Windows Explorer crashing

Everytime I go into Windows Explorer and double-click a movie/music/etc. file Windows Explorer crashes, giving me the "Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close." and asks for the Send/Don't Send error report. It will also crash if I try to copy/paste files or rename files. What could cause this?

 

Lots and lots of things could cause this.

Let's do some investigation. Almost every time explorer crashes, it will note the reason in the Event Logs. Let's check there first. Here's how:

1. Right-click 'My Computer'
2. Select 'Manage'
3. On the 'Computer Management' window, expand 'Event Viewer'
4. Select the 'Application' log

Here, we want to look for an error (red x) that corresponds with the date and time of one of the crashes. Open it with a double-click and post back with:

- the event ID number
- the source of the event
- the exact error description

And we will have a much better idea of what the problem is.

 

I had this problem,

I found the solution on another forum i found in google


I typed something in the Run thing and then it worked find from then on, something to do with Thumbnails was the problem.

Ill have a look to see if i can find it again

 

Thanks for the help, here's the info

event id: 1000
source: Application Error
Description:
Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module xvid.dll, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00033633.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

 

Okay, this tells us that explorer crashes when it tries to load program code from xvid.dll into memory.

The first, easiest thing to try is to re-register xvid.dll, so that we know that the registry references the file correctly. This should work if the current copy of xvid.dll is not corrupt. Here's how:

(We'll need to know the full path to this file. If you don't know it, try searching your C: drive, as it will give you the path. If there are multiple copies, take the latest version - this info is available on the properties dialog of the file)

1. Hit windows key + r (or click Start --> Run)
2. In the 'Run' dialog, type 'regsvr32 "pathtodllfile"' (without the single-quotes)
3. Press enter (or click 'OK')

This should cause Windows to ensure the reference to the dll is proper.

Test by recreating the problem. If you cannot get the crash to happen again, then it would appear the problem is resolved.

If not, we'll have to dig a little deeper. Post back, and we'll help you further.

 

When I input that to Run, it said:

The C:\WINDOWS\system32\xvid.dll was loaded, but DllRegisterServer entry point was not found. This file cannot be registered.

 

Darn. The file is corrupt/out-of-date. Alright, I've done some research into the file itself, and it appears this is a known issue to the Xvid developers. They offer this solution:

 

Hey thanks so much for the help, so far it appears to work, no more crashing!