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Explorer.exe error - Shell stopped

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by deafinball

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I am having an issue that I can't seem to resolve! I use the windows explorer (file cabinet) to assess my files. After a few minutes I get an error message that says "explorer.exe has generated errors and will be closed by windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log has been created." When I go into the event viewer this is what it says "The shell stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was restarted.

I'm stumped and so is the rest of my IT department. HELP!!!!!

6 replies

by kuhlio

This could be caused by a number of things. In order to better answer the question though, a little more background is needed. Have you made any recent changes to the system (install new hardware or software, changed settings, etc). If you have, you may be able to at least narrow down the problem to something more specific.

by shanghai sam

In WIN2K the error could be generated by a Virus or Hardware problem

There should be a Stop and the hexidecimal number that should point to the problem device,check details for futher info as to created the problem

If you have recently added new hardware,remove and retest

Make sure that device drivers are upto date

Check the System for Viruses

Check for recently added Software

The problem could be that you were accessing memory that was already in use by another operation thathad not released the operation cleanly

Is this an operation that may have administrative priviligies applied to it,this would apply to software changes.

by curlergirl

Did you by any chance recently install IE 6.0? I had a Win2K Pro workstation that started doing this immediately after installing IE 6.0, so I uninstalled 6.0 and went back to 5.5 SP2 and all is well. I have also seen this happen very occasionallycaused by other misbehaving programs - usually rebooting fixes the problem. Hope this helps!

by dklippert

This problem pops up every once in awhile, without any definitive solution. Here are some suggestions that may or may not apply in your circumstances:

You might try Control Panel|Add/ Remove Programs|IE5|Change/ Remove|Repair

From MS
"To work around this behavior, remove Novell Distributed Print Services version4.7."

"To resolve this issue, remove Homesite or Cold Fusion, restart the computer, and then verify that the following files have been removed from the computer:

- Cfshellftprds.dll

- Cfssvradmin.dll"

by joseph moore

To add to DKlippert's answers:
There was also a known problem in Windows Explorer that was fixed in Service Pack 2. It was a conflict when browsing machines that did not have anything shared out.
So, the obvious answer will now be stated: have you tried upgrading the Service Pack on this machine?
hope this helps.

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