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I've been having 2 issues with Windows 10 for a few weeks:

  • The Security Center is not able to start and keeps terminating unexpectedly
  • The Windows Defender Quarantine folder has 700MB of files that do not appear in Windows Defender and I am not able to delete them

Then following (perhaps) a Windows Update, I lost most of the applications in the Start Menu (except what I had pinned, Windows apps and a few random ones). The programs still exist but the Start Menu shortcuts are gone (most, not all), also for Classic Shell that I use

I found a script here that claimed to help: https://superuser.com/a/1134526/1818346 Unfortunately, this wretched script completely corrupted my Explorer.exe, and following a reboot, it just won't start. I am able to open Task Manager and start any program from there, except Explorer.exe.

Looking at the application log, I see the following error:

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 10.0.19041.3393, time stamp: 0x0bf928ad
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 10.0.19041.3393, time stamp: 0xfeef31d3
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000634f6
Faulting process ID: 0x30a8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d9e5b180c91170
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report ID: deafcae5-315d-422b-bca8-acf4ddea697e
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID:

I am not sure if any of the issues above are related, but how do I fix the Explorer.exe issue?

Thank you in advance

Annathema
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1 Answers1

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There is a lot that has gone wrong.

(1) Try a Windows 10 Repair Install:

Go to the Windows Media Creation Link

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Windows 10 is running, so click on the Download button (not Upgrade Button) and select Run. This will launch the Repair. Proceed normally answering the prompts. The default Keep prompt is to Keep Everything.

(2) Reinstall Windows: If the Repair does not work (and I have some doubts here), then there is more serious OS damage and / or a damaged Windows User Account.

Either way, back everything up and do a fresh install of Windows 10. Restore information from your backup.

John
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  • thank you for your quick reply. My fear with reinstalling Windows (or even repairing it) is that it may mess with the boot menu. I have Linux running on a 2nd NVMe drive and afaik GRUB handles the boot menu, not Windows. I guess the worst that can happen is that I lose access to Linux.

    And I have 3 Windows profiles so a reinstall would be painful :(

     – Annathema Sep 12 '23 at 20:08
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    You can back up User Profiles (Advanced System Settings) in addition to your full back up. This ensures you capture all the details of each profile. In addition I use virtual machines instead of dual or triple boot. – John Sep 12 '23 at 20:19
  • @Annathema, As John states, when something as fundamental as Explorer fails, likely only reinstall, keeping files, would fix it. First make and verify a full disk image. If something goes wrong, you'll have a fallback. Re: Linux, I've found that more recent versions of (re)installation are less likely to lose grub boot, but at worst reinstall Linux, then restore its partition from image, Re: Defender's quarantine, you can get a more complete view with Nirsoft's WinDefThreatsView, https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/windows_defender_threats_view.html . – DrMoishe Pippik Sep 12 '23 at 20:26
  • thank you for the suggestion. Do you think I can undo what the wretched script did? I didn't find a TileDataLayer\Database folder in \AppData\Local\ but I recreated it and copied what was backed up. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work so far. – Annathema Sep 12 '23 at 20:30
  • and I wanted to warn people not to use the script but I don't have enough rep apparently – Annathema Sep 12 '23 at 20:30
  • Do you think I can undo what the wretched script did? .......Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work so far. ........ I am not sure how you might do that since it appears to have been deleted. – John Sep 12 '23 at 20:34
  • from what I understand (not a bat file expert), the script made a backup of the folder. I am not sure why restoring it didn't work though – Annathema Sep 12 '23 at 20:35
  • thank you @John that did the trick!!! The Explorer is back, and Security Center seems to work. Unfortunately, Start Menu is still incomplete but I'll heed this serious warning and reinstall Windows soon – Annathema Sep 12 '23 at 22:26
  • Good that it is all working. – John Sep 12 '23 at 22:29