I just hit this exact same problem. I had been using Vista RC1 5600 for
about a week, worked fine, and suddenly I turn on the computer this morning
and I get this endless loop of "Windows Explorer has stopped working". All I
can do it close.

I can launch IE and my networking works too. However I cannot launch
explorer.exe, even from the task mamager or the dos box.

I tried to upgrade from the Vista DVD, but the upgrade failed and Put me
back into the same situation.

The funny thing is that I remember turning on Backup. So I go to restore
the backup. just to not find any respore points at all.

It is at a point that I cannot use this computer any more. Has anyone
else seen this problem? How do I fix this? I can still use IE and can surf
the net. Can someone point me to a possible fix?

Thanks in advance,
HV
------------------------

"Norm Grace" wrote:
[color=blue]
> I just did a clean install of RC1 (5600). After I enter my password at the
> logon screen and the "Preparing Desktop" screen goes away I get a popup
> stating "Windows Explorer has stopped working." I click the "Close" button
> which is the only option, and after a few seconds I get another popup stating
> "Search host protocol has stopped." I click "Close" again and after a few
> seconds the same popup reappears. This continues in a loop and Vista never
> loads the desktop. I tried repair and reinstall and nothing works. I
> previously had Beta 2 installed with no problems.
>
> Anyone know what the problem is?
> --
> Norm G[/color]

I have about the same problem, when i login to windows it comes up "Windows
explore has stopped working" then i hit cancel and it says "Windows Explore
restarting" It restarts and then it happens again. I have sent an error
report to microsoft so i dont know.

ive got that problem also, i picked up a virus early today, i thought i got
rid of it and so i restarted my computer and now i cant even use the
computer. i can run some programs thought the task manager. other than that
its useless.

"Winvistarules" wrote:
[color=blue]
> I have about the same problem, when i login to windows it comes up "Windows
> explore has stopped working" then i hit cancel and it says "Windows Explore
> restarting" It restarts and then it happens again. I have sent an error
> report to microsoft so i dont know.[/color]

I was able to solve this problem by using System Restore. You'll have to try
it from the command line though because my Windows Explorer was restarting
itself so fast, i never could navigate to System Restore in the GUI fast
enough. Try this:

1. Restart your system
2. When the system first boots, type F8 to bring up the boot menu
3. Select the Safe Mode with Command Prompt option
4. Log-on to an account with administrator rights
5. At your command prompt type "c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe"
(obviously don't type the quotes)
6. This will bring up System Restore.

I only restore back to my last restore point and it worked flawlessly. Good
luck.

"smsmev" wrote:
[color=blue]
> ive got that problem also, i picked up a virus early today, i thought i got
> rid of it and so i restarted my computer and now i cant even use the
> computer. i can run some programs thought the task manager. other than that
> its useless.
>
> "Winvistarules" wrote:
>[color=green]
> > I have about the same problem, when i login to windows it comes up "Windows
> > explore has stopped working" then i hit cancel and it says "Windows Explore
> > restarting" It restarts and then it happens again. I have sent an error
> > report to microsoft so i dont know.[/color][/color]