Ok, I'm sorry if this problem was previously addressed, but I haven'y been able to find an answer over the Microsoft Support Site, Google, and Afterdawn Search.
Here's the basic problem. I recently purchased an External HD,
and while Transfering a large number of files (aprox. 7gig) Windows Explorer quit. Which I figured could be expected while dumping the files on it while runing several other programs in the background. But, since then Windows Explorer has been acting really weird.
Whenever I right-click a folder or try and delete a folder (on my Internal or External Drive) I get the following error messege:
Windows Explorer has encountered a Problem and Needs to close. We are sorry for the Inconveniance.
With the following Error Signature:
AppName: explorer.exe AppVer: 6.0.2900.2180 ModName: kernel32.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 0001eb33
Ocasionaly I get a simmilar Error for program called "Dr Watson Debugger", but I can't seem to get that to display at the moment.
Comp Specs:
Dell Optiplex GX620
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz
1gb of RAM
XP Professional V. 2002, Service Pack 2
Everything else seems to work fine.
I ran Spybot, Ad-Aware, and Norton Anti-Virus, but deleting the MalWare made no difference.
Any right click menu options you've added, or any shell extensions? Typically those can bring explorer down without any indication that it was the actual cause.
Since that's a USB backup, try using a different port.
You didn't perchance install any software that came with it? If so, uninstall.
I know system restore points are limited, but you might have to search thru your right click menu programs and uninstall them as well.
I hate to see this happen over a USB backup drive that basically doesn't take any special software to use as a backup. It just makes it more convenient to use it instead of copy/paste your same old files to the drive. The issue is simple: something isn't playing well with the shell (explorer)...finding what it is, is the headache. Without knowing all that you actually have installed, it's anyone's guess from here. XP's explorer shell, like it's predecessors simply doesn't state what caused the shell to crash the majority of the time...it just says that it "stopped unexpectedly, and was restarted".
Anytime. I use just a regular old 120GB hard drive in a USB enclosure and just copy/paste my files...I know, it takes forever but it works.
Also, anyone else who reads this, if you do use that method, make sure the drive is formatted with NTFS...so any files larger than 4GB will be copied over without any issues.
If there is data on the disk you wish to save, you can change the format by using this command line (I will assume C is your main drive, and let's call your USB drive G):
Start, run then type in: convert g: /fs:ntfs
Or, if you don't have any data on the disk you can use Windows disk management to remove the FAT partition and create an NTFS one. Go to the Control Panel, click on Performance and Maintenance, click on Administrative Tools, then Computer Management. Under the Storage section, click on Disk Management. With your USB drive plugged in, it should show up in the list. If it does, right click the drive letter box and you'll see Delete Partition in the menu.
You should be able to use the disk's setup CD to remove and repartition.
