Solved Vista 32 bit explorer.exe immediately crashes after boot

Foxache

Member
Hi everyone,

A relative has recently started having problems with their laptop running Vista Home Basic 32 bit (which came pre-installed with no Windows installation discs).
On booting it up, it gets as far as playing the Windows sound and displaying the 'Welcome' screen, then the screen fades to black as if it's about to display the Desktop as usual, but instead the Desktop never appears; a 'Windows Explorer has stopped working' error message box is displayed and the screen remains black. The only option on the error message is 'Close program'.

I can still access Task Manager, and so far I've tried the following:

-Booting up in Safe Mode (exactly the same issue)
-Manually running explorer.exe from Task Manager (it runs for a few seconds and then gives the same error)
-Booting using 'Last Known Good Configuration' (same issue)
-Windows Startup Repair (no problems found, same issue)
-Windows System Restore (no restore points found)
-Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool (no problems found)
-Running chkdsk (no problems found)
-Checking that the only value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Shell is explorer.exe
-Checking that there are no iexplorer.exe or explorer.exe subkeys in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution.options
-Running sfc /scannnow from the command prompt (it gets to 82% and then errors with "Windows Resource Protection could not perform requested operation")
-Copying explorer.exe from the dllcache directory (directory not found)

Does anybody have any other idea as to how I can fix this, short of getting hold of another copy of Windows and doing a clean install?
 

My Computer

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
Within the first five sentences it says I'll need a Vista installation DVD, which I've already said I don't have. Presumably I'm screwed then? :(
 

My Computer

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
I checked for a recovery partition but there's nothing on there. Unfortunately the Vista ISO has been pulled since that thread was created, so the download link no longer works.
 

My Computer

If you read the post it says to put your email address at the end of the thread and someone will send you a private link.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
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