Question Explorer.exe Not Launching On Startup

[LunarFirestorm]

I have had a very unusual problem recently that I have never experienced in all my time of owning computers so I'm at a loss to how I can fix this. Basically "explore.exe" is failing to launch at startup and I'm met with a black screen and a command prompt window when I launch my PC. The weird thing is that almost everything else seems to be working and running fine in the background, so after some fiddling around I figured out I was able to open Task Manager and launch explorer.exe through the "Run new task" option on Task Manager, and that's basically how I've been using my PC for the past week or so.

To get to the point, I'm looking for a solution to my problem that doesn't involve me formatting my PC or using System Restore (sadly I don't have any restore points from before the problem began). As I said I've been able to use my PC fine using the method I described in the above paragraph but it's still problematic having to do that every time I start my PC, I also don't want to go through all the effort of getting everything I need off my PC and formatting it. Any help is appreciated!

 

[onespeedbiker]

For now, type explorer (or %systemroot%\explorer.exe) at the command prompt and see if it comes up. you might also want to run "sfc scannow" at the command prompt.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

I am on my smartphone at the moment, so I don't have access to my various scripts, including the one about not using registry cleaners. They are snake oil, at best, and can cause major malfunctioning in worst case scenarios.

Microsoft also expressly advises against their use and has never had an "in-house" registry cleaner. Those two facts speak volumes.

I made sure to use the registry backup to restore all the things it removed! Thanks for the information.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

Right you are that is the source of my confusion. Sorry to be at a tangent to what everyone else is talking about. GN

Don't worry about it, it's an easy thing to mix up.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

UPDATE
I have tried everything so far with no luck so sadly I'm going to have to do a clean install. Luckily I know someone that has an external HDD that I can borrow so I won't have any problems with space when trying to back up all the important stuff I want to keep, nonetheless, it's still a pain in the ass to have to do this and that nothing else worked. For that reason I won't give out a best answer as my original request was for a solution that didn't require me formatting everything, but either way thanks for all the suggestions.

Just so you guys know the order of the things I did do:

1. Opened Command Prompt as admin and used SFC and DISM. Sadly this didn't work.
2. I checked the registry and there was already a thing called "Shell" with the value "explorer.exe".
3. Finally I done a repair install. Sadly this didn't work either.

Unless anyone else has any good suggestions my only option now is just to do a clean install. It's a shame nothing else worked but at least I know this should fix the problem.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

For now, type explorer (or %systemroot%\explorer.exe) at the command prompt and see if it comes up. you might also want to run "sfc scannow" at the command prompt.

Thanks for the suggestion but like I said in my post I'm able to launch explorer by going into Task Manager (Using the shortcut shift+ctrl+esc) and then using the "Run new task" option to run explorer.exe, then my PC just goes back to normal.

 

[onespeedbiker]

As a work around you can create and add an explorer shortcut to the start menu; C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp similar to this https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-boot-up/c23daaa0-a6ff-438c-b2d6-5ed8a3e66edf

 

[Colif]

This can also be caused by a device not responding to a signal from windows at startup and causing windows to just load a blank screen while it waits for the signal to time out.

have you tried unplugging any extra devices (including speakers) from PC to see if it still loads the same way.

I had a problem like this which I clean installed to fix just to find it came back when I plugged my speakers in.

So windows being slow to load isn't always just a software problem.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

As a work around you can create and add an explorer shortcut to the start menu; C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp similar to this https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-boot-up/c23daaa0-a6ff-438c-b2d6-5ed8a3e66edf

I did try this before but the problem is, in my case anyway, that the majority of the startup items don't launch until explorer has started. So all it does is launch an explorer window after I manually run explorer.exe instead of launching it when the PC starts.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

This can also be caused by a device not responding to a signal from windows at startup and causing windows to just load a blank screen while it waits for the signal to time out.

have you tried unplugging any extra devices (including speakers) from PC to see if it still loads the same way.

I had a problem like this which I clean installed to fix just to find it came back when I plugged my speakers in.

So windows being slow to load isn't always just a software problem.

No, I haven't tried that. I'll give that a shot and unplug everything other than my keyboard and mouse then restart.

 

[britechguy]

Just curious, but have you tried the SFC/DISM combination and, if that didn't work, a repair install?

You really should, as the other issues identified, while real, are generally way further down on the list of probable causes than some small corruption of Windows itself.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

Just curious, but have you tried the SFC/DISM combination and, if that didn't work, a repair install?

You really should, as the other issues identified, while real, are generally way further down on the list of probable causes than some small corruption of Windows itself.

Yeah, as I mentioned in my update, I used SFC and DISM then I done a repair install. None of that worked sadly.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

all that is left is a Clean install

 

[Ketchup79]

When I first saw your post I thought Virus (including rootkits) or system file error.

Have you run system file checker yet?

From an elevated command prompt:
sfc /scannow

If that comes out clear and you still have problems, try a good AV that can run outside of Windows. I believe Avast still has it as a feature in their normal Windows install. If they don't and it doesn't detect anything, Avira is another good one.

 

[britechguy]

Windows Defender will run outside of Windows if you suspect a particularly malicious infection.

In the Virus Section, Scan options, there is a radio button, Windows Defender Offline Scan, that will cause an offline scan at the next system restart.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

all that is left is a Clean install

Yeah that's what I'm planning to do as I have tried pretty much everything. I'm gonna wait until next week though as I'll need to back up everything I want to keep and then I'll have to go through the process of configuring everything again after the clean install so it's not something I can be bothered to do right now.

 

[LunarFirestorm]

When I first saw your post I thought Virus (including rootkits) or system file error.

Have you run system file checker yet?

From an elevated command prompt:
sfc /scannow

If that comes out clear and you still have problems, try a good AV that can run outside of Windows. I believe Avast still has it as a feature in their normal Windows install. If they don't and it doesn't detect anything, Avira is another good one.

Windows Defender will run outside of Windows if you suspect a particularly malicious infection.

In the Virus Section, Scan options, there is a radio button, Windows Defender Offline Scan, that will cause an offline scan at the next system restart.

Yeah I have ran SFC through an admin Command Prompt. I'll try another virus scan as you both have suggested but I have done it before, although it might have just been a quick scan if I recall correctly. Either way I'll probably just go through with the clean install but I won't be doing that until some time next week, so in the meantime any more suggestions are appreciated.