File Explorer keeps crashing

jds63 said:

Good chance for some here this is either due to another program on your PC or in the context menu (when right click something) it's shell extension on list put in by that third party application.

Use CCleaner to disable all shell extension from these third party apps or use Autoruns to do this or disable startups .
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download


https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../bb963902.aspx

I did this and it fixed the problem. In my case it was Format Factory shell extension that caused W10 to throw a tantrum.

larc919 said:

I'm having exactly the same problem. It has happened on all 3 computers I've upgraded from 8.1 and 7 to 10. 2 of them eventually worked out OK with extreme care, but I still haven't been able to upgrade from 8.1 Pro on my main system or keep explorer.exe working past a certain point even with a clean install. Everything worked flawlessly with 8.1, so I can't see any logical reason why it wouldn't be the same with 10. It's not supposed to be a downgrade.

I stumbled upon solving this problem with my PC. I received a message from AVG Virus program that c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Performance\Monitor direct contained a .tmp file that was malicious. After deleting that file, I have had no more problems with my Desktop disappearing in windows 10. Hope this helps!

I tried all suggestions in this thread (I have no IDT audio), other threads just like it on different forums, and even three YouTube videos on Win10 File Explorer crashes, ALL to no avail.
Then, in Event Manager/Applications I noted entries for explorer that seemed related to "hard links." I DID in fact have some symbolic links on the computer back when it was running Win7, so I suspected that they may have been corrupted in the upgrade. I thought that the solution might result in removing the hard links. Unfortunately, I couldn't recall where they all were. In researching how to locate them, I found a shell extension that makes them appear in red in File Explorer. I installed it only to find them, but after installing it, the problem was solved without changing any symbolic links. It's called the Hard Links Shell Extension, and it's found here
IF anyone finds that this problem resists all the different methods suggested for treating it AND knows that they installed symbolic links into their file system before upgrading to Windows 10, installing this shell extension may be worth considering. I would certainly not advise installing this extension unless these criteria are met.

I just thought I'd register quick to post this. It worked for me.

It's nothing more than the top of a google search, from the Microsoft website, first response so you may have found it before you got here, but if not someone named Dan B wrote ( I'll just copy directly):

I had this problem on Windows 10. (File explorer that freezes after a right-click)
This was caused by somes network folders not accessibles in "Quick access". These folders are accessible only when a VPN connection is open.
In "Quick access" options, i disabled "show recently used files" and "show frequently used folders". No more problem since.



https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...7-56c866ad8241

I just wanted to add some input to this posting.

After upgrading my HP Pavilion DV7 Laptop to Windows 10 Spring Creators edition (Version 1703) I found that when I tried to open Control Panel the application would open and display the applets but you could not select any applet and the desktop appeared to be frozen. After about 30 seconds or so Control Panel closed and I retained control over my desktop. A check of the event log showed and Application Error Event 1000 that indicated that the IDTNC64.CPL was the failing module. To resolve this problem I acquired the latest Audio update driver install program from HP. Although this driver was for a Windows 7, 64-bit PC installing this driver fixed my problem and Control Panel was accessible after a restart. Note that at that time I thought that this problem was due to the fact that HP's update program never tagged this driver as one that needed updating even while it was still Windows 7.

After installing the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Version 1709) I found that once again I was having the same issue as before and as before I reinstalled the same Windows 7 driver I had previously downloaded and it again fixed my problem with Control Panel. My conclusion is that perhaps the problem I had with the spring upgrade was not an old driver but that the Microsoft Creators Upgrade program caused the problem. Anyway, if you are having an issue with this Audio driver my recommendation would be to contact support for your PC and have them send you the most current audio driver setup program they have for this particular driver. I recommend this as today when I tried to find the driver thru HP's website they no longer provided me a list of drivers for my PC even though I was telling them that it was still Windows 7. My guess is that they don't even want you attempting to install an older driver so they're not listing them as being available but I'm sure that if you call them and speak to a support tech they can send you the most current driver. Fortunately for me I still had the unzipped driver install directory on my PC and I was able to run the setup program that made things better.