Error Message-Explorer.exe

My daughter's Dell computer w/Windows XP - seeing wallpaper on screen and that's it...no desktop, etc. getting the error: Explorer.exe - Unable to locate component. This application has failed to start because browseui.dll was not found.Anybody know of a fix? I've googled the error but not having too much luck...any help would be muchly appreciated!

 

MS has built alot of 'browser' functionality into WIndows XP. It started with Active Desktop in WinXX, then continued forward. The problem now is that this functionality is called when the desktop needs to be displayed.

In this case try this:

Reboot the machine, get past the hardware splash screen, and press the F8 button, holding it down. This will get you to the boot menu, and allow you to try and boot from 'last known good configuration'. Select that choice, and proceed from there. Hopefully the system will reboot to a desktop.

Let us know what happens, if it doesn't work, we'll try something else.




Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

Thanks, Neil. Not exactly sure at one point to hold down the F8 key..I get the error right after windows boots up...do I hold it down before that, or x out or say ok after the error and then hold it down. I've tried both to no avail. Argh.

 

Neil, was finally able to get to the "boot from last known good configuration" menu, but I'm still getting the error and just the wallpaper screen w/no desktop, etc. Any other options in that F8 screen that might work?

 

Sounds like either someone has been playing with the configuration of the computer or you have a virus.
1. When windows boots up hit ctrl-alt-delete. You'll get a few options when you do that.
2. Select "Task Manager" from the options. A new window will pop up.
3. If it's not active click on the "Applications" tab.
4. Then hit the "New Task..." Button.
5. In the new dialog that pops up type in "explorer.exe" and then click ok.

At this point you are attempting to manually start the explorer application. If that does not work you can attempt to start up a browser. Hopefully you have another browser like firefox. If you have firefox I would recommend doing this:

1. Select the new task button again.
2. Click the browse button and go find the firefox.exe program. Should be in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
3. In firefox browse to here: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?browseui and download a new version of browseui.dll
4. Place it in c:\windows\system32
5. Select the new task button again.
6. Type in this: "regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\system32\browseui.dll"
7. It should say registration complete.
8. Then hit the "New Task..." Button.
9. In the new dialog that pops up type in "explorer.exe" and then click ok.

Assuming that browseui.dll is the only problem that should then start up the windows desktop.

Eric

 

Thanks, Eric. Manually starting explorer.exe just gives me the same error, and we don't have Firefox...would reinstalling Windows XP help, do you think?

 

Well reinstalling would fix the problem of course. If there is nothing on the machine to loose then I would just reinstall. If the dll is lost then something bad happened to cause it and even if you get the machine working again it would never be "right" again. Generally I look at it this way. It takes about 45 minutes to reinstall windows xp and about an hour (with openband connection) to download and install all the updates. If I can't fix a machine in an hour and a half I will just reinstall it. If there is data on the machine that you need to get then here is a really nasty trick to do before you install. If the data can fit on a floppy then you can do this:

1. Open up task manager again
2. Go to applications tab and click the new task button
3. when the creat new task dialog comes up click browse
4. In the browse dialog we will do the copy. So in the "look in" combo box select "My Computer"
5. Right click on your floppy drive and select the create shortcut option.
6. It will ask you if you want to place it on your desktop and say ok

You now have a shortcut to the floppy drive on the desktop. Now we move the documents you want to save off to the desktop. You do this like so:

1. Navigate to the location of the documents that you want to save
2. Change the "Files of Type:" combo box to all files so you can see all of the files in the directory
3. Select the file you want to save and right click on it and choose the copy option.
4. Naviagate to the desktop but clicking the desktop button or thru the "look in" combo box
5. Don't select anything in the file list and right click in a blank empty space and choose the paste option
6. Now simply drag the document to the floppy drive and it will copy it to the disk

You can do this with a CD Burner as well but the steps are a bit more complicated.

It sounds like you got a virus on that machine that took out explorer. A reinstall is probably your best bet.

 

Also if you have another machine that you can download and burn a copy of firefox to a cd you can install it by using that browse dialog as well. You can also do this if the machines are on the same network and can see eachother without using the cd. If you wanna try either of those I can write out the steps to do either as well. It's funny that it takes longer to type out the steps than to actually try them.

Eric

 

I do have another pc in the other room...I'll try downloading the Firefox and try that route first. Jeeesh, almost less aggravation to buy her a new computer! Her Dell is pretty old (although it's been a great computer) and she is going off to college..might be time to reinvest I just am perplexed why it would not let me go back to the old configuration (the steps suggested by Neil...) when I hit F8.

 

Can you try and do:
Start: Run:
Then type in:
sfc /scannow

Edit: oops you can't get to start: run. Do control alt delete, task manager, new task. Then type in sfc /scannow


---------------
Got Broadband?

 

The main reason the last known good config won't work is because the dll seems to be missing completely. The configuration only changes OS flags and does not actually "repair" missing files.

 

Boot into safe mode and do a system restore perhaps?

 

My daughter had this problem before, it seems to be a virus. Only thing that helped was full wipe and reinstalling everything.

Marianne

 

'sfc /scannow' should be able to restore the file, well hopefully. Then you can run your virus scanners.

---------------
Got Broadband?

 

FWIW ... this past week has had a spate of new trojans and viruses appear (mostly trojans), they disable any antivirus, remove registry settings, and keep you from going to your antivirus website by adding circular entries to the HOSTS file (IE: 127.0.0.1 www.symantec.com)

Real pain in the neck to fix.



Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

Well, shucks, gang...you must be good luck. I've been working on that *$##! computer for days, following all your helpful advice. I was just about ready to give up and was following the sfc /scannow advice (took me an hour to realize there was a space after the sfc!!!)Arghhh! To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure I know what I did because at some point it told me to put in the Windows XP Professional something CD. All I have is a Windows XP Home Edition CD, so I just thought, "What the heck," put it in and it revved up like a 747. I figured I would just flatline the computer and reinstall everything. Out of the blue, all of her desktop items and old files came back as if nothing had happened. It was clunkin' a bit slow, but once I cleaned up her system and dejunked it...it's running like a top. Thanks all!!! Am I a geek and don't know it?!