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Cannot access Windows Explorer

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Gareth

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Jul 8, 2001, 10:51:57 AM7/8/01
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Running:
Windows 2000 SP2 (all current updates)
Novell Client 4.80 (current version)
Novell 4.11 (can`t tell what patch level it is at)

Created a local profile on PC. Made it same username as Novell login. User
authenticates Novell ok, logs on local profile no problem. But when opening
up Windows Explorer or My Computer - it flashes up then closes down. No
error message displayed. All tasks running in the the taskbar shut down.

Replicated problem on my own PC (windows 2000) by creating another local
profile and got user to login.

Checked the login script for user and it is no different to some other users
who run Windows 2000 on their PCs and do not encounter this problem. I have
found that if she logs in to the local profile as Administrator it works ok.
But I have given the local profile full administrator rights.

Any help, much appreciated.

THX

G.


David A. Mair

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Jul 8, 2001, 2:15:53 PM7/8/01
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On Sun, 08 Jul 2001 14:51:57 GMT, "Gareth"
<evans_g...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Running:
>Windows 2000 SP2 (all current updates)
>Novell Client 4.80 (current version)
>Novell 4.11 (can`t tell what patch level it is at)
>
>Created a local profile on PC. Made it same username as Novell login. User
>authenticates Novell ok, logs on local profile no problem. But when opening
>up Windows Explorer or My Computer - it flashes up then closes down. No
>error message displayed. All tasks running in the the taskbar shut down.

I've read the stuff about profiles below but wanted to cover some
related stuff first. That last sentence is an interesting clue. The
tasks in the task bar don't actually shutdown at all (you can confirm
so with Task Manager). Explorer suffers an exception and is shutdown.
Since most Explorer Windows run in the same process then if a crash
happens in one instance it actually happens in them all. That
requires that Windows forcibly unload the module. However, since
Explorer is the registered shell application then unloading it leaves
the OS with no Shell. Since Windows 95 Windows has been able to
recover from many such situations and restart the shell when it
crashes (doesn't always work, but it's been getting better with each
generation). The programs with TaskBar icons are not part of the
shell, they just provide icons for the shell to display in the system
tray. That is done through a Shell function. Since the new shell has
new state it has no knowledge of the previous registered tray icons
and, due to an oversight on Microsoft's part, there is no broadcast
notification that there is a new shell (this would allow Windows that
expected to have tray icons the opportunity to re-register them when
the shell crashes and it re-loaded). If you bring up Task Manager,
you will see that your programs with Tray Icons are still on the
process list.

Since Explorer normally works without any problem on Windows you have
to be suspicious of something that is installed, but I doubt it is the
NetWare client (the only piece of NetWare that could present a problem
here). My reasoning is simply that I am running it here on Windows
2000 SP2 and can open and close Explorer Windows all day (the same is
true for the other 4 PCs I personally use that have both Windows 2000
and NetWare client v4.80 (it's also true of everyone I work with).
Since Explorer is extensible using shell extensions then I'd expect an
installed shell extension to be the cause of your trouble. The smart
thing to do would be to uninstall all programs with shell extensions
one at a time (the NetWare Client contains shell extensions, so it
should be uninstalled eventually as well). At some point you will
discover that starting Explorer no longer causes an exception that
unloads the shell. At that point, the previous thing you unloaded is
the probable culprit. If you get lucky, you might be able to short
circuit all of this by investingating the Application Event list:

Right Click My Computer
Select Manage from the context menu
Expand SystemTools\Event Viewer
Left click on the Application item
On the right pane you should see all logged application events

There should be one event recording each exception in Explorer (you
can force a new event into the log by allowing Explorer to crash just
before viewing the log, this should put one log entry at the top of
the list.

As I said, if you get lucky this will help because the log entry will
document which module the crash happened in and that module will
plainly belong to something you know you have installed. OTOH, it
could equally be a crash in an unrelated module simply because the
crashed module got bad data from the real culprit, so be careful.

The most likely types of shell extension to cause the problem (since
Explorer is just opening) are virtual folder shell extensions. These
provide similar types of functionality to the My Documents, My Network
Places and Control Panel folders. These three folders don't have a
real existence at the place they appear in the shell namespace, but a
shell extension makes it appear that they do. So, if you have
something(s) installed that is supposed to provide an extra folder
under My Computer (for example, an FTP shell extension) then uninstall
this (these) first. The NetWare does extend the shell namespace but
not at the root and My Network Places is not expanded by default.
That appears to suggest that the client is not being exercised by
opening Explorer. However, when Explorer displays the root of My
COmputer (or any other folder) it also enumerates each sub-ordinate
container to determine whether or not to display the + symbol for any
branch. Consequently, the client will be exercised because the Novell
Connections shell folder in My Network Places will be found but not
displayed.

>Replicated problem on my own PC (windows 2000) by creating another local
>profile and got user to login.

Which type of Profile are we talking about? A NetWare client Location
Profile, a Windows user's default configuration, or a true Windows
local profile hosted by a DC?

>Checked the login script for user and it is no different to some other users
>who run Windows 2000 on their PCs and do not encounter this problem. I have
>found that if she logs in to the local profile as Administrator it works ok.
>But I have given the local profile full administrator rights.

Assuming that you simply mean a local user by the phrase local
proofile then that is exactly what I logged in as here on this PC. I
logged into NetWare and Windows using ussernames that are not the
admin(istrator) user in either case.

>Any help, much appreciated.

Start with the Event Viewer (see above) and hopefully the problem will
be resolved simply.

Regards,
David.

Frank Manders

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Jul 11, 2001, 2:48:51 PM7/11/01
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Probably you have a modem misconfiguration. This problem occured in nt 4.0
too.
for NT run "control modem.cpl" and remove any modems, so W2K is probably the
ssame. Then reboot and try again.


regards,

Frank Manders
f.man...@chello.nl

"Gareth" <evans_g...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:hs_17.9581$aE6.8...@news1.cableinet.net...

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