Hi All,

I have a most annoying bug on Windows 8.1, my Windows explorer windows disappear from me from time to time, I have looked at the event viewer and noticed that the only events for the last two occurrences since I actively looked for entries at the same time it happened are as follows;

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy
Date:          18/02/2014 14:10:40
Event ID:      1500
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      ALOCOIT01.Aloco.local
Description:
The Group Policy settings for the computer were processed successfully. There were no changes detected since the last successful processing of Group Policy.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy" Guid="{AEA1B4FA-97D1-45F2-A64C-4D69FFFD92C9}" />
    <EventID>1500</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>4</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Opcode>1</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2014-02-18T14:10:40.878020500Z" />
    <EventRecordID>7375</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{34047534-271B-4F73-BC59-4EDF6F48291B}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="328" ThreadID="9776" />
    <Channel>System</Channel>
    <Computer>ALOCOIT01.Aloco.local</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data Name="SupportInfo1">1</Data>
    <Data Name="SupportInfo2">3658</Data>
    <Data Name="ProcessingMode">0</Data>
    <Data Name="ProcessingTimeInMilliseconds">750</Data>
    <Data Name="DCName">\\Aloco01.Aloco.local</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy
Date:          18/02/2014 12:15:39
Event ID:      1500
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      ALOCOIT01.Aloco.local
Description:
The Group Policy settings for the computer were processed successfully. There were no changes detected since the last successful processing of Group Policy.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy" Guid="{AEA1B4FA-97D1-45F2-A64C-4D69FFFD92C9}" />
    <EventID>1500</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>4</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Opcode>1</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2014-02-18T12:15:39.926156600Z" />
    <EventRecordID>7372</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{11B77CF2-612B-4439-BF09-15A3E58FB661}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="328" ThreadID="7136" />
    <Channel>System</Channel>
    <Computer>ALOCOIT01.Aloco.local</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data Name="SupportInfo1">1</Data>
    <Data Name="SupportInfo2">3658</Data>
    <Data Name="ProcessingMode">0</Data>
    <Data Name="ProcessingTimeInMilliseconds">750</Data>
    <Data Name="DCName">\\Aloco01.Aloco.local</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Surely group policy updates would not cause this issue?

Many Thanks in advance!

Anthony

Hi,

Regarding Windows explorer crash, please restart Windows explorer.exe to check the result.

Meanwhile collect crash dump file, then upload here via skydrive or similar network device and share the link here for further research.

To collect the crash dump, follow these steps:

First enable app crash dump collection by copying following words into notepad, saving it as dump.reg and importing it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\localdumps\explorer.exe]

"DumpFolder"=hex(2):63,00,3a,00,5c,00,63,00,72,00,61,00,73,00,68,00,64,00,75,\

  00,6d,00,70,00,73,00,00,00

"DumpCount"=dword:00000010

"DumpType"=dword:00000001

"CustomDumpFlags"=dword:00000000

Then, open a program which may cause the issue. If error appeared, please find the crashdump file under c:\.

Regards,

Hi,

No luck an error dump file did not get created.

Kind Regards

Anthony

I noticed it has created crash dumps for winamp my media player, so I know its working, it's obviously not crashing explorer, yet it is closing windows that are open, generally I think they are network shares not local folders?

Hi,

Based on my search,regarding the Event ID 1500,  this is a normal condition. No further action is required.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd392537(v=WS.10).aspx

So,your issue isnot  related to this event log.

Can you give me more information with this issue?

Regards,

Hi Kelvin,

I am not really sure what to add, I mean this event ID seems heavily linked to my issue.

It happens on another Windows 8.1 computer, with the same event ID warnings. That machine is a upgraded windows 8 machine, where as mine is a windows 8.1 installation

All we are doing is browsing on some network shares on our windows 2012 server.

I have left a windows explorer window open, whilst browsing another network folder on a different machine, I will confirm if that closes!

Thanks

Anthony

Hi Anthony,

As you mentioned,you need to do a test to see if this issue happened when you browse other computers.

Meanwhile,please check your network's  stability.

Regards

Hi Kelvin,

Looks like it only closed the server share not a share between the 2 windows 8 machines or a share on a windows 7 machine I also tested it on.

This issue does not affect any other machines on our network (non windows 8 machines).

Also to note the windows 8 machines have the same hardware (Dell Optiplex 7010);

Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (version 12.2.45.5031) - on both machines, we have the latest driver I could find installed.

I got the latest drivers through Dell's website (the ones mentioned above) and the update had the same issue, I am now installing the drivers from Intel's website on my machine instead, fingers crossed! :)

Installed and testing (version 12.10.28.0)

• Edited by anthony.edwards Wednesday, February 26, 2014 4:09 PM

I got the latest drivers through Dell's website (the ones mentioned above) and the update had the same issue, I am now installing the drivers from Intel's website on my machine instead, fingers crossed! :)

Installed and testing (version 12.10.28.0)

• Edited by anthony.edwards Wednesday, February 26, 2014 4:09 PM

I got the latest drivers through Dell's website (the ones mentioned above) and the update had the same issue, I am now installing the drivers from Intel's website on my machine instead, fingers crossed! :)

Installed and testing (version 12.10.28.0)

• Edited by anthony.edwards Wednesday, February 26, 2014 4:09 PM

run elevated sfc /scannow

unfortunately we still have the same issue, I also ran sfc, and it found no problems

I too am having the same issue.  I have also recently noticed that it happens when group policy updates.  I'm still experimenting, but I'm guessing that it has something to do with the Group Policy Preferences to map drives as it only seems to happen of my DFS drive mappings that are mapped through Group Policy.  It does not happen on drives mapped to regular shares not using DFS.  I'll keep experimenting unless someone comes up with an answer or finds that certain settings used to map DFS shares through Group Policy are causing the issue.  I must also add, File Explorer is not crashing, the File Explorer window just closes for the DFS Group Policy mapped drive but not other open File Explorer windows.

• Edited by JEAdams Thursday, June 05, 2014 8:28 PM

I too am having the same issue.  I have also recently noticed that it happens when group policy updates.  I'm still experimenting, but I'm guessing that it has something to do with the Group Policy Preferences to map drives as it only seems to happen of my DFS drive mappings that are mapped through Group Policy.  It does not happen on drives mapped to regular shares not using DFS.  I'll keep experimenting unless someone comes up with an answer or finds that certain settings used to map DFS shares through Group Policy are causing the issue.  I must also add, File Explorer is not crashing, the File Explorer window just closes for the DFS Group Policy mapped drive but not other open File Explorer windows.

• Edited by JEAdams Thursday, June 05, 2014 8:28 PM

I too am having the same issue.  I have also recently noticed that it happens when group policy updates.  I'm still experimenting, but I'm guessing that it has something to do with the Group Policy Preferences to map drives as it only seems to happen of my DFS drive mappings that are mapped through Group Policy.  It does not happen on drives mapped to regular shares not using DFS.  I'll keep experimenting unless someone comes up with an answer or finds that certain settings used to map DFS shares through Group Policy are causing the issue.  I must also add, File Explorer is not crashing, the File Explorer window just closes for the DFS Group Policy mapped drive but not other open File Explorer windows.

• Edited by JEAdams Thursday, June 05, 2014 8:28 PM

I've set my drive mapping in GPO to Update, instead of replace, I think this may solve our issue.

No drops outs for 16 hours (on 2 computers experiencing this issue), I left a folder open overnight, it would normally happen every 3 hours approx, thanks JEAdams for your valuable input!

Have you got this set to Action "Update", and Reconnect "Yes"?

I'm having the same problem, but my policies already are set to Update, not replace.

They are set to update and reconnect yes.

Just noticed these are hidden shares with $, don't know if that makes any diffe

Has anyone had any luck with this? I have the exact same symptoms. You can trigger it by just doing a gpupdate, I think.

Haven't actually seen this occur spontaneously myself as it was reported by a user, but he did note down the times of the crashes\window closing, and it seems to tie in far too precisely with the group policy update event listed above to be a coincidence.

We do have GP Preferences network drives, and they are all set to "Replace" with "Reconnect" ticked. There is also Item Level Targeting set to only allow the drive for a certain AD Security group.

Fixed by setting drives to "Create" instead as it is not destructive (does not remove and re-map the drives  if they already exist)

I realize though this may not always be a viable solution for other situations.