Windows 10: Explorer not responding, Task Manager not opening

Hi all,


I hope someone here can help me because I'm at my wit's end.


I have a Surface Pro 4, running windows 10 that I hadn't turned on in about 4-6 weeks. Yesterday I tried it and to my despair could not log in - the log in screens were super slow and when they came back to life just had a message "There was a problem with your camera, please log in with PIN".


After a few tries I was able to log in with my password, but now I have a new problem: nothing actually starts. I can see my desktop with the taskbar with just the default buttons windows key + search icon and in the other end the clock and the notification icon. When I hover over it mouse just turns into a loader. Windows key does nothing I've tried all combinations, windows + E, Windows + R, etc and if I try to open the task manager by doing CTRL + ALT + DEL nothing opens. Also I tried to create a new folder on the desktop just by right-clicking on it and then selecting new --> folder, but I just end up getting the 0x8000ffff catastrophic failure error.



I've tried restarting it in safe mode from the login screen by pressing shift while restarting, but it just restarts normally; I've tried crashing it 3 times during Windows start by pressing the power button, to see if the advanced startup options are available, but it just starts normally.


Does anyone have any idea of what I could try next?

:)

 

Explorer and Task Manager do not respond

This is a random bug that occurred when I did the following:

1. Request to "save as" a file using Google Chrome

2. Explorer window to select destination never opened

3. Tried to open Task Manager and restart Explorer, Task Manager opened and stopped responding (nothing ever appeared)

4. Tried to open File Explorer but it never opens the window

5. Tried to open Task Manager using Ctrl + Alt + Del (the same thing happened) and some of my taskbar icons disappeared (shortcuts are still there, but have no image). Groove, Store, Email, Netflix and Messenger still have their icons. Chrome, Paint, Task
Manager, Discord and other don't

6. Sent termination signal to the process "explorer.exe" using taskkill /IM explorer.exe, that didn't do anything

 

Task Bar, Task manager and apps, all not responding, Windows 10

step 1 worked a dream. Had earlier tried everything suggested in these forums. nothing had worked to solve the problem. The media creation tool as suggested in step 1 did the trick. - it took several hours, but worth it.

ps. original complaint - non responding - and task manager - blank or useless.

 

windows explorer

Hi,

This issue may have occurred due to a software conflict. We suggest that you follow the steps below on how to refresh the Windows Explorer to correct this issue:

• While your Windows Explorer is open, right click on the Windows icon
  and select Task Manager.
• On the task Manager window, under the Processes tab, look for
  Windows Explorer.
• Highlight Windows Explorer and click Restart at the bottom right corner of the Task Manager window.
• The Windows Explorer will close automatically. Close the Task Manager. Open the Windows Explorer and check if the issue is gone.

Let us know if you need further assistance.