Windows: No Shell, Explorer.exe not found

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Running Windows XP (2k maybe)? Try to boot your computer and all you get is a background with no icons, no taskbar, no start menu and just a mouse cursor? Try this:

Symptom

When you try to boot your computer: all you get is a background with no icons, no taskbar, no start menu and just a mouse cursor. If you try to launch explorer.exe manually from Task Manager, you get “explorer” could not be found or “explorer.exe” could not be found.

Cause

A registry key that handles how the Windows shell (explorer.exe) loads is corrupt.

Fix

Delete the offending registry key and reboot the computer. Use Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) to run regedit manually. Then find the following key and delete it:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\
Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe

Then, reboot the computer. Problem solved.

56 thoughts on “Windows: No Shell, Explorer.exe not found”

  1. You my friend are a f****** legend!

    I had this exact detailed problem, I think originally created by a trojan which AVG cleaned, but on the restart I had that issue.
    Searched countless websites, all had similar problems and said rebuild PC or use windows installation CD (which I was not supplied with when purchasing the PC). Yours is the only website I’ve found that has the fix, and what a simple one it is as well!

    Thanks a lot (good to see you’re a simcity 4 enthusiast also!)

  3. You make my day, thanks for this information. This little trick did it.

    Thanks a lot !!

    regards Werner

  5. Great! After a Repairinstallation of XP (what didn’t help) and a lot of search with different keywords, I finally found your solution! Worked perfect. Thanks a lot.

  6. I have the same error as mentioned above, but I can not use the fix because the Taskmanager does not work. When I press there are 6 buttons, but the Taskmanager button is grey and will not work. Has anybody an idea how I can repair my laptop?

  7. Rob,

    This occurs because malware (or network policy) has disabled your authorization to run task manager.

    You may be able to reboot the computer into Safe Mode and log in as “Administrator”. The Administrator account may not be locked and may allow you to run Task Manager to fix the problem. Otherwise, to fix this you are going to have to edit the registry “offline”. This is done (basically) by removing the hard drive from your computer, attaching it to another computer, and using the regedit program on another computer to make a change that allows you to open task manager. Then you put the hard drive back in the broken computer and follow the tasks above.

  9. YES – finally a solution to my problem. Love it. All the other solutions posted on various forums gave me no improvements. This one did. Finally I can use my computer again.

  11. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I acidently turned my computer off and had this problem turn up. I was about to rebuild the whole thing, but thanks to this I didn’t have to.

  13. Thanks SOOOOOO much this was such an easy fixed and it fixed my problem on the first try! It really scared me not being able to control my computer, I thought I was going to have to reformat!

  16. Thanks a zillion!!
    A lot of work data was risking to be lost…(was prepared to access with system console only, but…) Was close to replace explorer.exe but then saw this article!

    I sort of work indeed in computers stuff, but this time had bad luck, and without backup!

    Thanks!

  17. And another thanks to this great advice! I’m totally computer illiterate, and was scared to death of trying to fix this problem on my own. Thanks so much for the great tip, and the easy explanation! Fixed it right away!

  19. Hi,

    I have what I thought was the same problem – but checked the registry and this key does not exist.

    It’s worth mentioning that the last time my PC booted without this problem, there was a message stating that a corruption in my registry was successfully fixed. I had seen this message several times in the past, and had had no dramas as a result.

    But now – the PC boots, looks fine, and I get the login screen. I log in, and a few things load up, but sure enough I just see the desktop image, no icons, no start bar, etc.

    I can ctrl-alt-delete, I can run regedit, cmd.exe, etc, but if I try to start explorer.exe I see it flash up in the process list for a brief moment then disappears.

    Same thing happens in safe mode (except I get told I’m running in safe mode every time explorer.exe tries to start). I accept the option to try restoring from a restore point, and I see RstrGui.exe (spelling?) in the process list, but don’t actually have an interactive window available.

    Things like word, excel etc open but are unusable because menus are not present.

    Internet Explorer opens, but all web addresses come back immediately (ie clearly no Dns lookup occurring) with “could not find…”. Which is bizarre, because from the cmd prompt, I can ping, resolves ok, and I get a reply.

    Maybe a virus?

    Any suggestions?

    Thanks for your time!

    Cheers,
    Ben.

    • Ben,
      I would suspect a virus or a hardware issue. My suggestion is to detach the hard drive, connect it to another computer and scan it for viruses “offline” ( or use a WinPE based virus scanner if you can get one), and grab a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD to run some hardware diagnostics.

      After all that, if all seems well, boot to safe mode and run “sfc /purgecache” then “sfc /scannow” from a command prompt.

      Best I can suggest right now.

  20. I have the exact same problem as Ben has, although I’m able to get onto internet. I’ve run Trend Micro online virus scan and it indeed found a Trojan, which it removed. The problem, however, remains. Will reinstalling Windows do any good?

    Best regards,
    Thomas

    • Thomas – Reinstalling windows -might- fix the problem, then again it might not. I would detach the hard drive, do a scan from another computer using two different AV programs if possible, and try again. If that doesn’t work, look at my comment above to Ben about doing “sfc /purgecache” and “sfc /scannow”. If that doesn’t work, then I suggest backing up your information and restoring the computer to it’s factory default (or just do a completely clean install, whichever is your fancy.)

  21. PS. Trend Micro discovers the following file: TROJ_AGENT.INS but isn’t able to remove it. It keeps returning.

  22. Pingback: Menu Start verschijnt niet | hilpers

  24. OMG! I spent the last 4 hours searching for a fix. What a headache! I LOVE YOU…You are my hero!
    Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!

  26. I’ve been working on this things for a few hours, and this is the only suggestion that actualy worked!!! THANK YOU!! I ran a SFC, I did a CHKDSK. This happened when we removed Computer Associates AV software, installed AVG, and ran a scan. AVG found a few trojans. We moved them to the valut and rebooted. Upon reboot, the system wouldnt load explorer.

    Now it works great!

    SOOOO HAPPY!

  27. I had the same problem, no desktop, opened task manager with control alt delete. Followed the instructions on deleteing the key and yesssss, my desktop is back!!!!! thanks so much, glad I kept searching the net for a solution!

  30. Hi,

    I followed all the steps, but when I got to Image File Execution Options, the explorer.exe wasn’t there…. do you know how to solve this?? Thanks!

  31. I followed all the steps, but when I got to Image File Execution Options, the explorer.exe wasn’t there…. do you know how to solve this?? Please help!!!!!

  32. Have similar problem as rob..i can get security center up but task manager wont work, although its not greyed out, in fact i can click on it and sec.center disappears as if task manager is aboutt to open but nothing happens

    • Dicky, this may be because an applicaition (malware) is actively killing taskmanager when it tries to run, or the taskmanager application is completely missing. It could also be the same problem as with Explorer.exe, except with taskmgr.exe. Follow the trick above, but do it for taskmgr.exe instead and see what happens.

  36. Hey, I tried the tip above but it said regedit could not be found either?

    Any ideas on a solution? I have some vital college work on the said computer and I am intending to reinstall Xp if I can get hold of the disk and if there is no other solution.

    A reply by email would be greatly appreciated as I might forget to check back here.

    Thanks.

  37. Yup, wonderful easy fix. THANK YOU! I couldn’t bring myself to delete the key, so I renamed it. Desktop, etc is back on reboot. Can you offer an explanation as to why it works? This problem started for me after running AVG, as someone else mentioned. Comments? I have uninstalled the AVG software. THANK YOU AGAIN!

  40. “GENIUS MAN” what Microsoft is making so much of fuss about fixing this simple problem … I tried N nos. of scans…. reinstallation…but not use… THANX FOR THAT BRILLIANT…. SOLUTION…

  41. I cannot stress how thankful I am to have run across this simple solution. Thank you, sir!

  42. I used the “explorer.exe not found windows xp” key word on google and this post retruned at the top. thank you for the simple and effective solution, it just worked. other results prescribed a host of options right from anti-virus to re-installation but none so simple and effective.

    on another note i think this problem is caused by a virus infecting the svchost.exe file. i use McAfee anti-virus.

    Cheers
    JD

  43. Same here – did an upgrade/re-install which did nothing. Found your post and voila! When I went looking for this page again (to show a friend), I did not use the same search terms and couldn’t find it at first, but after changing the terms it finally came up. Too bad this page does not come up easier and higher-ranked. There are several other sites that mention this problem, but this is the one that has the correct solution. Thank you!

  46. My task manager is not opening, please help. I don’t know what to do, it seems as though all my programs have been moved to the virus vault( just a guess) so now i cannot access them. I tried accessing them on safe mode but they don’t open as well.

    • If you are having problems opening multiple programs and you have confirmed that they have been moved to your “virus vault”, then the virus infection you (may) have could be the kind where it’s smarter to back up your information and restore the machine to factory default. Beware that if you do that, any data on the computer you haven’t backed up and any programs installed for which you don’t have the install media will be lost. To back up your data, I suggest yanking the hard drive from the computer and attaching it to another using an external device like a drive caddy/carriage or dongle. Just be careful that you hold down the Shift key for 20 seconds on the keyboard of the machine you move this drive to when you plug it in so that it won’t have the chance to accidentally infect that computer, too.

      That’s all I can suggest at this point.

  48. THANKS A MILLION.

    Yes, yours is the only site that lists this problem and the solution. And it worked.

    By the way, when you get the blank screen, you can press control-alt-delete and that gives the task manager. And from there, you can RUN regedit and make the changes.

  49. Gud to see people are happy here, I am facing same issue.. but did not find any explorer.exe after looking into HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\
    Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe as instructed,,,

    please advise…