Browser launches Explorer for file selection, then freezes. Dialog inaccessible.

Environment/Scenario: Windows 11, using a browser such as Google Chrome, Opera, Edge, etc. Hardware is an HP ZBook, i7 Core 32GB RAM 1TB SSD computer, well within Windows 11 requirements.

Within a forum website where one can elect to include a media file (such as an image), clicking on the link launches the mini dialog for Windows Explorer. It's possible to navigate to the file of interest. Clicking "OK" or double-clicking the image shifts focus back to the calling program. However... the program freezes. Totally unresponsive, yet, Task Manager does not show a status of unresponsive. If you go to the task bar and mouse over the frozen browser, a mini icon of the session shows. When you mouse over that, you then get a view of the session... but it's showing the Windows Explorer file selection dialog that had previously been clicked "OK." So it's still there... but it's not showing as a separate process in the visual application stack. You can't get any control to it either--the moment you click on it, focus is lost and shows the browser instead, which is still unresponsive.

In some cases, if you wait some minutes... 10+ or so... the dialog may timeout and return control back to the browser. But sometimes it doesn't happen. ALSO, if you launch a separate Windows Explorer process and browse for files, all is OK, until you double-click to open a file for viewing. That Photo Viewer session is OK, but upon going back to the Windows Explorer, it is now unresponsive and grayed out with a busy mouse pointer status.

I ran SFC /scannow, which had found some corruption and fixed it. I also ran the DISM commands to verify integrity. All passed. Rebooted. Ran SFC /scannow again and all checked out.

After a fresh boot, the problem isn't present. It's after the laptop has been active for a day or so, without rebooting (just put to sleep). I'm not doing anything different than I was previously to this issue.

This problem started happening a little over a month ago. Prior to that, all sorts of frequent file attachment activities with Windows Explorer were fine. I'm wondering if some subsequent Windows Update might have caused a problem? I searched and could not find an official report of this problem.

Any advise would be appreciated to resolve this. Thanks!

Once this issue starts happening between a browser and Windows Explorer, this is what can end up happening when launching Windows Explorer as a separate process:


Thankfully, one can close the process and then restart, where it usually works on the next try... but if you view another file by double-clicking on an icon, Windows Explorer freezes up. When the browser freezes up, there's absolutely NO control. Not even the system menu for the window is responsive (meaning, if you click CLOSE (X), it won't do anything--you have to use Task Manager to kill the process).

OK, finally I saw Windows had another update. A cumulative patch. Interestingly enough, this wasn't just an apply-reboot and all done. My laptop rebooted 4 times, each with various different messages about updates being applied. Anyway, after that completed, so far I'm not seeing this Windows Explorer freezing problem happen. I checked the version, now 22H2 / 22621.1194.

Looks like this patch solves a few issues that may be responsible for the problem I reported. Most of the time the tripping happens when using search criteria to locate specific files in the target folder, although on occasion it would simply happen by browsing in Windows Explorer.

Highlights​

• This update addresses an issue that might occur when the Input Method Editor (IME) is active. Applications might stop responding when you use the mouse and keyboard at the same time.
• This update addresses an issue that might occur when you convert or reconvert Japanese Kanji using a multibyte character set (MBCS) app. The cursor might move to the wrong location when you type.
• This update addresses an issue that affects picture files you find using search on the taskbar. This issue stops you from opening those pictures in the photo application you choose.
• This update addresses an issue that stops you from searching for a file based on the file’s contents.
• This update addresses an issue that affects some game controllers. When the game controller is connected to the computer, the computer might not go to Sleep mode.

Improvements​

This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB:

• New! This update changes the experience for preview .NET Framework updates. After you install this update, all future preview (optional) .NET Framework updates will display on the Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates page. On that page, you can control which optional updates you want to install.
• This update addresses an issue that affects searchindexer.exe. It randomly stops you from signing in or signing out.
• This update addresses a resource conflict issue between two or more threads (known as a deadlock). This deadlock affects COM+ applications.
• This update addresses an issue that affects conhost.exe. It stopsresponding.
• This update addresses an issue that might affect the Domain Name System (DNS) suffix search list. When you configure it, the parent domain might be missing.
• This update addresses an issue that might affect FindWindow() or FindWindowEx(). They might return the wrong window handle.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain systems that have firmware Trusted Platform Modules. (TPM). This issue stops you from using AutoPilot to set up those systems.
• This update addresses an issue that affects mstsc.exe. It stops responding while connecting to a RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.
• This update addresses an issue that causes Windows Server 2022 domain controllers (DC) to stop responding. This occurs when they process Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) requests.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Resilient File System (ReFS) MSba tag. The issue causes a nonpaged pool leak.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the ReFS. The issue causes high nonpaged pool usage, which depletes system memory.
• This update addresses an issue that affects devices that are subject to Microsoft Exploit Protection Export Address Filtering (EAF). Some applications stop responding or do not open. These include Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader.
• This update addresses an issue that might affect applications that use Microsoft Edge WebView2 to display content. Applications that use WebView2 include Microsoft Office and the Widgets app. The content might appear blank or greyed out.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a Group Policy for Expanded Toasts.
• This update changes how you enable the Windows diagnostic data processor configuration in preparation for EU Data Boundary support. To learn more, see Enable Windows diagnostic data processor configuration.

Didn't solve it.

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 10.0.22621.1194, time stamp: 0x506ad647
Faulting module name: Windows.UI.Xaml.dll, version: 10.0.22621.1194, time stamp: 0x697986b1
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000092063c
Faulting process id: 0x0x6198
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D940042A87C51D
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\Windows.UI.Xaml.dll
Report Id: dfb6f40a-5677-45d7-bbda-d6251b1330ee
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Fault bucket 2044595813523478887, type 4
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: explorer.exe
P2: 10.0.22621.1194
P3: 506ad647
P4: Windows.UI.Xaml.dll
P5: 10.0.22621.1194
P6: 697986b1
P7: c0000005
P8: 000000000092063c
P9:
P10: