explorer.exe not starting -- no error messages

Question

I am installing a brand new Optilex GX620. After one of the numerous reboots related to configuration, joining our NT domain, etc. EXPLORER.EXE did not start. Since that moment in time, it does not matter what account I use to login to the system; local administrator, local user, domain adminstrator, etc. EXPLORER does not start. All you get is the wallpaper.

If you start the task manager, with CNT-ALT-DEL, you can File->Run-> "explorer" and everything will then start normally and operate normally. I've "repaired" the installation with the distribution CDs and reinstalled all of the patches to no effect. Safe mode behaves in exactly the same manner.

The only problem with the system is this failure of c:\windows\explorer.exe to start normally upon login. Once started manually, everything works correctly.

Needless to say, I don't want to release this system to a user until I fix this problem.

Is there a registry entry or something simple that I missing?

Bob

chuket · Answer

revc

Using regedit navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

See that you have the following:

shell REG_SZ Explorer.exe

Just a guess.

revc · Answer

@chuket wrote:

revc

Using regedit navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

See that you have the following:

shell REG_SZ Explorer.exe

Just a guess.

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, that registry entry was already correct. I changed it to something else and reset it and logged off. I logged in as a local user and explorer did not start.

Note: the only event log entries were related to "IMAPI CD-Burning COM service" starting and stopping. No errors of any type.

mombodog · Answer

I did some reading at the microsoft knowledge base, the only fix for this problem is to re-install windows, unfortunately.

http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?spid=6794&query=explorer.exe&catalog=LCID%3D1033&pwt=false&title=false&kt=ALL&mdt=0&comm=1&ast=1&ast=2&ast=3&mode=a&x=12&y=13

revc · Answer

Unfortunately, every one of those knowledgebase articles deal with explorer generating an error message. I don't see any errors during login or recorded in the event logs. Manually envoking explorer works, also without error. That is why I suspect that it is a registry setting.

Oh well, looks like I'll have to "restore" from the distribution disk.... Yuck. Hopefully, it won't happen again, given that I do not know what caused it in the first place.

mombodog · Answer

Actually it says it 'may' cause an error message.

revc · Answer

Actually it says it 'may' cause an error message. LOL - You are correct. That said, I did a complete reinstallation of the OS yesterday and things appear to be working again. I don't like going that route simply because I don't know what 'bit me'. Without knowing the original cause, I don't know what to do to prevent it from happening again. Anyway, thanks for responding. Good luck to you. Bob

Associate-Consu · Answer

I have just found for the first time ever this exact problem.

The problem occurred on a Dell Optiplex SX280 that had been running fine for the last year and a half.

The worrying thing is that no changes had been made to this system, the only thing I beleive that could have happened is that the autoupdate servive has caused a corruption somewhere.

I think we could be seeing this problem on other PC's very shorty.

I'm am going to force an update on this system to see if it resoves the problem. You never know, MS may have spotted the problem already and created a fix!

Andy Coggin.

revc · Answer

@Associate-Consultants wrote:

The worrying thing is that no changes had been made to this system, the only thing I beleive that could have happened is that the autoupdate servive has caused a corruption somewhere.

I think we could be seeing this problem on other PC's very shorty.

Boy, I really hope not....

belblue · Answer

This seems to be an old topic but maybe someone can help. Both my latitude d600 and now my dimension e510 have started this explorer.exe initialization failure without an error message, my laptop after installing sp2 in both January and July, and my desktop out of the blue (it has been out of the box for 3 weeks and really nothing other than windows updates have been installed on it). When it first started I ghosted the drive, but the behavior only ceased for about 4 days (during which I had to redownload the updates from after august 1st) before resuming.

Explorer.exe fails to initialize unless the process is ended and manually restarted multiple times (usually 2 to 5 times). Otherwise it simply sits there.

Is reinstalling Windows XP from disk a successful solution (I have the sp2 disk)?

revc · Answer

>Is reinstalling Windows XP from disk a successful solution (I have the sp2 disk)?      Reinstalling the OS worked for me and I have not had a repeat of the problem since then...

andres28 · Answer

Hi I was hoping that you could help me.  I am installing XP on new Optiplex 745s.  I have about 2 dozen or so.  Some of them are having this problem and others aren't.  I built an image off of one of them then pushed that image to the rest using first Windows PE and ImageX, then using Ghost.  The problem still existed.  I then tried running sfc /scannow to replace the explorer.exe in case it was corrupted.  That didn't work either.  Finally in a last ditch effort I completely wiped the hard drive and reinstalled a fresh copy with all extra programs that we use.  I'm still having the same problem.  By now the only thing I can think of is that there is some software that we installed that is causing Explorer.exe not to start but since we have the same software on other machines I tend to rule that out.  The other thing that it could be is that there is a problem in the design of the Optiplex model.  If you could help me I would really appreciate any advice.   Thank you

belblue · Answer

I don't know how much it will help, but this is what I found (and I haven't read the thread in a while, so please excuse redundancy).

For my system (Dimension E510, XP Pro) I found that repairing WIndows via the installation cd was most effective (as suggested by others in the thread). Ghost images were completely uneffective in removing the problem.

As, at the time, the hard drive contained only Windows and Microsoft Office (with no apparent conflicts), and I noticed that explorer malfunctioned after large updates through Win Update, I resorted to individually installing updates through the site to see if one (or more) would cause the issue. Needless to say, I was able to install all of them with no problem, only to have explorer malfunction a week or so later.

Installing SP2 (edit: on the Latitude D600) seemed to have some benefit, as I only had to repair Windows once or twice afterwards. Explorer does run a bit slow in start-up now on both, but it is initializing properly. I also do not use the auto-update system anymore (I let it tell me when updates are available, and go to the site to install them).

Message Edited by belblue on 11-21-2007 02:46 PM

andres28 · Answer

Thanks for the response. But I've already repaired from the CD as well as a complete wipe and reinstall. Neither worked. The problem has gone down since I did the repair but it hasn't gone away. The only thing I can think of is that maybe there is a problem with the software that's going on the computer. But since we use the same software on all the other computers I tend to think this is not the case. I did find a post that suggested that the problem might be with the logon scripts used through Group Policy. I haven't been able to do any testing to that effect but when I do get a chance, maybe that will shed some light on this. Do you think that's a possibility? Again, thank you so much for your help.

Message Edited by andres28 on 11-23-2007 09:08 AM

jellowood · Answer

I have the same issue with our Latitude D630's. Used Dell OEM image and put on our standard software that works on other models and about every 20-40 reboots explorer.exe won't start. No icons-just blue background no errors. Can manually start it fine and everything comes. I've even tried killing processes running under task manager and can't figure out what's causing this. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone!! : ) BTW its XP w/SP2 with all the critical MS updates installed. MS Office 2003, Symantec Antivirus Corp edition 10.1.6, Symantec PCAnywhere and Fiberlink Remote VPN software.

Windows General

explorer.exe not starting -- no error messages

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