explorer.exe encountered a problem !

[D_block]

explorer.exe encountered a problem and needs to close. This is an error msg that i got after scannin a laptop which was loaded with viruses. Now im encountering this problem before it loads the desktop, right after the log in screen. I cannot launch task manager either i get a similar error msg.

I tried booting in safe mode and using ctrl+alt+del to access task manager, which works. then i go to file and use the sort of rum command box there and launch msconfig which loads and from there i use system restore... system then restores till before the AV' was installed but the problem still persists !!!

what else can i do , right now im thinkin of using my linux live cd's to retrieve important documents and restore the laptop back to the factorey settings with the cd provided !!

Any suggestions ?

[angrypenguin]

That would probably be the best way to go I reckon. Another option may be to try to repair XP, but as far as I know you'll need a proper XP CD for that (not a manufacturer supplied "Recovery" CD).

The time that it would probably take to fix your current system, you could probably reinstall half a dozen times!

[D_block]

The owner ended up using the recovery cd, he lost all his data also that i was goin to recover for him ... oh well. will still want to know some other ways around this problem incase i encounter it again on a later date

[JedMeister]

You can sometimes do a repair of XP, there was a link on here to a great tutorial on how to do that, hang on I'll see if I can find it.......

Ok here it is: have a good read here and let us know how you go!

[Yankee85]

try sfc /scannow

[cluberti]

You could download and install userdump, create a rule that dumps explorer.exe every time it crashes, and then the next time it occurs perhaps upload it somewhere we can look at it. It would save you a rebuild if the problem is fixable. Note that if you cannot run explorer.exe, you'll probably have to open safe mode with networking and use the task manager to start iexplore.exe to download the file, and the task manager again to run the installer. Here's how to get it working.

1. Download and run UserModeProcessDumper8_1_2929_5.exe (from the link above) to extract the setup for the tool.

2. Run the setup.exe from the x86 folder where you extracted in step 1 (I'm assuming this is an x86 copy of XP), making sure to select the "Enable 'Dump on Process Termination' feature" option when prompted during setup.

3. When prompted "Do you want setup to take you there..." after the install is complete, click the "Yes' button to open the Process Dumper applet.

4. Click the "New..." button, and enter "explorer.exe" (without the quotes) in the "Application name:" box, then click OK.

5. Click the "Rules..." button.

6. Click the "Use custom rules" radio buton, click the "All Exceptions" box, change the "Dump file folder:" box to point to a temporary directory (other than C:\Windows) to store the dump files generated, and click the "Monitor Process Exit" box and select the "Complete" radio button for "MiniDump Type:" underneath. Then click "OK" to finish.

Reboot, and when explorer crashes, you should have at least one .dmp file in the directory you typed into the "Dump file folder:" box in step 6. Compress and upload, and we can take a look.