We are running Windows Vista RC2(Build 5744) on a:
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.4 GHz
1,5 GB RAM
ATi Radeon 9800 pro 128 MB
2 x 250 GB Western Digital Sata Drives
32-bit Windows Vista

Everytime when we open a folder that contains video-formats, such as MPG or
AVI we recieve the following error message:

COM Surrogate has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close
the program and notify you if a solutions is available.

And we can click Close Program, but then nothing happends and the error
message appears again. Until we close the folder then the message dissapears.

*Note: Everything works fine if we open the folder but the message is
annoying.

--
Best regards,

Wesley Niels (MCSE)

Hands On Information Management
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I've heard divx and xvid codecs can cause this and that uninstalling them
and switching to ffdshow fixes it.

"Wesley Niels(MCSA)" <WesleyNielsMCSA@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:5E563BBE-D167-4F63-85E6-D0A3B63D8F81@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> We are running Windows Vista RC2(Build 5744) on a:
> AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.4 GHz
> 1,5 GB RAM
> ATi Radeon 9800 pro 128 MB
> 2 x 250 GB Western Digital Sata Drives
> 32-bit Windows Vista
>
> Everytime when we open a folder that contains video-formats, such as MPG
> or
> AVI we recieve the following error message:
>
> COM Surrogate has stopped working
>
> A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close
> the program and notify you if a solutions is available.
>
> And we can click Close Program, but then nothing happends and the error
> message appears again. Until we close the folder then the message
> dissapears.
>
> *Note: Everything works fine if we open the folder but the message is
> annoying.
>
> --
> Best regards,
>
> Wesley Niels (MCSE)
>
> Hands On Information Management
> Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
>
> Amsterdam, The Netherlands[/color]

"Peter M" <pmcneil1@cogeco.ca> wrote in
news:#A#mAN58GHA.4552@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl:
[color=blue]
> I've heard divx and xvid codecs can cause this and that uninstalling
> them and switching to ffdshow fixes it.[/color]

Getting this too on RC2 after loading Windows Media Player classic. The
funny thing is I can drill to the AVI files within WMPC itself, but if I
try to double-click on the file or right-click on the file and go to open,
I get the COM Surrogate error message.

Adam

What is happening is windows trying to create thumbnails for the video files.
This ahas to do with the CODECS installed on yourt computer. The fix is
simple. If you are using "ALLIN1" uninstall it. if you are using "KLITE"
uninstall it. Your codecs have issues. Try FFDSHOW pack. It has all the
codecs you need, and it compatible with Vista and MCE.
The problem you have with many codec "multi-packs" is that the codecs are
out of date, or, in many cases are corrupted. If your codecs are bad, then
WMP can't read them, it can't create thumbnails for the files. COM Surrogate
locks up because it can't do it's job.
Another way, if you so love your other codec packs, is to disable thumbnail
view in Vista. You won't have the problem anymore.

Just a thought.




"Adam Leinss" wrote:
[color=blue]
> "Peter M" <pmcneil1@cogeco.ca> wrote in
> news:#A#mAN58GHA.4552@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl:
>[color=green]
> > I've heard divx and xvid codecs can cause this and that uninstalling
> > them and switching to ffdshow fixes it.[/color]
>
> Getting this too on RC2 after loading Windows Media Player classic. The
> funny thing is I can drill to the AVI files within WMPC itself, but if I
> try to double-click on the file or right-click on the file and go to open,
> I get the COM Surrogate error message.
>
> Adam
>
>[/color]

=?Utf-8?B?R2VuZSBGaXR6?= <GeneFitz@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:EC6FBF41-1BEA-4141-B637-47A4E903AEAA@microsoft.com:
[color=blue]
> What is happening is windows trying to create thumbnails for the video
> files. This ahas to do with the CODECS installed on yourt computer.
> The fix is simple. If you are using "ALLIN1" uninstall it. if you are
> using "KLITE" uninstall it. Your codecs have issues. Try FFDSHOW pack.
> It has all the codecs you need, and it compatible with Vista and MCE.
> The problem you have with many codec "multi-packs" is that the codecs
> are out of date, or, in many cases are corrupted. If your codecs are
> bad, then WMP can't read them, it can't create thumbnails for the
> files. COM Surrogate locks up because it can't do it's job.
> Another way, if you so love your other codec packs, is to disable
> thumbnail view in Vista. You won't have the problem anymore.
>
> Just a thought.[/color]

Seems to just happen with AVI files. I tried to open RM and WMV files
using the double-click method and it works fine. Do it on a AVI file and
it blows up. Turning off the file preview doesn't help unforunately. The
weird thing is that the built-in media player wasn't playing anything (even
Technet web casts!), but when I downloaded WMPC, that worked fine. Truly
weird.

Adam

OK, removing the K-lite codec pack and installing the FFDSHOW codec pack
does get rid of the COM Surrogate error, but when I close out of Windows
Media player now it crashes. Can't win. :)

Adam

Well, then we have a problem, the only thing I can offer is this. Back up
your files, run a fresh load, and install FFDshow and all your other
programs. I know, re-loads suck, but it should fic your errors.
Sorry for the inconvenience..

"Adam Leinss" wrote:
[color=blue]
> OK, removing the K-lite codec pack and installing the FFDSHOW codec pack
> does get rid of the COM Surrogate error, but when I close out of Windows
> Media player now it crashes. Can't win. :)
>
> Adam
>[/color]