{"id":45748,"date":"2023-05-13T18:26:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T12:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=45748"},"modified":"2023-05-13T21:45:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T16:15:52","slug":"start-clean-explorer-disable-extensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/start-clean-explorer-disable-extensions\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start Explorer.exe Cleanly by Disabling Third-party Modules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Explorer.exe process loads many DLLs, including some third-party shell extension DLLs. The shell extensions installed on the computer load whenever Explorer.exe is started. A buggy DLL may sometimes cause problems in File Explorer — such as freeze issues, crashes, or other unusual behavior in the Explorer shell. In most cases, a third-party shell extension will be the culprit.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For example, recently, many users faced an issue where clicking on a .zip file froze the File Explorer. The culprit turned out to be Carbonite. You can read more about the problem in this link: Windows 11 zipped folders \/ files immediately crashes File – Microsoft Community<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unless the Event log (or Reliability Monitor<\/a>) shows the faulting module name, narrowing down the program\/module is difficult.<\/p>\n

In the following example, a faulting module was displayed.<\/p>\n

\"reliability<\/p>\n

However, in another case, the module name wasn’t mentioned. It’s a freeze issue, whereas the above was an APPCRASH.<\/p>\n

\"reliability<\/p>\n

In some cases, shell32.dll<\/code>\u00a0or shcore.dll<\/code> (both are built-in Windows modules) will appear in the “Faulting Module name” field for Explorer.exe crashes. Although the Reliability History page mentions a Windows module as the faulting module, in most cases, the built-in Windows DLLs aren’t the problem; the root cause is something else.<\/p>\n

To diagnose such issues in the Explorer environment, start a clean install of Explorer.exe by disabling third-party shell extensions. Doing so blocks third-party context menu handlers, preview handlers, thumbnail handlers, and every other type of shell extension from loading. This is an excellent diagnostic method to pinpoint the Explorer issues.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> This is similar to my other post, Slow Right Click and Crashes Caused by Shell Extensions<\/a>. However, in this article, we disable all shell extensions, not just the context menu handlers.<\/div>\n

How to Start a Clean Instance of Explorer<\/h2>\n

You can start a clean Explorer.exe instance by disabling the non-Microsoft shell extensions using ShellExView, Autoruns, or other tools. Let’s see how to accomplish the task using ShellExView.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Download ShellExView 64-bit from Nirsoft.net<\/a>, and run it.<\/li>\n
  2. From the Options menu, enable “Hide All Microsoft Extensions.”\n

    \"start<\/li>\n

  3. Only the non-Microsoft shell extensions will appear in the listing. Select all the entries, right-click, and click “Disable Selected Items.”\n

    \"start<\/li>\n

  4. Click Yes when you see the message: Do you want to disable the selected items?<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Close ShellExView.<\/li>\n
  6. Log off and log back in.\n
    Note: Although you can press Ctrl + E in ShellExView to restart Explorer, it’s better to log off and back in so that Explorer terminates gracefully during log off.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    After a fresh login, most of the performance issues you’ve been facing in Explorer should be fixed.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Determine what is causing the problem after you start a clean Explorer.exe instance<\/h3>\n

    Suppose your problem does not occur after the above procedure. In that case, you can determine which shell extension is causing the problem by launching ShellExView, systematically turning the shell extensions on, and restarting Explorer. While turning on a single shell extension and restarting Explorer (Ctrl<\/kbd> + E<\/kbd>) each time will eventually find the problematic DLL, the most efficient way to do this is to test half of them at a time, thus eliminating half of the items as the potential cause with each reboot of the computer. Repeat this process until you’ve isolated the problem.<\/p>\n

    If you narrowed down the offending shell extension, please post the info (the OS version, the Module version, etc.) in the comments section below so that it will help others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Explorer.exe process loads many DLLs, including some third-party shell extension DLLs. The shell extensions installed on the computer load whenever Explorer.exe is started. A buggy DLL may sometimes cause problems in File Explorer — such as freeze issues, crashes, or other unusual behavior in the Explorer shell. In most cases, a third-party shell extension … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[761],"class_list":["post-45748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-utilities","category-windows","tag-shellexview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3105,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/troubleshoot-explorer-crashes-checklist\/","url_meta":{"origin":45748,"position":0},"title":"Explorer.exe Crash Troubleshooting Tips","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Does Explorer crash and restart when you open a folder window or right-click a file or folder? This post tells you how to troubleshoot Explorer crashes which sometimes seriously affect our workflow. When the Explorer shell crashes, the taskbar vanishes, and the desktop remains blank for a moment while the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/explorer-crash-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/explorer-crash-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/explorer-crash-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9691,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-slow-right-click-crashes-shell-extensions\/","url_meta":{"origin":45748,"position":1},"title":"[Fix] Slow Right Click and Crashes Caused by Shell Extensions","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When you right-click on a file or folder on some computers, the context menu may take many seconds to appear. This article tells you how to fix the slow right-click issues and other context menu handler shell extension problems in Windows. Here are some of the symptoms you may be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Utilities"","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"eset context menu windows 11","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/eset-w11-fast-context-menu-broken.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25702,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/get-back-windows-10-ribbon-ui-windows-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":45748,"position":2},"title":"Get Back Windows 10 Ribbon UI in Windows 11 File Explorer","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The File Explorer in Windows 11 has a new\/modern ribbon interface with small icons (no caption text underneath). The new ribbon interface may look bland and uncomfortable for new users who have upgraded to Windows 11 from Windows 10 or earlier. Luckily, there are many different ways to get back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 11"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 11","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-11\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"get ribbon script winlogon shell","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/winlogon-replace-ribbon-script.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9397,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-or-folders-not-refreshing-automatically-in-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":45748,"position":3},"title":"Folders not refreshing automatically in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In File Explorer or on the desktop, when you create, delete, rename, or move a file or folder, the folder view does not refresh automatically to reflect the action. To see the changes, the user must press the F5 button on the keyboard, or right-click on the desktop or folder\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cleanly restart explorer via task manager","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/exit-restart-explorer-task-manager.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/exit-restart-explorer-task-manager.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/exit-restart-explorer-task-manager.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4254,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/show-process-id-file-explorer-title-bar-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":45748,"position":4},"title":"Show Process ID in File Explorer Title Bar in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a hidden registry setting in Windows 10, which when enabled shows the explorer.exe Process ID (PID) in File Explorer title bar, and tells if a folder window is running under the shell process, or as a separate process.Show Process ID in File ExplorerStart Regedit.exe and go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\ExplorerCreate a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"show process id explorer title bar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/explorer-show-processid-title-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9274,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/folder-names-truncated-after-dot-period-explorer\/","url_meta":{"origin":45748,"position":5},"title":"Folder Names Truncated after the Dot (Period) in Explorer","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"If folder names containing one or more dot (.) in the name are truncated in Explorer, this may have to do with third-party shell extensions or corrupted folder view settings. For example, if you have folders like the ones below, with one or more dots or periods ( . )\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/folder-names-truncated-period-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/folder-names-truncated-period-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/folder-names-truncated-period-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}