Windows Explorer crashes/quits in Folders view

SteveW · 9th June 2003

When I use Windows Explorer in single pane view, all is well, except I hate single pane view. When I click Folders view, clicking on a folder in the left pane induces explorer.exe to "generate errors" and quit.

After this, Norton Disk Doctor usually reports file system problems, so I am forced to run chkdsk /F numerous times and then NDD again just to make sure (chkdsk /F /V doesn't actually tell you if it finds anything wrong or fixes anything even though /V is on.)

(Parenthetically, why can't NDD fix disk errors like in previous OSs? It merely suggests you run chkdsk!! Why can't chkdsk fix errors without a restart? Why doesn't chkdsk /V result in messages even though it is obviously fixing things? This is lame.)

This happened before I installed SP3. SP3 didn't make it any better. Other stuff that didn't help:
- defragmented the disk
- installed a second drive and put IE temp space and Windows page file there

A similar thread started by pops139 called
"Clicking on folder in Windows Explorer closes explorer" didn't really result in much info.

Hardware: Compaq Deskpro EN, PIII 866, 512 MB RAM,
15 GB primary disk (12% free), 120 GB secondary disk.
Software: Windows 2000 Professional SP3

Thanks for your help,
SteveW

Newt · 10th June 2003

chkdsk /f or the more exaustive chkdsk /r will do fine with the OS running if done on any drive that isn't either your system drive or housing part of the operating system (like a page file).

Previous OS versions just said they did when they didn't on certain files. If you wanted a really complete scan/fix you had to boot to DOS (as in reboot and F8 then chose MS-DOS). Then none of the GUI files would be in use and would actually be checked and fixed.

2K just doesn't lie about it and doesn't do a partial scan/repair while saying it did the whole thing.

As to your WE issue, have you tried start~run~sfc /scannow?

SteveW · 10th June 2003

Newt, thanks for the reply. sfc /scannow put up a nice progress bar but didn't result in any messages. Does this mean that it didn't find anything wrong?

I doubt I am the only person with this problem, as evidenced by the other thread. I guess my questions now are:
- what things cause Windows Explorer to quit?
- what utilities check for/repair these things?

BTW, Norton Windoctor gives me a clean bill of health - Registry, DLLs, even shortcuts, are fine.

For Microsoft's "most stable" operating system, with the latest service pack, this is not very inspiring. :-(

SteveW

Newt · 11th June 2003

Steve - sfc may have found and fixed problems if you have a folder on your PC with the system files. Or it may have given you a clean bill of health. Hard to say at this point. But at any rate, it couldn't have hurt and may have done some good of some sort.

Three other suggestions for you (and both are again, "might help and can't hurt" sort of things).

First - do a chkdsk /r on all your drives. Lots more complete check & repair that chkdsk /f. For one thing it does a surface scan and you could have a marginal spot on the hard drive.

Also get a copy of pagefiledefrag from www.sysinternals.com and run it to defrag your registry hives. 2K doesn't deal with them very well. The utility is free and I've run it on a number of NT4 & 2K systems.

And last, re-apply the latest SP.

If still no good, post back and it'll be research time.