explorer.exe error

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hey guys. my flatmates laptop is coming up with an error when loading windows for explorer.exe. mentioning shell.dll in the error details. if i ask it to NOT send an error report, DR WAtson postmortem debugger. running in safe mode doesnt cause any problems, but in normal mode after you close the error boxes, the machine refuses to load any further.

i think i may try getting hold of shell.dll and (possibly) explorer.exe and transplanting them onto the machine to see if that makes a difference, but any of you guys got any suggestions?

ive spoken to him, and apparently he hasnt installed anything or done anything different regarding this.

it COULD be a virus i suppose, in which case ill run it in safe mode with networking and run a virus scan from my machine.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Fergal

 

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I've had this before, the responce i got from a helpsite was:



Dear Expert,

We recently ran Ad-Aware, which to our dismay removed the file shell.dll as well as it's registry entries. Replacing the file alone does not solve the problem as the regisry settings are absent. To make matters worse, shell.dll does not seem to contain any registration information in itself.

How does one go about registering this dll again?

Many thanks,

AND

14-90 Revised 9/27/04 em
1. Open Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) and locate the Windows
folder. Click on the plus (+) sign in from of your C: drive and scrolling
down.
2. Once you’ve located the Windows folder double click on it. You will then
see the system folder and the systems32 folders.
3. Click on the System folder and locate the shell.dll file to the right and right
click on the “shell.dll” file and choose copy.
4. Place the cursor over System32 folder and right click and select paste.
5. You have now successfully copied the “shell.dll” file from the System
folder to the System32 folder. Restart your PC.
(NOTE: If this does not resolve the problem you may have a virus on your PC)
HOW TO CORRECT THE “CANNOT FIND SHELL.DLL” ERROR MESSAGE

This may help, I ran an adaware program which removed this file
which is app a windows reg file?

 

i transferred shell.dll from my pc to his with no success - i copied them from both the system and system32 folders, to no avail. gonna try and run a virus scan on the pc, see what that throws up

 

Shell.dll for Windows XP
Author: Microsoft Download Location Report this Link as Broken
License: Microsoft's Shell.dll Download Link
Operating System: Windows XP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

File Description:

Many infections delete the Shell.dll. This is a replacement shell.dll file that you can download and use in case yours was deleted.

Usage Information:

Download this file, extract it, and copy it into both c:\windows\system and c:\windows\system32.


http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/files/shellxp.php

 

I had a similar problem on my work PC. It had gotten some sort of bug and the result was windows explorer refused to open. I cleaned the PC within an inch of it's life but couldn't fix the problem. Finally, I got smart and restored my PC to a point prior to when the damage had been done by the virus. Works like a charm now.

To restore your system to a previous point, go to: Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. When you get to the restore window, click Restore my computer to an earlier time.

I don't know if this will apply in your situation but it's worth a shot. Hope it helps.

 

unfortunately this isnt windows explorer but explorer.exe - one of the base GUI files. and i was gonna restore but he doesnt have restore running on the pc - so no restore points. ive run the a/v software in safe mode and found a few virii, still running it now, but ill see what happens after.

the final option is to back up the essential files and throw in the recovery cd

Fergal

 

Moral of the story...have restore running. ;)

 

theres a problem there too AJ. neither of us actually HAS XP install disks, we only have recovery disks which are just a ghost of the basic drive. they wont work for the file repairs.

Fergal

 

I woke up this afternoon with a FLASH of inspiration. i wanted to replace explorer.exe but couldnt figure out how to since its integral to the GUI (this is the point where someone tells me how i can get a CLI without loading the GUI in safe mode first, lol), if a create a batch file to replace the exe BEFORE the gui starts to load that should work. i just need to make sure i load it into the correct loadup file. which im not sure of, can anyone point out the correct file?

Thanks
Fergal

 

im making life more complicated for myself, lol. in safe mode the file can be replaced without bother. and here was me thinking that, since its running even during safe mode, the file cant be touched! lol. it didnt work though.

Damn. if i had a bloody copy of xp i could run the file checker. why dont microsoft produce a copy of the OS which contains none of the files required to install the OS, but all the files that the program needs to run, so that techs could verify files without actually possessing the installation disks

Sigh

 

This is way out of my line, but would something like this on the CLI work to check files?

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...p/all/proddocs/en-us/system_file_checker.mspx

 

yeah thats the program trip. but the problem with it is that, if there ARE dodgy files, it seeks to replace them using copies held on the installation cd, and recovery CD's dont count for this!

 

well..... im kinda stumped on this one. sfc wont work either. the error relates to the rpc server, looking on the knowledge base which looks perfect, but its only for 2k machines and doesnt relate to xp machines (i tried it anyways). its been running for over a year now, and could probably do with a system restore to be honest. so ill most likely just dump the necessary files onto my machine and restore it from there

Fergal

 

Yet another update here:

Well i installed and ran registry and startup cleaning programs to no avail, the problem was still occurring!

however, on a whim i created a new user account and loaded that no problems!

so i think im going to recommend that he just create a new user acc and transfer his My Documents folder across to the new acc then delete the old one. this will keep all the files and documents no problems.

its obviously something within his startup which is causing the problems.

Fergal

 

Eligant workaround. Good job, Fergal.