explorer.exe keeps dying.

scojones

Windows XP Pro. I boot up, login and all that loads is the background. Ctrl+alt+delete and run explorer.exe and it just dies right away. The same happens when I run iexplore.exe. Rebooted into last known good config, same thing. Safe Mode is the exact same too. Disabled all services and startup items, no improvement.

Ran system restore from msconfig and it appears that all of the restore points are deleted.

Rebooted with the xp cd to attempt a repair but the guy who owns the PC doesn't remember the admin password.

I really don't want to have to backup his HDD, format and restore the files he needs. Is there another way around this, or something that I haven't thought of? Is there a way to clear the admin password?

Could this be a virus? I'm guessing it is since the restore points are gone.

is_that_so

I have used this to fix the password problem. Just blank it out and then recreate it.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
and this guy is also good on suggestions.

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

Martyr

I have used this to fix the password problem. Just blank it out and then recreate it.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
and this guy is also good on suggestions.

i would second this.
just make sure you create blank password with this application, because trying to create new one with it can cause problems.

if you could execute autoruns,see what kind of applications are running at startup.

you might also want to check out Process Explorer, very useful also.

it sounds like some program monitoring windows or processes with "iexplore.exe" or "explorer.exe" & attempting to do something which either fails(thread injection), or if its purpose is to terminate the app(odd) does so successfully.

autoruns can usually find most startup applications very well.
another thing you could do is open up mentioned apps with debugger..but maybe thats a bit over the top, if you can get technical details (crash drump), i might be able to tell you what is causing the problem.

scojones

Sweet as a nut lads. I'll give these methods a go on Wednesday when I'm back giving yer man a hand and let you know how I get on. Thanks again.

Actually happened on my desktop a few days ago. Not only did explorer.exe crash when I opened iexplore, but the start bar at the bottom as well as windows explorer. I assumed it was a virus/spyware, and eventually managed to get a few runs of adaware/spybot S&D and it seemed to calm it down.

Before this happened, whenever I tried to get in to windows explorer to run the anti-spyware programs by clicking on the relevant directory in programme files, hundreds of internet explorer files would open in an attempt to crash the computer (I assume!). Thankfully, all it did was crash internet explorer

Martyr

Actually happened on my desktop a few days ago. Not only did explorer.exe crash when I opened iexplore, but the start bar at the bottom as well as windows explorer.

this is probably same problem sjones friend is having..a malicious DLL plugin for iexplore.exe/explorer.exe

the app i mentioned earlier, autoruns should solve this problem.