Member Avatar for frankvfox

Windows Server 2008 host with Vista Ultimate workstation. Both 64 bit. Double-clicking shortcut on workstation shows busy wheel spinning about a second before shutting off. A minute or so later a message appears announcing "<Shortcut Name> has stopped working." No other explanations, dialog boxes, etc.

I've seen other threads on this same subject going back a few years. Nobody has offered a fix for this that I can find! Where is Microsoft on this? I've looked in MSDN but can't find anything so far.

Is this the forum that will solve the puzzle?

Frank Fox
Hendersonville, TN

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Dani AI

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Quick, focused checklist that ties the existing suggestions together and shows what to do next.

As suggested, start with the client-side Application log and Reliability Monitor and capture the full "Application Error" entry: note the Faulting Application, Faulting Module, and Exception Code. Those three fields usually tell whether the crash is a missing runtime/COM issue, an access violation, or a third‑party DLL problem. raised the shortcut creation — check the shortcut's working folder (the "Start in" field) and whether the app expects a local install. 's reinstall idea is valid when registry entries or registered COM components are missing on the client.

Prioritized troubleshooting (do these in order):

  • Reproduce while watching Reliability Monitor and Event Viewer; copy the exact faulting module name and exception code.
  • Run the EXE from a local copy on the workstation. If it works locally, the problem is missing client-side components or a working-directory issue.
  • Use Process Monitor (Sysinternals) filtered to the process name to spot "NAME NOT FOUND" or "ACCESS DENIED" on DLLs, config files or registry keys.
  • Use Dependency Walker (or the modern alternatives) to find missing DLLs or side‑by‑side manifest errors and install the needed VC++/runtime packages or register the COM DLLs.
  • Try running elevated and test DEP: add the EXE to DEP exceptions temporarily to see if the crash changes behavior.
  • If the app must run on the server (it expects server-local resources), publish it via RemoteApp/Remote Desktop rather than launching the binary over SMB.

If the crash remains opaque, capture a user-mode dump with ProcDump and analyze with WinDbg or a debugger to see the failing module and call stack. Example ProcDump usage:

procdump -e -ma -w MyApp.exe C:\CrashDumps

A faulting third‑party DLL or an access violation (0xc0000005) points to a missing runtime, incompatible bitness, or a security/AV block — those are the fixes to try next.

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Member Avatar for frankvfox

I forgot to mention the application is resident on the server and the shortcut on the server desktop runs fine.

Frank Fox
Hendersonville, TN

Member Avatar for gurukid22

How did you add the sortcut. In the shortcut properties the location should include the full path

\\servername\severshare\program.exe

Not

C:program files\program.exe

Member Avatar for frankvfox

Thanks for responding. I have used the full path as you show it.

This has to be something in Vista. I'm being slapped in the face by this OS at almost every turn. I'm sorry I have it. I was hoping somebody from Microsoft had a quick fix.

Frank Fox
Hendersonville, TN

Member Avatar for ITTOBE

Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing the program?

I had a problem similar to this and it only worked when I uninstalled and reinstalled the program. You could also look into upgrading the program.

Good luck!

Member Avatar for Member #533276

Please check the eventviewer on the server and the client...
There might be some useful information for you....
Its possible a configuration/permission problem.

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