Member Avatar for p3te844

Ok...

I'm sure you have heard about explorer.exe not loading when users login. Well I'm getting that problem and I was wondering if anybody has any kind of solution to this!? Anything? Any ideas?

Basically, a user logs in with his or hers network login and password and the Desktop Icons do not appear. A work around for this is basically;

Opening up Task Manager > Go to File > New Task > type 'explorer' and then the Desktop loads like it normally should.

The weird thing is that this doesn't happen every time a user logs in, its very inconsistent. It could happen one time and then not happen for such a long time again, that you would forget about the explorer.exe and think the problem just went away.

Whats on our Images

Operating System:
WinXP Pro SP2 - Patched up to Nov.2007 (only patches not loaded on our images are .NET Framework 2 and 3 and software IE 7, and Windows Media Player 11)

Applications:
IE 6 SP1, Corporate Symantec Anti-Virus (Latest Definitions)

I did a clean installed, Windows Updates and then installed the necessary company applications, tweaks here and there, very few registry tweaks. and thats it. We create a Base Image and add on any applications that any specific user might need.

Any Ideas? Could this be something with a Windows Update I installed, corrupted explorer.exe or image.

Much help is needed , Thanks!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by pliSkiNAKE

Dani AI

Generated

Several posters (notably , and ) describe the same intermittent “no desktop / no taskbar after logon” symptom. Below is a short, prioritized troubleshooting checklist that finds the usual causes (bad Winlogon values, injected DLLs/shell extensions, or a logon script/GPO hang) before you reimage machines.

  1. Quick registry sanity checks (backup first). Verify both the machine and user Winlogon keys — the shell should point to explorer.exe and Userinit should point only to userinit.exe (no extra programs). From an elevated command prompt you can query: 
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v Shell
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v Userinit
reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v Shell

Export any key you change. (learn.microsoft.com)

  1. Look for injected DLLs / auto-start hooks. AppInit_DLLs, LoadAppInit_DLLs, IFEO entries and LSA/Winlogon notify hooks can stop or crash Explorer when they load. Use Autoruns to review Winlogon/AppInit/Run/Services entries and disable non-Microsoft ones first; use ShellExView to quickly toggle shell extensions. If AppInit_DLLs or a non‑Microsoft shell extension is present, uncheck it and test. (learn.microsoft.com)

  2. Capture what’s happening at logon. If the problem is intermittent, enable a boot/login capture with Process Monitor or check the Application log for Explorer/Application Error events (Event ID 1000) to find the faulting module. Also test logons with a fresh local account (isolates profile/GPO) and try reproducing on an image without your AV to see if an AV update correlates. For domain environments, remember userinit runs logon scripts and a hung script or network restore can delay/stop Explorer. (learn.microsoft.com)

Notes: always export keys before editing, check AV quarantine/logs, and run these checks on a representative test VM before rolling changes. If these steps don’t isolate the cause, capture Procmon + Event logs and post the faulting DLL or error details — that will point to the specific component to remove or update.

Recommended Answers

All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for sureshsigera

Did you change the name of the original explorer.exe, because as far as i know when ever you login to windows explorer.exe must load to your memory if not may be you explorer.exe if crash.

as i know you can do 2 things..

1. Restart the windows before it's comming to the login screen press CTRL+ALT+DEL then run a new task as a explorer.exe

2. Get a windows xp cd and repair the current windows.

Member Avatar for p3te844

Don't forget this happens once in a while after I have reformatted a HDD and installed WinXP and the updates from scratch. Did not touch the explorer.exe file. I wonder if it has to do with NTUSER.DAT?? Anybody any thoughts

Member Avatar for tronoku

I am having the same problem with my explorer not loading. However when i go to ctrl alt del, run, explorer.exe explorer will load and then quit out of the processes. The same thing happens in safemode, and when i am logged in as administrator.

I have tried pretty much everything including:
/cfm scannow with the windows cd.
/chkdsk /f /r
deleting all startup items from registry

The only thing i can think of is that perhaps Norton or Panda antivirus may have marked explorer as a virus and will not allow it to load. I cannot find this out becaus I have no way of even loading the antivirus.

I would like to avoid reformatting my HD as there is sensitive information (pics docs etc) and i have no way of getting this info off of my hard drive.

Member Avatar for p3te844

Yea, It could be something with Norton. We run Symantec Anti-Virus Corporate Edt. with the latest definitions.

Its annoying how you can login 100 times with the same user name and then another time login and have explorer.exe not loading. There is an windows update that updates the version of the explorer.exe file. KB938828.

Changes the versions to .3156 so maybe its a windows update that could cause this, im not sure,still researching and troubleshooting this issue myself. Anybody else with this problem!?

Member Avatar for pliSkiNAKE

I am having the EXACT same problem. Once in a while (yes ONCE IN A WHILE, NOT CONSISTANT) I will log into the computer and nothing will be on my desktop: no icons, no start bar. I have to either log out and log back in or CTRL+ALT+DEL --> Run --> explorer. I was keeping tabs on when it happened and thought it was related to time.

I thought time because it would happen first thing in the morning (when my computer was logged off all night but never happened after freshly logging out and then logging back in within a short amount of time. However, I debunked this theory because the interval that it occurred increased in time. Now it happens around three times a week or so. I also believe it started happening right after Symantec Anti-Virus was updated. I don't think I remember seeing any Windows Update though.

Any ideas or solutions yet?

Member Avatar for tronoku

I still have no clue what caused this or how to fix it.

I ended up reformatting and installing sp2.

Member Avatar for pliSkiNAKE

Unfortunately that won't work for me. It isn't just my PC but almost every PC in the office, along with other offices. I am still googling for answers though. I wish there was an easy way to understand why it didn't run, why so inconsistent. The search continues

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