We have realized that corruption in the Windows registry can lead to all sorts of problems.

Some of you may have faced this problem, that after you logged on to your computer (infected by a virus or malware), you might have seen just a blank screen. No desktop, no Taskbar!

This may happen because explorer.exe which is supposed to start-up automatically, did not start at all. While some registry error might have caused this issue, it is certainly possible the problem could be due to some virus infection too, which blocks the explorer.exe from running.

In such situations where your Windows 7 | 8 or Windows Vista explorer.exe fails to start-up automatically on every boot, here are a few steps you can try out...

Windows explorer.exe does not start

Start Windows in Safe Mode and see if your explorer.exe will start in Safe mode. If it does, then obviously something is interfering with its normal start in regular mode.

We suggest you scan for malware in Safe mode, remove infections if any and reboot. Also check if any add-ons may be interfering with its starting up. Often, 3rd-party shell extensions can cause Explorer to crash on particular actions. Several programs add items to the right-click context menu.

See if a System Restore helps you....if not, open command prompt as admin and run sfc /scannow.

If it is still not fixed, back up your Windows Registry first, and then open regedit and navigate to the following:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

In Winlogon, on the right side, you should notice a value called “Shell“. In the RHS Pane, ensure that the default string value of: Shell is explorer.exe.

Double-click this value. Make sure only explorer.exe is given the value of Shell. If you see anything else there, simply delete it and leave only explorer.exe.

NOTE: ever in Winlogon key check also the Userinit's value: the correct one is always the following:

C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe

After these checks, exit the Registry Editor.

Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.