Windows explorer freezes when using Open with option

Windows explorer freezes when using Open with option.Whenever I right click on any file and select Open with option, windows explorer is hanging/freezing.Need help on this.

Bhupinder Verma

Posted 2016-07-08T10:31:19.730

Reputation: 61

Windows 10 you say? Well, I've seen it's a pretty buggy version of Windows. But also you may have quite a few handles, both built-in and from other apps. Also, Explorer waits for the chooser app (yes, it's a full app unlike on 7 and older!) to appear; during this wait it probably stops processing the event queue, thus getting stuck – Paul Stelian – 2016-07-08T10:40:33.633

@PaulStelian It used to work fine until yesterday, but suddenly it's behaving weird.As you said it's getting stuck while waiting, do we have any work around for this. – Bhupinder Verma – 2016-07-08T11:05:23.923

The OpenWith picker (which is a separate executable) may be crashing when enumerating programs.

This post might help you narrow down the offending entry. Open With "Choose another app" Does Not Work. How to Fix it?

– w32sh – 2016-07-08T11:43:31.333

@w32sh: I tried both ways mentioned in the above link, but still the issue persits. – Bhupinder Verma – 2016-07-08T12:29:38.783

same for me. I tried all and nothing worked for me. When ever i go to open with on any image the explorer would freeze. I tried the cclean to clean registry, and tried the shexview and openwithview tools with no luck also ( i am on windows 8.1) – A Khudairy – 2018-04-15T08:56:25.657

Answers

In a Microsoft Answers thread on this, someone had good luck running CCleaner to clean up their registry. I downloaded the free version and ran it, it found a bad Open With... registry entry for an Intel utility I no longer have and never used, plus 146 more registry references to invalid paths left over from old software. I let it fix them all, and my Open with... hang is gone.

skierpage

Posted 2016-07-08T10:31:19.730

Reputation: 131

I tried this but it didn't work for me. – A Khudairy – 2018-04-15T08:22:26.977

If your system (Windows Explorer service) crashes when you right-click, that means one of the context menu options is causing an issue. It is most likely a recent software installation and an entry added by it to the context menu.

Launch the Event Viewer: Click the start menu and type eventvwr.msc. Press enter.
Go to Windows Logs > Application Logs.
From here, you will be able to find the crash logs. You can check for hints.
Although I don't want to recommend third-party software, you can use ShellExView. You can also use the registry but since it can be complicated, I will explain the easier option.
Run the ShellExView and Click Options. You want to select the following options.
Now look at the existing list and also the event log and see if you can find the one with issues. You can disable all or one by one and examine the behavior. Then you will have to remove that specific menu from the context menu properly uninstalling that product/software. Note: You can restart Windows Explorer by using the Options menu in the ShellExView.

Epoxy

Posted 2016-07-08T10:31:19.730

Reputation: 395

I tried this. Still crashing for me! For images when ever i go to open with the explorer still freeze. I also checked my installation history and I have not installed any new applications recently! I will update this if I find a solution – A Khudairy – 2018-04-15T08:25:25.187

You can consult the Windows event viewer to obtain the app crash details. I think the log will have a hint of the failing component other than the explorer. – Epoxy – 2018-04-16T12:07:36.737

-1

Click “Start” or press (Win)+R.
Type cmd and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open an elevated command prompt (i.e., Command Prompt with admin rights). If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, type your administrator password (if requested), and then click “Continue” (or “Yes”, if applicable).

Type or copy paste the below command lines into it:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
sfc /scannow

Iftekhar

Posted 2016-07-08T10:31:19.730

Reputation: 1

@InterLinked: Does (Win)+(R) followed by (Ctrl)+(Shift)+(Enter) run a program with elevated privileges on Windows 10? Because that doesn’t work on Windows 7.

– G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' – 2017-02-25T21:29:47.257

@G-Man I have no idea – InterLinked – 2017-02-25T21:33:00.383

@InterLinked: Then you shouldn't have edited the answer to claim that it does. – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' – 2017-02-25T21:36:40.313

2@Iftekhar: This answer would be better if you explained what those commands do, how they answer the question, what the user should look for in the output, how to tell whether the commands worked, etc. Feel free to add links to support your answer, but don’t just add links and say “The information is over there.” – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' – 2017-02-25T21:37:12.123

@G-Man I don't recall editing any answers today claiming that anything worked on Windows 7. What are you talking about? – InterLinked – 2017-02-25T21:43:54.610

@G-Man Oh, I meant that you can either click "Start" or type "WIN+R". CTRL+Shift+Esc only works with the Start menu though. I see what you're talking about now... oops! – InterLinked – 2017-02-25T21:54:44.547

Thanks, it helped me! – abn.dev – 2019-08-31T23:34:31.180

It's a lot easier to type (Win)(X) + a (not that this answer has anything to do with the question) – Jim Balter – 2019-09-05T22:22:31.647

-1

I am writing this just because I was so frustrated about this, and the solutions of CCleaner and DISM didn't work for me, and I couldn't find anything online with a solution that worked.

I tried deleting the icon cache and that seemed to work for me.

This worked for me on Windows 10.

Andrew

Posted 2016-07-08T10:31:19.730

Reputation: 1

Please add the relevant information from the link to the answer itself. If the link goes dead in the future, this answer will lose a lot of its usefulness. – Worthwelle – 2019-05-22T13:49:54.060