Something in my OneDrive or Quick Access is causing Windows Explorer to crash.

[Jared20098]

Alright, I am pretty much at my wit's end right now, which is why I decided to just post here.

Lemme preface this with a bit of backstory.

This all started when me, being the idiot that I was, tried to remove that annoying "Your Windows License will expire soon" message (which I still have) by trying to use KMSPico. But this time, instead of using my go-to site (which I won't name here), I just googled it and clicked on the first link I saw.

Long story short, after a lot of tears and frustrations, I managed to remove every single piece of malware that was on it with Malwarebytes. But my computer ain't normal yet—oh no. There was a problem that the malware had left, and that was with the previews in File Explorer. The files showed up as blank pages when it came to thumbnails, and I needed the thumbnails to be visible for personal reasons.

I didn't know what to do, but Windows Explorer itself was functioning normally, so I just decided to live with it. Well, it didn't last very long, as Windows Explorer began to crash when I opened it, but by right-clicking the icon in the system tray and clicking on whatever was visible, I could open it, just not starting at Quick Access.

But after I got sick of Windows Explorer suddenly freezing and crashing on me, I decided to make a new account and transfer to it. OneDrive opened and I put my account details in there, and once I had transferred all my files there, I think I may have found the root of the problem.

Something in my OneDrive or Quick Access is causing Windows Explorer to crash.

Every other folder and app opens normally, but if I try to open the OneDrive folder, or just open Windows Explorer normally, it hangs and I have to force close it.

I'm available to provide any more details if needed.

 

[Ralston18]

Where did you get your Windows License?

 

[Jared20098]

Where did you get your Windows License?

I got the license by normally upgrading to Windows 10 when it was available for free during 2015 to 2016. The error just popped out of nowhere after it worked normally for 3 years.

 

[bignastyid]

KMSpico is a pirate tool and not legal, the resulting infection from using/downloading it is not surprising. To fix the licensing issue you'll need to contact Microsoft who will will likely need the legit key you were using before you upgraded to 10.

To fix windows you'll likely need to reinstall and restore your data from your backup.

 

[Jared20098]

KMSpico is a pirate tool and not legal, the resulting infection from using/downloading it is not surprising. To fix the licensing issue you'll need to contact Microsoft who will will likely need the legit key you were using before you upgraded to 10.

To fix windows you'll likely need to reinstall and restore your data from your backup.

I used it a few times before from a more trusted site and had zero problems, and this time I downloaded it from an untrusted source because I was eager to get it over with. But everything is mostly normal now, I just have to deal with this problem with File Explorer.

I do not want to format and reinstall unless I absolutely MUST, because that would mean losing every single program I've installed on here, and with my very slow internet, it'd be a major pain to reinstall everything.

I must mention, the rest of the computer works fine—there's another account which the rest of my family uses (and also occupies most of the space on it) and it works like a dream (besides the license thing). It's only File Explorer on my account that's not working correctly.

 

[bignastyid]

You are currently using a pirated OS and as per forum rules we will not assist with pirated software.

Thread closed.