Help....the application failed to initialize properly 0xc0150002 explorer.exe

[ev973]

hey,

i think i turned off my computer while the windows updates where going the ones that install after you shutdown...

when i started it back up i found myself with a error

the application failed to initialize properly 0xc0150002 explorer.exe

i looked online on some websites and i googled it but i found no solutions that would fit. The problem is that the error comes up on startup i can not acess the start menu or alt ctrl delete does not work either. I tried booting it up into safe mode and that does not help one bit.

If anyone has a suggestion of how to fix this without reformating that would be best. Thank you very much

 

[redduc900]

Without knowing which OS you're running, I'll assume it's XP. If that's the case, then I'd suggest a repair install...

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

... or you could try restoring your system to a time just prior to installing the Windows Updates, as long as you can access the "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" option from the Advanced Options menu (in order to access the menu, press the F8 key just before Windows begins to load / directly after POST). You'll need to log on as the administrator, or a user that has administrative rights. At the command prompt, type...

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe ...and then press ENTER.

...then just follow the instructions on the screen. Another possibility is to select the "Last Known Good Configuration" (your most recent settings that worked) option from the Advanced Options menu.

 

[ev973]

well thanks for the help but i tried both the system restore and the last known config and neither worked.....

i am getting my new video card tommarow anyway so i am poping in a harddrive from another computer and formating that...then i guess with the harddrive that has the explorer.exe error i will get the files off of later.

If i put the harddrive with the problem as the slave how would i go about taking the files off then...would the problem not longer affect me or would i need a special program to get them off?


Thanks
-ev973

 

[DeFessler]

You could always reinstall windows on the hard drive thats already in, just so long as you don't select format all your files will remain there and if you did just put it in slave, it would jus show up as another hard drive and you could easily copy files off of it.

 

[andrew137]

Hi!

Here's what worked for me:

http://www.andrewsworld.org/manual/solutions/windows/c0150002.htm

Hope that helps!

Andrew

 

[boardy]

Thanks Andrew...but

Hi, thanks for the advice andrew. I too had the same problems of not getting into windows etc. I've followed your steps and they now get me into windows. However, it is still booting with the NT style loggin prompt and once in, The task bar loads, but it is blank, i.e. no start button. Pressing the 'Windows' key, i get the pop up as expected but again, it is blank bar saying 'ALL PROGRAMS', LOG OFF and Turn Off Computer (were all other icons where is just blank space). CTRL ALT DELETE doesnt work either. I do however have my desktop icons as before.

I've done a system restore going back to 2 weeks ago (activated using the command prompt) but still no good.

I've also tried (and then restored) replacing the explorer.exe file from another manchine running XP SP2 but again, no difference. So i went back to the one on the machine.

Do you have any suggestions on how to complete the recovery? Any advice from anyone would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

 

[zmaint]

F8 to safe mode with command prompt

from C:\windows

attrib -s -h $ntuninstallkb923191$

then from C:\windows

cd $ntuninstallkb923191$

then from C:\windows\$ntuninstallkb923191$

cd spuninst

then from C:\windows\$ntuninstallkb923191$\spuninst

spuninst.exe

That should get you a GUI uninstaller for that particular update. I've used this several times for this update, and also to remove other updates/service packs.

 

[boardy]

Thanks for the advice, ill try it when i get back from work. One question though, does your advice assume i've followed Andrews instructions or am i best returning the PC to the state it was in, i.e. not booting past the initial error.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[andrew137]

boardy: I'd guess something else is corrupted in your system that didn't affect the one I was working on. I'd be tempted to replace the C:\Windows\System32 directory with one from another working SP2 install. (But I advise renaming the old one first so that you can put it back if this doesn't fix it.) If you still don't have any luck, there are a few other system directories within c:\windows that might be worth replacing too.

ev973: I spent a week solving the exact same problem as you described and tried everything above (including a repair reinstall). Nothing worked until I arrived at the steps in the page I link to above - it's worth a go.

 

[austincom]

Thanks

Hi Andrew,
My laptop crashed 6 days ago with this problem and I've been searching the Internet for a solution. I found your entry from Oct 2006, tried it, and it worked. Can't thank you enough.

regards,
Kay Austin

 

[carrie789]

Hi, I have the same 0xc0150002 problem. I see that in December Kay was able to solve the problem using Andrew's solution from Oct 2006. Now, that link is no longer available. Does anyone know what that solution was, or do you know of another one. I cannot load Windows, but I can get to the safemode cursor so I can use DOS commands.
Thanks, Carol

 

[redduc900]

Since you can access the Safe Mode command prompt, can you also enter Safe Mode? And I assume you've already tried running the System Restore tool from the Safe Mode command prompt?

 

[Roen]

Andrew's Solution

I'm a tech support guy for a local municipality, and a high ranking person brought in his computer he was doing some work from home on with the same symptoms as you folks have described. I hooked it up and was able to get by the password screen with a blank password, but Explorer.exe would crash, causing the whole interface to fail loading.

Explorer.exe Application Error
Failed to initialize properly 0xc0150002

About an hour of Google research turned up several results of folks that have had this problem caused by a specific Windows update, KB923191. In this thread and other sites, folks recommended booting to Last Known Good Configuration or booting to Safe Mode with Command Prompt and manually uninstalling the update, both of which failed to fix the problem. Finally, I got to Andrew's post where he recommended a link that no longer existed.

I had tried the update uninstall via the Safe Mode with Command Prompt, with no success, and System Restore must be disabled on this machine as the restore folder under %systemroot%\system32\ doesn't even exist. Regular Safe mode would turn up the same logon screen and error box. Still no GUI.

So, I tried Andrew's advice. His page is no longer up, of course, and Google didn't cache it. But, we're in luck - the Internet Archive Wayback Machine has it still! - in fact, it has several versions of the web page.

The important part of the document:

This problem was repaired by replacing the following two folders from the same folders on another working Windows XP SP2 install (or a parallel install) without the patch having been applied:

* %windir%\WinSxS
* %windir%\SoftwareDistribution

Read/write access must be gained to the drive, which can be done through Microsoft's recovery console, BartPE, or another method.

The failure is almost certainly due to just one file in one of these directories, but as of 22/10/2006, I am unable to be any more specific.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080126...rld.org/manual/solutions/windows/c0150002.htm

I had to boot a laptop running the same version of Windows (XP Professional) into Safe Mode in order to be able to get these folders as, otherwise, they are locked. I copied them to the Desktop, and rebooted to copy them to a thumb drive. I booted the broken computer with UBCD (A light version of Windows that runs from CD) and deleted the bad files and copied over the good ones from the thumb drive. I had to use the thumb drive because the burnt CD I made first couldn’t be loaded while running Windows from the same CD drive. I rebooted, and the Welcome screen was back, where the user can click his user to log in.

The computer is now back to 100%, and the user has picked it up to take home. He was very pleased that I didn't have to completely reinstall Windows. Thank you folks for your assistance!

 

[aldinho27]

This problem was repaired by replacing the following two folders from the same folders on another working Windows XP SP2 install (or a parallel install) without the patch having been applied:

* %windir%\WinSxS
* %windir%\SoftwareDistribution

Read/write access must be gained to the drive, which can be done through Microsoft's recovery console, BartPE, or another method.

The failure is almost certainly due to just one file in one of these directories, but as of 22/10/2006, I am unable to be any more specific.

http://web.archive.org/web/200801260...s/c0150002.htm

Hi Guys, i saw Andrew's solution, but i'm not so good with computers...
So, I understood that i have to replace the two folders from the same folders on another working Windows XP SP2 install, but i don't know HOW to do it.

Can anyone tell me the steps to do it please?

Thanks anyway =)

(Forgive my english, i'm from Sao Paulo, Brazil)

 

[dvally]

Roen: Great find from the waybackmachine! Excellent job! I used Andrews solution the same way that you did. I was getting the Explorer error and no GUI in Windows XP Pro SP3. I copied both folders from an existing working system with SP3. I then booted from UBCD and renamed folders on the non working system, replaced them with the copies and rebooted.

Voila! System up and running again! Andrew - Great job in the first place and Roen - Great job hunting the original solution up!

OCF Rocks!

Dvally

 

[JoeWii]

Had this problem a while ago, I don't think it's specifically related to windows update, it can happen while you're starting any application. I would suggest you try the solution mentioned here.