UNSOLVED PowerArchiver shell extensions possibly crashing windows explorer.exe

[U1zy3o2ih5ebk2F]

I’ve been dealing with an intermittent explorer.exe crash for 5-6 years now. It happens randomly and will usually occur multiple times within a single session of an hour or two on my machine when manipulating files through Windows Explorer. explorer.exe is the only thing that ever crashes, so it’s not hardware IMO. I’ve done all hardware diagnostics and RAM is good. I’ve even swapped out motherboards with different brand and even the exact same one and it still crashes. sfc /scannow indicates system files are fine. I’ve done multiple reinstalls of the OS with no positive results. This crashing has happened on Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 10 64-bit. It seemed to get more frequent with Windows 10 after upgrading last year. I’ve also been using PowerArchiver throughout that time period (upgrading over time with new releases). I recently disabled all non-Microsoft extensions via ShellExView and saw no crashes for about 10 days, which is really unusual. I turned back them all back on after 10 days and saw another explorer.exe crash within the hour. So I disabled all 32-bit extensions and saw another crash. Following that I disabled all the PowerArchiver shell extensions and haven’t seen a crash after a day of heavy usage manipulating files within Windows Explorer, which doesn’t happen for me. The crash dumps I’ve captured don’t seem to indicate PowerArchiver is involved but I have a hunch it has something do with PowerArchiver shell extensions. The system even feels smoother with the PA extensions disabled. Windows 10 reliability monitor always has the same type of problem:

Description
Faulting Application Path:  C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BEX64
Application Name:   explorer.exe
Application Version:    10.0.17134.165
Application Timestamp:  4031a9f8
Fault Module Name:  StackHash_e78e
Fault Module Version:   0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Offset:   PCH_8D_FROM_ntdll+0x000000000009AA54
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 0000000000000008
OS Version: 10.0.17134.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID:  1033
Additional Information 1:   e78e
Additional Information 2:   e78e327659b46c9a0c6916396b253cbf
Additional Information 3:   cebf
Additional Information 4:   cebf952c5db535ae7880488aafce55d9

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID:  1a57e4e784fbc735c231c68bd88581a9 (1311047270476906921)

I know this is a very nebulous explanation but is there any way to link this up to PA shell extensions as the cause? I can provide the crash dumps and additional information if necessary.

[Brian Gregory]

I’ve also come to the conclusion that PowerArchiver is one of the top suspects in the case of the occasional explorer.exe crash on 64 bit Windows 7.

[spwolf]

We have been investigating shell integration for a while now, it is really hard to catch via debugger when something happens. There will be some measures taken in upcoming PA 2019 so you can check if you can notice any crashes in the future. I will be updating this thread when we released the build with it. Thanks!

[joakim_46]

My god, I have the same issue for ages, and I thought it might be related to PA, but saw no one reporting, I guessed it was my OS that was messed up. My Explorer crashes usually when right clicking, or when shutting down. It started in Windows 7 x64 and then migrated to Windows 10 as well.

[U1zy3o2ih5ebk2F]

I have done additional testing and have confirmed my crashes are 100% caused by PowerArchiver. I did a fresh clean install of Windows 10 and this time did NOT install PowerArchiver along with all my other programs. I saw no crashes for a month. So I installed PowerArchiver again and got a crash within an hour. I have since uninstalled PA again and have seen no such explorer.exe crashes since. Unfortunately, this is annoying enough to me that I will not be re-installing PA. Enough is enough.

[moles42]

My system has had explorer crashes for quite some time so today I will start a lengthy test
without PA’s shell integration to see what results arise.

[spwolf]

@razor19 said in PowerArchiver shell extensions possibly crashing windows explorer.exe:

I have done additional testing and have confirmed my crashes are 100% caused by PowerArchiver. I did a fresh clean install of Windows 10 and this time did NOT install PowerArchiver along with all my other programs. I saw no crashes for a month. So I installed PowerArchiver again and got a crash within an hour. I have since uninstalled PA again and have seen no such explorer.exe crashes since. Unfortunately, this is annoying enough to me that I will not be re-installing PA. Enough is enough.

@razor19 As I mentioned above, we have taken some measures in PA 2019, so if you want to test and contribute, please let us know via support at conexware dot com and we will get you latest internal release… thank you!

[U1zy3o2ih5ebk2F]

Tried PowerArchiver 19.0 final release. This issue is still happening for me. Uninstalled for good.

[Mili]

sorry to hear it’s still happening @razor19
We would love to figure out why, there are no active reports from PowerArchiver users about the issue occurring. Must be specific.
Do you have any Anti Virus or File Lock software installed?

Been reading up on BEX64 error and one of the culprits might be AV or file lock software that locks files which cannot be refreshed/updated.

[U1zy3o2ih5ebk2F]

I have ESET Nod32 Anti-Virus installed. I have tried uninstalling this for a period of time but still experienced the same issue.

[f16akias]

Hello there.

I know this post is quite old, but unfortunately I do CONFIRM this bug also. Windows 10 version 1903,1909,2004 and powerarchiver 2017.01.06 create BEX64 errors (exactly as the first post), explorer.exe crashes and refreshes automatically randomly after opening closing opening ‘this computer’. Disabling shell integration from PA options did not help. I managed to stop it by disabling all PA shell context menu entries via ‘ShellExView’. Thought it was Microsofts bug but started testing after seeing this post. Testing for over a month I am 100% sure it is happening due to the existence of these registry entries. I say again disabling shell extension from PA options did not helped but rather disabling them from ShellExView.

Moreover uninstalling pa still leaves 2 context menu registry entries one contains hint x64 on name and the other support x64 and I have to delete them manually.

This bug happens also with 2019.00.59 version.
Detected on 3 pcs all of them having PA. 1 of them after fresh installation of Windows 10 and installation of PA.

Please inform if this bug is fixed in 2021 version please since I cannot imagine working without powerarchiver. Using it since 2009.

[f16akias]

Will test if BEX64 errors are happening due to a single PA context shell menu entry or all of them.
Please help me understand the structure of pa dlls for context menu.

[spwolf]

@f16akias said in PowerArchiver shell extensions possibly crashing windows explorer.exe:

Will test if BEX64 errors are happening due to a single PA context shell menu entry or all of them.
Please help me understand the structure of pa dlls for context menu.

Please test with PA 2021 20.00.58 which is latest release, there were many changes due to this issue in the past few months. Thanks!

[Mili]

I also remember this occurring in the 2019 version but have not experienced it yet in the 2021 version. Am keeping an eye on it though.
If you experience it, please try to remember the operation at the time so that we can try and reproduce it.

thanks for everyone’s help!

[f16akias]

Yes PA 2017.01.06 and 2019.00.59 both result in BEX64 errors…
I installed 2021.00.58 2 days ago and yet I have not experienced any BEX64 error or something similar. Will test until my trial expires now.
One minor thing I noticed is that context menu icons are in red color and not yellow, though 2021.00.58 is declared as final release and not beta.

As far as the operation that results in error for me is usually:
plugin an external HDD os USB stick, copy-cut files from my internal hdd to the external, use back button till ‘this computer’, close window and reopen it from shortcut. Usually at reopening it “freezes for 2sec” and then explorer.exe crashes (no message for sending crash info or troubleshooting) and automatically restarting explorer.exe (it happens in a blink of eye).
In summary copy-rename files to an external disk, browse in folders and then close and reopen ‘this computer’ shortcut. I do not remember experiencing it on user folder (where images,videos and download folders exist) though.

Also keep in mind that after PA uninstall 2 context menu items are left in registry… “PowerArchiver Hint Handler64” and “PowerArchiver Preview Handler64”

[f16akias]

Unfortunately I received again a BEX64 error with PA 20.00.58, just by cutting a folder, pasting it at desktop, then creating an empty folder at the initial origin and renaming with original name.

Using Greek Windows 10 (English Translation)

Περιγραφή (Description)
Διαδρομή ελαττωματικής εφαρμογής (Faulting Application Path):	C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Υπογραφή προβλήματος
Όνομα συμβάντος προβλήματος (Problem Event Name):	BEX64
Όνομα εφαρμογής (Application Name):	Explorer.EXE
Έκδοση εφαρμογής (Application Version):	10.0.19041.610
Χρονική σήμανση εφαρμογής (Application Timestamp):	ab30c679
Όνομα ελαττωματικής λειτουργικής μονάδας (Fault Module Name):	StackHash_4fe4
Έκδοση ελαττωματικής λειτουργικής μονάδας:	0.0.0.0
Χρονική σήμανση ελαττωματικής λειτουργικής μονάδας:	00000000
Μετατόπιση εξαίρεσης (Exception Offset):	PCH_E5_FROM_ntdll+0x000000000009C8F4
Κωδικός εξαίρεσης (Exception Code):	c0000005
Δεδομένα εξαίρεσης (Exception Data):	0000000000000008
Έκδοση λειτουργικού συστήματος (OS Version):	10.0.19041.2.0.0.768.101
Αναγνωριστικό τοπικών ρυθμίσεων (Locale ID):	1032
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 1:	4fe4
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 2:	4fe48443420d2e8d4afe531d780de425
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 3:	c3ef
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 4:	c3eff943408f9e455a715ed80d35b4ab

Περισσότερες πληροφορίες σχετικά με το πρόβλημα
Αναγνωριστικό κάδου:	dace8c8bdbc6cc651b643f81476063fc (1973772361175950332)

[f16akias]

Will try now disabling the specific 2 registry options “PowerArchiver Hint Handler64” and “PowerArchiver Preview Handler64” via ‘ShellExView’ to keep testing.

Please (if you cannot post it here send me a private message I am a programmer) regarding those 2 registry values. What are their purpose and how-where can i check-test them.
Maybe you should consider troubleshooting with Microsoft also since they tend to make changes that break up programs. Missing the old Win XP times :)

[spwolf]

Those dll’s should not be enabled anymore in PA 2020. Can you see location of those dlls through shellexview please?

thanks!

[f16akias]

They are not leftovers from PA 2017 installation because as I said before
@f16akias said in PowerArchiver shell extensions possibly crashing windows explorer.exe:

Also keep in mind that after PA uninstall 2 context menu items are left in registry… “PowerArchiver Hint Handler64” and “PowerArchiver Preview Handler64”
Moreover uninstalling pa still leaves 2 context menu registry entries one contains hint x64 on name and the other support x64 and I have to delete them manually.

After manual deletion from Registry since PA 2017,2019 uninstallation, they are still imported to registry after PA 2021 installation. PA 2017,2019,2021 do create those 2 entries and after uninstall they do not delete them.

Here are the paths:

1. “PowerArchiver Hint Handler64”
   ~C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver*PASHLEXTh64.DLL* <–(This one cannot be found!!)
   ~\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{d03d3e7B-0c44-3d45-b15f-bcfd8a8b4c7e}
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{d03d3e7B-0c44-3d45-b15f-bcfd8a8b4c7e}\InProcServer32]
   @=“C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PASHLEXTh64.DLL”
   “ThreadingModel”=“Apartment”

2. “PowerArchiver Preview Handler64”
   ~C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PASHLEXTe64.DLL
   ~\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{D03D3E7D-0C44-3D45-B15F-BCFD8A8B4C7E}
   [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{D03D3E7D-0C44-3D45-B15F-BCFD8A8B4C7E}]
   @=“PowerArchiver Preview Handler64”
   “AppID”="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
   “DisableLowILProcessIsolation”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{D03D3E7D-0C44-3D45-B15F-BCFD8A8B4C7E}\InprocServer32]
@=“C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PASHLEXTe64.DLL”
“ThreadingModel”=“Apartment”
“ProgID”=“pashlexte64.zipfile”
“VersionIndependentProgID”=“pashlexte64.zipfile”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{D03D3E7D-0C44-3D45-B15F-BCFD8A8B4C7E}\ProgID]
@=“pashlexte64.zipfile”

---

Fastest way for me to reproduce the bug:
Browse folders-subfolders, go back,back.
Cut some content and paste it somewhere else.
Cut a folder and paste it to desktop.
Ceate an empty folder there where you cutted and rename it with the same name as the cutted one.
Close the folder view.
If it does not crash reopen and close it.
This gives me the best chances to reproduce the bug.
If explorer restarts (BEX64) then to get it again faster reboot the computer

[Mili]

I think I have been able to reproduce it finally, by doing the step by step as you have mentioned.
Will screen record it now and log it in for fixing

[Mili]

After further testing, we have been able to reproduce the explorer crash even when PA shell is disabled in shellex as well as the two reg paths deleted.

Initial tests did not reproduce the crash when PA shell was disabled but further testing today, while recording it on video, reproduced the crash when PA shell was disabled also.
The crash does not mention PA Shell or BEX64.
Are you still getting a PA Shell/BEX64 error when explorer crashes?

Regardless, we are still logging this issue in for the dev team to check out

[f16akias]

With PA uninstalled plus those 2 leftover registry entries manually deleted I got no BEX64 error, explorer crash for over a week doing exactly the same actions.
With it installed I got 7 BEX64 errors (no other crash) like the one below in 5 hours (after each bex64 I rebooted my pc)

@f16akias said in PowerArchiver shell extensions possibly crashing windows explorer.exe:

Unfortunately I received again a BEX64 error with PA 20.00.58, just by cutting a folder, pasting it at desktop, then creating an empty folder at the initial origin and renaming with original name.

Using Greek Windows 10 (English Translation)

Περιγραφή (Description)
Διαδρομή ελαττωματικής εφαρμογής (Faulting Application Path):	C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Υπογραφή προβλήματος
Όνομα συμβάντος προβλήματος (Problem Event Name):	BEX64
Όνομα εφαρμογής (Application Name):	Explorer.EXE
Έκδοση εφαρμογής (Application Version):	10.0.19041.610
Χρονική σήμανση εφαρμογής (Application Timestamp):	ab30c679
Όνομα ελαττωματικής λειτουργικής μονάδας (Fault Module Name):	StackHash_4fe4
Έκδοση ελαττωματικής λειτουργικής μονάδας:	0.0.0.0
Χρονική σήμανση ελαττωματικής λειτουργικής μονάδας:	00000000
Μετατόπιση εξαίρεσης (Exception Offset):	PCH_E5_FROM_ntdll+0x000000000009C8F4
Κωδικός εξαίρεσης (Exception Code):	c0000005
Δεδομένα εξαίρεσης (Exception Data):	0000000000000008
Έκδοση λειτουργικού συστήματος (OS Version):	10.0.19041.2.0.0.768.101
Αναγνωριστικό τοπικών ρυθμίσεων (Locale ID):	1032
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 1:	4fe4
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 2:	4fe48443420d2e8d4afe531d780de425
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 3:	c3ef
Πρόσθετες πληροφορίες 4:	c3eff943408f9e455a715ed80d35b4ab

Περισσότερες πληροφορίες σχετικά με το πρόβλημα
Αναγνωριστικό κάδου:	dace8c8bdbc6cc651b643f81476063fc (1973772361175950332)

Again my notices:

1. I have disabled the Windows explorer preview option (the one that has a preview option on the right side of the window)
2. It does not matter if I select from PA options to enable-disable the shell extensions. BEX64 will continue. If I manually disable ALL PA extensions via ShellExView (right click all PA context entries plus those 2 mentioned above, disable) then I get no BEX64.
3. My only other entries in the context menu are Nero, Notepad++ and Avast.
4. Firstly I tried with all non Microsoft entries disabled. Then enabling 1 at a time.
5. I spent a lot of time testing this, now I am enabling some PA entries and spend more time before I conclude if crash occurs-will occur or not, before I return here and write something.
6. Funny thing is that PowerArchiver as an app works perfectly. The cause are the loaded dlls messing with explorer.exe

Please keep testing and debugging as this error is not so informative but seems that something cause those dlls to crash explorer.
One though and only guessing, nothing else is if something in those dlls looks for files-paths and when I cut them or create a folder that existed messes up things. Just a user experience thought…

[Mili]

Thanks @f16akias
Added this latest information to the logged in bug report, let’s try it with the next update, coming up soon