Solved Windows Explorer crashes when opening downloads folder

I

incblue

Member
As the title says, every time I open my download folder a message pops up saying that Windows Explorer has stopped working.

Sometimes it crashes straight away, and other times it crashes after about 10 seconds, after the green loading bar has reached a certain point.

Does anyone know how I can fix this problem?
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
richc46 said:
Welcome
See if it works with a clean boot? If it does follow procedure to find the cause
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice.
However after several clean boots I have concluded that the problem is not caused by startup items or services.

I downloaded a lot of freeware right before the problem started.
Maybe there was a dodgy file or some malware or something. I don't really know anything about scanning for malware.
 

My Computer

System One

Download Microsoft Security Essentials
Download Malwarebytes and then just scan. This should be done even if you do not have problems
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Malwarebytes

After download the only thing you have to do, is find the upadate button and upadate
Then scan
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
richc46 said:
Download Microsoft Security Essentials
Download Malwarebytes and then just scan. This should be done even if you do not have problems
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Malwarebytes

After download the only thing you have to do, is find the upadate button and upadate
Then scan
Click to expand...
I scanned with Malwarebytes, and it removed about 12 things, which must be a good thing.
I did not download Microsoft Security Essentials as it said it would conflict with existing programs.

My problem hasn't gone away.
My theory is that there is a corrupt file in there.

Is it possible to move the good files, using command promt or something, and leave the bad files behind?
 

My Computer

System One

OK then scan with your current anti virus. Update first and make a full scan.
Lets do the scan before worrying about the files.
We can try a clean boot next, but scan first.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
richc46 said:
OK then scan with your current anti virus. Update first and make a full scan.
Lets do the scan before worrying about the files.
We can try a clean boot next, but scan first.
Click to expand...
Okay.
I couldn't get my antivirus to work, so I uninstalled it and scanned with Microsoft Security Essentials instead.
The scan came up clean and found nothing.

And about clean boots, I already did a series of those after your previous post.
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
What is the path to your downloads folder.
Where do they go, where are they supposed to go?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD 1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp 1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm 1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset. Only ever used a laptop. Also use USB Freeview TV Card Lenovo Docking Station External Speakers Other bits a pieces as needed
That looks like a pretty normal download path

Have you thought about deleting it and creating another download folder?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD 1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp 1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm 1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset. Only ever used a laptop. Also use USB Freeview TV Card Lenovo Docking Station External Speakers Other bits a pieces as needed
ilikefree said:
That looks like a pretty normal download path

Have you thought about deleting it and creating another download folder?
Click to expand...
I'd like to, but I don't want to lose any of the content.
The folder contains between 100-200GB of media content that isn't backed up anywhere else.

If there was a way that I could browse the folder without it crashing, (e.g. through command prompt or something? ) then maybe I could remove all of the useful files and then delete the folder.

But I currently do not know how to do that.
 

My Computer

System One

Problem has been resolved

The issue was when Vista tried to generate the thumbnail images of the video files.
Every time it tried to open a certain file to get the thumbnail, that was what caused the crash.
By disabling thumbnails I was able to enter the folder, and delete files until the bad file was gone.

Thanks for all your help guys.
 

My Computer

System One

Great news. Glad that we could help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
incblue said:
Problem has been resolved

The issue was when Vista tried to generate the thumbnail images of the video files.
Every time it tried to open a certain file to get the thumbnail, that was what caused the crash.
By disabling thumbnails I was able to enter the folder, and delete files until the bad file was gone.

Thanks for all your help guys.
Click to expand...

That's good info, Thanks for posting back, that might help someone else. ;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel I5-2500K @3.3GHz
    Motherboard
    Asrock P67 Extreme4
    Memory
    16GB G.Skill Ripjaws X (4x4GB)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA GeForce 750 Ti SC 2GB
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound
    Monitor(s) Displays
    auria eq2367
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD 1TB WD Blue 1TB Hitachi
    PSU
    SeaSonic X 650W 80 Plus Gold
    Case
    Corsair Obsidian 750D
    Cooling
    Corsair H60, Three 140mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech Wireless Mouse M310
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless Keyboard K520
    Internet Speed
    Wave Broadband ~ 100 down 5 Up
    Other Info
    Laptop specs: HP g7-1365dx / CPU: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics / RAM: Crucial 8Gb (2x4Gb) / SSD: Crucial M4-CT128M4SSD2 ATA Device/ FW 000F / GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6520G / OS: Windows 10 Pro x64
I have a Windows 7 Home Premium x64 laptop with this exact same problem. The solution worked!

My laptop was bought brand-new with Windows 7 and most likely never had Vista on it.
If you have this problem, regardless if you have Vista, I recommend it!

To switch the viewing mode of your downloads folder, right-click it and hit properties.
From properties, go to customize. From the customize tab, it should ask, "What kind of folder do you want?" and then a drop-down menu should appear under "Optimize this folder for:"
Click the drop-down menu and select "General Items" and that should remove the thumbnailing. (At least, it did for me. Correct me if I'm wrong)

You may need to check the box saying, "Also apply this template to all subfolders"

Then hit apply, and then ok.

Worked for me! Hope it works for the next person to come across this thread! :D

I have bolded important/basic notes/instructions for your convenience. :)
 

My Computer

System One

Thanks for sharing. Glad you posted your results.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Emachine ET 1161-05
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640
    Motherboard
    eMachines MCP61PM-GM (Socket AM2 )
    Memory
    2.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 387MHz (6-6-6-18)
    Graphics card(s)
    Acer E181H (1280x768@60Hz) 128MB GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 (
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name Acer E181H on NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
    Screen Resolution
    1280x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    ST316081 5AS SCSI Disk Device
    PSU
    MCP61PM-GM 9000 NVIDIA Chipset Model MCP61 Chipset Revisio
    Case
    Tower
    Cooling
    Fan Speed 1247 RPM
    Mouse
    PS/2 Compatible Mouse
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    http://www.speedtest.net/result/1538974261.png
I have the almost exact same problem. Except that mine makes the error in safe mode and also does it on startup. I know it isnt startup related but how do i fix it if it does it before i can open any settings?
 

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System One

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