Starting Windows Explorer

[#1]

I'm using Win 7, and several times in the last couple of days, when I start Windows Explorer for the first time since I booted up, it gets stuck. I have to use Task Manager (which states Windows Explorer not responding) to kill Windows Explorer. Any subsequent attempt to open Win Explorer starts quickly and without problem. This morning was the same, but after using Task Manager, I shut down my pc, and started a new bootup. This time it went straight into Win Explorer when I asked it to.

I've run Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essential to look for any funnies, but nothing came up.

Was there any problems on the latest weekly  Win 7 update?

Is anyone else having similar problems?

Any suggestions, please?

Thanks

[#2]

No problems here with Win7 - might be worth running sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt in case you have any corrupted system files.

[#3]

Doing what you suggest means me going into, what is for me, unknown territory. I've opened a cmd window, and typed in 'sfc /scannow' (I copied and pasted your command), but got back the following message:-

You must be an administrator running a console session in order to use the sfc utility

So now I need some guidance, please

[#4]

You need to right click on the 'cmd' program, then select 'run as administrator', then it'll work from the command window. 

[#5]

Thanks for your instructions. I have done that now, and sfc worked. No problems found.

[#6]

Still got the problem then? (after rebooting the PC.)

[#7]

I have just done a reboot, and entered Win Explorer successfully first time. This is only the first reboot since running sfc, so it is early days to know if it has fixed the problem. Also, Win Explorer only failed when I booted up for the first time today. There have been four or five bootups since then (before sfc) without the Explorer problem showing up. Could it be that I need a long downtime before trying (such as overnight)? I guess I will have to wait to see if the problem shows itself before I can get a feel for whether sfc has fixed anything.

In the meantime, thanks very much for your help. I'm grateful

[#8]

@penneck Also running W7 pro here... no problems with the updates.. ( although there have been several "important" one`s this past week....  all went well...

[#9]

Win10 here and I have been suffering a similar problem, where after an update and a reboot, it pops up a message about not being able to load personal settings. It has been happening every time for months and I was unable then, to find any others suffering the same problem, but now I see it is a fairly common one. Ctrl + Alt + Del (taskmanager) suggests it is Windows Explorer which has crashed.

A google, suggests several fixes to try, including sfc (above) and deleting a Registry entry, I have done both, but I don't find out if they worked, until the next time there is an update and a reboot..

[#10]

I wasn't blaming the Win 7 updates as such. It was just that it started happening yesterday (Friday), and my updates seem to arrive on a Thursday. I'm just puzzled by it

[#11]

I don't get any warning messages or messages of complaint. Win Explorer starts but before it becomes usable by me, it sticks, and that funny little circle just carries on spinning until I give up waiting and go to Task Manager. TM then indicates Win Explorer isn't responding, so I kill it

[#12]

Maybe your drive is fragmented or has Bad blocks or Dying..

Check the Drive

Right click on Drive letter [C for example]

Properties

Tools Tab

Check Now

Restart System

Good Luck

[#13]

Hi Menace65. I've gone through everything you suggested (Chkdsk, defrag, etc). No problems reported. I did find, when I right-clicked on C:, that there was less than half a Gig of space on that drive, so I have moved 7 Gig from the E: drive to the C: drive. Strangely, when I go back to right-clicking on C:, the space on the C: drive was still only quoted as 4 Gig. Does this mean the spare space figure is unreliable?

On the subject of the problem that started this chain of posts (Win Explorer getting stuck), that hasn't happened since I ran the sfc process yesterday, so maybe sfc has fixed it. Only time will tell.

Thanks to all for your help

[#14]

@penneck I'm late to the party (again ), but your comment about free space on your 'C' drive suggests to me that it needs a bit of tidying up if you are going to avoid problems. How 'big' is C, and what have you got on it?

[#15]

Morning jab1,

My pc can only take a single hard drive, so my one is divided into C: and E:. The C: drive has the operating stuff (Win 7, Office, etc). The E: drive has the data files. Yesterday I ran Diskclean, Chkdsk and Defrag on the C: drive, which didn't find anything to warn me about, but did increase the amount of supposed free space. I say supposed because having feed up 15 Gig of free space on the E: drive, I transferred 7 Gig to the C: drive, using Minitool Partition Wizard. For some reason this only gave me about 4 Gig of free space on the C: drive (according to that thing you see when you right-click on C: (I've just checked again and now it says 8.3G - what on earth is going on?)

So that is the situation. Puzzled? I am

Cheers