Windows 2000 ''explorer.exe'' problem - Word Perfect 2000 Issue

More problems found that cause explorer.exe to crash on login. Word Perfect 2000 Service Pack 4 "down-dates" several critical Windows 2000/XP system files - which leads to the shell (explorer.exe) crashing when a user first logs in.

CHFA|TECH will investigate an update to Word Perfect. HOWEVER, we recommend Microsoft as your Word Processing program: the majority of users use this and do not encounter problems. Further, we are only licensed to run a few copies of Word Perfect 2000. Microsoft has licensed the College of Humanities and Fine Arts to run Office 2000 or XP (on Windows - 2001 or 10 on Macintosh) on all College owned machines.

Microsoft Word can convert all Word Perfect files, and if necessary can save files in a format that can be read by off-campus computers running Word Perfect.

We recommend Windows 2000 users to uninstall Word Perfect 2000. To do so, click on the start button, go up to settings, control panel. Double-click "add/remove programs" - scroll down the list to "Word Perfect 2000 Service Pack 4" and click the remove button.

Contact us if you have further questions.

Information posted by Chris Conklin, 5/29/2002 6:08:04 PM.

Windows 2000 ''explorer.exe'' problem - Resolution 4/29/2002

Reports of several users still experiencing this problem resulted in some additional 'sluthing' after hours today.

The largest source of remaining problems is an 'antique' Adobe Acrobat 4.00 Reader. I cleaned the conflicting parts of this managed application and "updated" it to 4.05 (5.05 isn't supported on Campus due to an incompatibility with WebFOCUS - which MEMFIS uses heavily).

Additionally - problems were found with the AOL Instant Messenger Client. This was updated to resolve the file conflict issue.

Again - like the last time I said this: If you encounter the problem (when you first log in to Windows 2000 you see a message similar to 'Explorer.exe has generated an error and will be shut down') please contact CHFA|TECH. It is extra hard to troubleshoot these problems unless I know who is and isn't affected.

Information posted by Chris Conklin, 4/29/2002 7:15:15 PM.

Windows 2000 ''explorer.exe'' problem - Resolution 4/7/2002

After extensive debugging over the last months I am confident we have solved the "Explorer crash" problem. The updated KeyClient software sent to computers Sunday does not cause this problem, and the rest of the managed applications for Windows 2000 that CHFA|TECH installs do not cause this problem.

If you encounter the problem (when you first log in to Windows 2000 you see a message similar to 'Explorer.exe has generated an error and will be shut down') please contact CHFA|TECH.

At this point, either there is a rogue file left on your computer from an old version of software provided by CHFA|TECH, or there is a conflict with a program installed on your computer by someone other than CHFA|TECH. Either way, we will create individual jobs for each user or machine and make necessary repairs.

Information posted by Chris Conklin, 4/8/2002 10:21:21 AM.

Windows 2000 ''explorer.exe'' problem - Computer Reboots Friday Night

Many users have reported an issue when they login to a Windows 2000 machine that an error message appears, and leaves them with a blank screen (no icons). This error message is "explorer.exe ... will be restarted." Explorer.exe is Graphical User Interface portion of Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP which handles desktop icons start bar, etc.

For some reason, this error prevents explorer.exe from restarting automatically as it should. This problem was traced to Key Server Client software - for which Sassafras Software has issued a bug fix.

This updated software is now available on the CHFA network. The next time your Windows 2000 machine (if plugged into a network connection on campus) restarts it will remove the old version of Key Client and install the new version. CHFA|TECH will attempt to restart as many computers as it can Friday night/Saturday morning to speed this upgrade along.

If you are using a computer and get a message to save your work because the workstation will shut down in 2:00 minutes - this is the why.

If you still experience this problem after Monday 1/21, and have already restarted your computer please call us at 3-7349 or mailto:chfaTECH@uni.edu with details.


Information posted by Chris Conklin, 1/18/2002 4:27:11 PM.