limit for which my bike was designed. That doesn't make it a bug or defect.

+1, I say it's a limitation rather than a bug.

 

[fseal]

It may be possibly unfortunate that windows does not do a better job of protecting itself from running out of resources but yes that's the way it is. Open 80 instances of ANYTHING and you will probably drag windows down to a crawl or even a full stallout as everything is fighting for the last remaning byte of ram or window handle.

 

[dunfiddlin]

Why do need to open 75-80 Explorer windows???!!!

That's not the point, the point is that it crashes Win7, at least it does for me on multiple machines, some clean installs, some not. Tried it?

Of course it's the point! If you genuinely need that many Explorer windows open then you're at least asking a reasonable question. If you're just doing something stupid to see how long it takes to break then you're just being a pain in the posterior and I've got a very nice picture of a troll (with very un-nice words!) which will be appearing here shortly!

 

[DeaconFrost]

If you run out of gas, your car will be useless as well, so if you do anything to run out of memory, you'll likely have an issue. I wouldn't call this a bug, I'd call it a system limitation. But it isn't likely an issue for anyone other than those trying to duplicate it.

 

[Product FRED]

If you run out of gas, your car will be useless as well, so if you do anything to run out of memory, you'll likely have an issue. I wouldn't call this a bug, I'd call it a system limitation. But it isn't likely an issue for anyone other than those trying to duplicate it.

Exactly. Like how 32-bit systems can't handle more than ~3.5 GB of RAM. It's not a bug, it's just the way the system works.

 

[pparks1]

It may be possibly unfortunate that windows does not do a better job of protecting itself from running out of resources but yes that's the way it is. Open 80 instances of ANYTHING and you will probably drag windows down to a crawl or even a full stallout as everything is fighting for the last remaning byte of ram or window handle.

However, in this case, it's not the system running out of typical resources. Once I had 75 Explorer Windows opened, I checked my CPU, memory and everything else and my box was more or less idle with less than 35% of the ram consumed. I opened up 5 more and it just hung.

When attempting to close the open windows, the box hung. When I checked task manager I only had 1 explorer.exe running consuming about 70MB of RAM. I ended process on that process and now my box is just sitting there with the desktop background with no icons, no start menu, nothing else. Hard drive is doing nothing. Box is totally hung.

So, while nothing most people would ever see in a million years...still interesting and could probably be handled a bit more gracefully.

 

[Win7User512]

Perhaps you have reached the limited number of processes across the OS, not just Explorer.

Who knows, maybe the legacy code is still there that limits it despite having 24GB of RAM and 6-Core processors.

 

[mikeyo]

It may be possibly unfortunate that windows does not do a better job of protecting itself from running out of resources but yes that's the way it is. Open 80 instances of ANYTHING and you will probably drag windows down to a crawl or even a full stallout as everything is fighting for the last remaning byte of ram or window handle.

However, in this case, it's not the system running out of typical resources. Once I had 75 Explorer Windows opened, I checked my CPU, memory and everything else and my box was more or less idle with less than 35% of the ram consumed. I opened up 5 more and it just hung.

When attempting to close the open windows, the box hung. When I checked task manager I only had 1 explorer.exe running consuming about 70MB of RAM. I ended process on that process and now my box is just sitting there with the desktop background with no icons, no start menu, nothing else. Hard drive is doing nothing. Box is totally hung.

So, while nothing most people would ever see in a million years...still interesting and could probably be handled a bit more gracefully.

agreed, it could be handled in a much better way, rather than crapping out and causing the whole system to be unstable.

I still think it's a bug and NOT a feature. Also, whilst 75 explorer windows sounds like a lot, in the days of ssds, 24gb mem, 6 core processors, why shouldnt the OS handle it? Answers on a postcard....

 

[DeaconFrost]

why shouldnt the OS handle it? Answers on a postcard....

Simple....because the person using the system couldn't handle it.

 

[mikeyo]

If you run out of gas, your car will be useless as well, so if you do anything to run out of memory, you'll likely have an issue. I wouldn't call this a bug, I'd call it a system limitation. But it isn't likely an issue for anyone other than those trying to duplicate it.

Exactly. Like how 32-bit systems can't handle more than ~3.5 GB of RAM. It's not a bug, it's just the way the system works.

No, it's not a resource issue. The Explorer.exe process climbs to around 200MB at around 75 open windows... The system is still lightening fast but as soon as you hit the 76th Window, BANG the desktop corrupts, explorer crashes and you're led to believe that your i7 is now a 486 in disguise... Call that a feature? Thought not.

 

[mikeyo]

why shouldnt the OS handle it? Answers on a postcard....

Simple....because the person using the system couldn't handle it.

clap, clap, clap....

 

[Product FRED]

I still don't see why this deserves an entire debate. Most people don't need 75-80 explorer Windows open.

 

[Kari]

I found more bugs in Windows 7. When I run programs simultaneously from several external USB HD's and then constatly plug and unplug all USB cables, some programs stop running.

Another bug I found, using my test machine, is that when I cut the power from the main switch when Windows is booting, after 20 or 30 retries Windows can no longer read my HD.

All these bugs, why can't they give us a working OS?

 

[Jonathan_King]

I found more bugs in Windows 7. When I run programs simultaneously from several external USB HD's and then constatly plug and unplug all USB cables, some programs stop running.

Another bug I found, using my test machine, is that when I cut the power from the main switch when Windows is booting, after 20 or 30 retries Windows can no longer read my HD.

All these bugs, why can't they give us a working OS?

LOL!