Everytime i click a html/htm file i get an error (Explorer has created an error and will be shutdown by windows, please restart the application) and I have formated the drive twice and re-installed windows twice, ive tried all solutions for the same error but for exe files and none work, I'd be grateful if someone could help, Im running Windows 2000 SP4 on a NTFS drive.

by the way it doesnt do that when i click a html/htm file on the desktop.

There is a well-known bug in Explorer whenever an html file contains a sequence that invokes the shlwapi.dll . To be on the safeside run a virus scan, ad-aware, spybot search and destroy, and clear out your cache and cookies.

hmm doesnt seem to find anything(AVG Free) but I found that when I disable folder html (side panel) it doesnt crash

HELP!!!!! COMPUTERS HATE ME! THINK I'VE GOT A WORM OR ATLEAST SOME KIND OF FILE ASSOCIATION PROBLEM, CAN ANYONE HELP ME FIGURE THIS ONE OUT: ALL EXE FILES MUST BE MANNUALLY DESIGNATED FROM DESK TOP TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS THEM. WHEN PROMPTED TO "SELECT PROGRAM" TO OPEN THEM IN, I DO ,THEN ALL FILES BECOME DESIGNATED TO OPEN IN WHATEVER PROGRAM I HAD JUST SELECTED. NOTHING SEEMS TO WORK PROPERLY! DISK DOCTOR EVEN FAILED TO DO ITS THING- IT TOLD ME THAT IT COULD NOT ACCESS C/DRIVE DUE SOME OTHER PROGRAM TYING IT UP(THERE ARE NO OTHER ACTIVE PROGRAMS THAT I AM AWARE OF AT THAT TIME).... ANY IDEAS?????

you need to fix that caps lock key too, i think it is stuck...
sorry, too early still and have had no coffee yet

usspetersondd969 > Re-Install Windows M8

I have the very same problem but I think I can bring in some more information : The problem is caused by the preview on the side in Explorer thus the closing of the information panel clearing the error.

Here's the EXACT error I get : (The informations when I click "click here" in the error report window)

Error Signature
AppName : Explorer.exe
AppVer : 6.0.2900.2180
ModName : mshtml.dll
ModVer : 6.0.2900.2523
Offset : 0024D621
The usual bla bla about collecting information in your memory etc.

Hardware specs :
AMD Athlon64 3200+
ASUS K8N-E deluxe motherboard
Radeon 9800 pro
WindowsXP Pro SP2 (everything installed/full WindowsUpdated)

BTW, I don't want such answers as "Reinstall Windows XP". We're here to find causes and solutions to a problem, not a way of going around it by reseting your computer to a previous state...

I hope we get this fixed soon, I'm tired of this. It doesn't happen so often that I click html files, but when browsing folders with the keyboard I ofter have to go over one to get where I want...

Cheers
Chlikaflok

Here's an update :

I tried to change my desktop wallpaper today and whenever I even get close to the "Desktop" tab of the display properties(i.e. I click on the tab), the same error happens. I guess the problem resides in the previewing of stuff...

Oh and, I don't know if this is useful, but the Offset is always the same : 0024D621. Which means that something's not correct at that specific address... and I can't manage to see what's in the memory space at that address.

Cheers and I hope we'll get this fixed!

Ah, I'm surprised that there are more people who've got the 'Explorer crash on htm(l) file select' problem...
I realy don't know what causes the crash, but I've noticed that when you delete the file type (tools - folder options - file types), windowe explorer doesn't crash ... until it adds the file types again (apparently it does it automaticaly)
It doesn't matter with me how I have the left pane used (folders, search or task and places) but what does matter is if the htm(l) file is selected alone or along with other files:
When I have just one htm(l) file selected, the crash will happen.
When I have multiple htm(l) files or one html file plus other files selected the crash won't happen...

I get no error message, all windows explorers just close.

Trying to preview a wallpaper closes the display properties window indeed....

"
It doesn't happen so often that I click html files, but when browsing folders with the keyboard I ofter have to go over one to get where I want...
"

And I'm webdesigner so I don't do much more than clicking IE files

Originally posted by saul11:

"Ah, I'm surprised that there are more people who've got the 'Explorer crash on htm(l) file select' problem..."

Well, I've seen something LIKE it before, & it was a KNOWN bug due to a security patch regarding .mht files (Microsoft's single-file archive of a website page)... BUT, never had problem with it here though!

I noted someone put up mshtml.dll up there above in their err/abend message... this MIGHT have something to do with it bigtime too!

Is your IE fully patched/up-to-date? This matters... you can check the version of your mshtml.dll via msinfo32.exe (system information app) & see if it is up to date with other folks here... I'd put my version info. out, but odds are, it won't match yours since I have Windows Server 2003 online here, & the IE model in it is QUITE diff. from the one in 2000/XP, even their latest IE 6.x... (e.g.-> Diff. security settings & built-in popup blocker in it too).

BUT, unregistering & then re-registering your mshtml.dll MAY help also, & that is accomplished via this DOS terminal console window command:

To unregister it -

C:\> regsvr32.exe /u C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshtml.dll

& then to re-register it -

C:\> regsvr32.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshtml.dll

(On a "side-note"? That file is 90% of what IE does iirc, & IEXPLORE.EXE only calls functions from it... it is also shared by Office apps for example & WHY you can "surf the web" in Outlook FULL one, Word, etc. because they use it too!)

Originally posted by saul11:

"I realy don't know what causes the crash, but I've noticed that when you delete the file type (tools - folder options - file types), windowe explorer doesn't crash ... until it adds the file types again (apparently it does it automaticaly)"

Aha, NOW you've hit upon something I can help you work with... & if you take a look here using regedit.exe:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.htm

& here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html

You'd note that there are probably SEVERAL possible candidate programs to open those filetypes (ranging from notepad.exe, a webbrowser, or office apps like Excel, Word, etc. )

* Maybe, just maybe, some type you guys have there is the problem program on that in this regard... some problem in its int argc type C/C++ commandline parsing abilities (or, lack thereof).

Originally posted by saul11:

"It doesn't matter with me how I have the left pane used (folders, search or task and places) but what does matter is if the htm(l) file is selected alone or along with other files: When I have just one htm(l) file selected, the crash will happen. When I have multiple htm(l) files or one html file plus other files selected the crash won't happen..."

Look in those locations in the registry from above... YOU might be the guy that hits the cure, with just a BIT of prompting from me on where to look!

What programs do I have listed for .htm here? Well:

EXCEL.EXE
MsExcel
MsPublisher
MSPUB.EXE
MsWord
winword.exe
notepad.exe

(The .html extension there lists a GUID handler of this for it:

{eec97550-47a9-11cf-b952-00aa0051fe20}

)

Originally posted by saul11:

"And I'm webdesigner so I don't do much more than clicking IE files "

BUT, you're the "perfect" kind of guy to look @ that & say "Hey, I only use this type of file to open those, & I can try remove the others to see what happens!"

(You can backup the entire .htm & .html areas from that area of the registry too, using regedit.exe's File menu, Export Submenu, as you experiment, restoring it again to its original state @ will easily too... )

* Just export it to C:\orightm.reg as a backup of that registry section's contents... & if your first experiments burning out what you don't want don't work? Just double-click on your saved "original .htm" orightm.reg file in Explorer.exe & bingo - back to normal to try again!)



APK

P.S.=> I'd be almost willing to bet YOU might figure out an answer for this man... go for it I say, because if it's screwing up on you? This is an avenue to pursue to beat it & provide others here & elsewhere a solution for it... good luck! apk

Also as another option to check?

See "Sampson's" post above!

(It sounds pretty valid (& the guy knows what he's talking about) & though I don't recall specifics? It sounds familiar... )

APK

Thx for all the input people, but here's a question for you saul11 : I just saw that in the open with list there is "open with openoffice "excel"" (don't remember exactly how it's written). And the problem started happening about when I installed openoffice... I'm probably wrong but I may just be onto something...

The question is : Do you have openoffice saul11?

Alec§taar wrote

"Is your IE fully patched/up-to-date? This matters..."

I don't think this is the problem, because the crash problem hasn't been there from the beginning. Anymway, this is my info:

Internet Explorer info
version 6.0.2600.0000
build 62600

mshtml.dll info
6.0.2600.0
2.729 KB
23/08/2001 13:00:00
C:\WINDOWS\system32
Microsoft Corporation


Alec§taar wrote

"BUT, unregistering & then re-registering your mshtml.dll MAY help also"

Unregistering didn't work, I got the error below (but reregistering did ... without result)

RegSvr32:
DllUnregisterServer in C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshtml.dll failed.
Return code was: 0x8000ffff


Alec§taar wrote

"...if you take a look here using regedit.exe:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.htm
& here:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html"

I have checked the reg keys ... first I had only editplus in the opewith list (because I deleted the file types htm and html in windows explorer (tools - folder options - file types)) Than I deleted the keys completly without result.

So nothing worked !


I also tried to delete quite a few programs (office, .net framework, ... euh well, quite a few more) ... Without result.

I downloaded the mshtml.dll file from a website and replaced my file with it ... without result.

I checked if the crash still occured with an empty html file (right click - new text file - renamed it to html) ... crashed too on select of that empty html file.

I cleared out my cache and cookies many times. no result.
ran ad-aware many times.

But I still have to give the virus scan and spybot search and destroy a try...


Chlikaflok

"The question is : Do you have openoffice?"

No I haven't


Anyone some more ideas?


PS Alec§taar you do know how to stimulate someone

"...you're the "perfect" kind of guy...
I'd be almost willing to bet YOU might figure out an answer ..."

Ever thought of going into advertisement or politics

HA!!!!

After fiddling with the registry key some more I think I got something !!!

Windows explorer crashes when the file types are listed (tools - folder options - file types)
So I fiddled with HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.htm and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html like Alec§taar proposed.
I noticed that as soon as both these key have a string property named 'Content Type' with the value 'text/html' windows explorer crashes.
Modify these properties to only 'html' and that solves the crash

A drawback of this is that IE seems to cannot find the file you double click, so an error is displayed when you double click an htm(l) file and have 'open in IE' as default action. But this might be THE time to switch to firefox ( http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html )

I hope this realy is the solution and if someone might come up with a better value for the 'Content Type' string properties, please let us know!

Originally posted by saul11:

"Alec§taar you do know how to stimulate someone"

Heh, yea... well, that's how I often get things done here - by experimenting. You can come up with total (or even partial) solutions &/or work-arounds via experiments.

(Only thing you have to know is - If you get into a trap/mess? HOW TO GET OUT! In this case? .reg file exports of original entries is the key to that... you have those?? You can experiment & tweak/fiddle ALL you like, & if it messes up??? Well, no biggie - You just reimport/merge your backups, & start again... Simple! )

Originally posted by saul11:

"HA!!!! After fiddling with the registry key some more I think I got something !!! Windows explorer crashes when the file types are listed (tools - folder options - file types) So I fiddled with HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.htm and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html like Alec§taar proposed. I noticed that as soon as both these key have a string property named 'Content Type' with the value 'text/html' windows explorer crashes. Modify these properties to only 'html' and that solves the crash"

Better than crashing by far I say... good job!

Originally posted by saul11:

"A drawback of this is that IE seems to cannot find the file you double click, so an error is displayed when you double click an htm(l) file and have 'open in IE' as default action. But this might be THE time to switch to firefox ( http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html )"

Right, FireFox or Opera are better browsers ANYHOW by far imo!

Those 2 are STILL better than the IE in Windows Server 2003 (which has better security settings, integrated popup blocking, you-name-it, but no tabbed browsing AND STILL NAGS IF YOU TURN OFF Active or Java scripts which is b.s. imo! )

Originally posted by saul11:

"I hope this realy is the solution and if someone might come up with a better value for the 'Content Type' string properties, please let us know!"

Nice job so far, like I said above - better than crashing by far! I figured you'd do something like that to get your work-around for that crash & that was the way: To start looking @ its associated file-handler types in the registry in HKEY_CLASSES, where ALL of that is powered from!

(Once you start understanding what each section of the registry does? You'd be amazed @ how much your understanding of how to fix & manipulate your OS goes up... lol, I have "created a monster" in you I think! Hehehe, he is now officially turned into a "geek" from now on... )

APK

P.S.=> Originally posted by saul11:

"Ever thought of going into advertisement or politics..."

Heh, politics? No...!!!

As is, the world is full of crooks/deviants/freaks/weirdos (too much so to my liking), & there are TOO many there in that arena imo, & too many decisions are arrived @ "via compromise" (spelled sideways - arm twisting & blackmail) there in the political world!

As far as marketing/advertising??

I'd love to work for Microsoft OR Borland in that capacity... product knowledge (and, faith in the products/belief) would be my asset there I would like to think! apk

Yeeha! It's back... thx people. The sad thing is that this doesn't give us the cause but only a tweak/fix. It's still better than crashing though.

Thx Again!

Originally posted by Chlikaflok:

"Yeeha! It's back... thx people."

You're welcome...

Originally posted by Chlikaflok:

"The sad thing is that this doesn't give us the cause but only a tweak/fix."

The cause is probably something along the lines of what I speculated above about, something internal to the associated app's code (C/C++ language fiends would know what I mean about int argc commandline parameters intake that I stated above & speculate it lacks OR has some weird "kink" in it in)...

Originally posted by Chlikaflok:

"It's still better than crashing though."

Surely!

Originally posted by Chlikaflok:

"Thx Again!"

You're welcome (again)...



APK