Windows 8 Pro - Windows Explorer Problem

Michael1980 · Dec 26, 2012

hi

i recently installed Windows 8 Pro because i lost my activation key to Windows 7 and the case that had it written down on it. So i bought Windows 8 pro cause it would be cheaper to buy than another key for Windows 7 they said. I was gonna buy Windows 8 anyway. So after buying Windows 8 pro and having it for a while I started having a problem with windows explorer.

The problem is when i use windows file explorer and i open a folder with a bunch of mp3s for example in it the file explorer crashes and says not responding and it stays that way for a bit before returning to normal. It seems to do that mostly when i have a folder with a album with mp3 properties and album art attached to the files. This can be irritating when browsing folders looking for something to listen to. I did some research on Google and noticed other people are having the same problem. In the posts I read no one seemed to have a definitive solution. I was hoping Windows would address this problem in a update via windows update. Does anyone here know how to take care of this problem for good? Thanks in advance.

DavidGP · Dec 27, 2012

HI

Is your Windows 7 fully up to date?
Are all your installed softwares up to date? mainly media ones like iTunes etc

Is this only in folders with mp3s and not ones with docs or pictures? If you get any error messages do tell us exactly what they contain.

Check in Event Viewer at the exact time of a crash the System and Application logs and look for an red error, open it and then copy and paste the text into a notepad file, save and attach as per this HERE to one of your posts

What music software have you installed (anything bar what came with Windows 8 by default)?

Do you use anything like MagicISO to mount files if so what?

*this bit is similar to normal mode error checking above but this time in Safe Mode as this will stop many 3rd party applications from running*

If you boot into Safe Mode with Networking (F8 at boot and choose Safe Mode with networking) do the folders open ok or not if they do not and you get any error messages do tell us exactly what they contain.

Check in Event Viewer at the exact time of a crash the System and Application logs and look for an red error, open it and then copy and paste the text into a notepad file, save and attach as per this HERE to one of your posts

Possibly the issue could be with a context menu add-on from a 3rd party company that just is not loading right, can disable all non Microsoft ones easily with this app ShellMenuView unzip once downloaded and to run right click the shellmenuview application file and choose Run as Administrator, you will get a Protect PC message, at this point click More info and choose RUN ANYWAY (this file is safe, its just it gets a bit into the root of Windows setup.

Once run expand the Window and click where it says company and it should sort them alphabetically, then highlight the software you think is media related (and not Microsoft based) by holding CTRL key down and clicking the entry with your mouse once you have disabled the ones you think are media related (iTunes etc) then click the RED ball in the top left corner to disable these,

Reboot in normal mode and see if that works, if it does then enable one software entry at a time and reboot and test until you start to get a crash.

Michael1980 · Dec 30, 2012

hi david

thanks for the advice. i figured it out though. Turns out it was a option in dbpoweramp that was causing the freezing in windows explorer with mp3 folders. Dbpoweramp is one of the programs i use with managing my embedded album art and mp3 properties. I went into dbpoweramp configuration and clicked on the tab music converter. In there i unchecked thumbnail and property handler (Vista and newer). After that my problem was solved. My folders with mp3z load up normally now. thanks again for your help.

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Windows 8 Pro - Windows Explorer Problem

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