Solved Random Apps Hanging Issue Over Multiple OS Reinstalls

“The program explorer.exe version 10.0.26100.7462 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed.”

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<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Hang" />
    <EventID>1002</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>101</Task>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2025-12-27T20:24:12.7648545Z" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data Name="AppName">explorer.exe</Data>
    <Data Name="AppVersion">10.0.26100.7462</Data>
    <Data Name="ExeFileName">C:\Windows\explorer.exe</Data>
    <Data Name="HangType">Cross-thread;Cross-process</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Hang" />
    <EventID>1002</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>101</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2025-12-27T20:24:12.7648545Z" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
  </System>

  <EventData>
    <Data Name="AppName">explorer.exe</Data>
    <Data Name="AppVersion">10.0.26100.7462</Data>
    <Data Name="ExeFileName">C:\Windows\explorer.exe</Data>
    <Data Name="HangType">Cross-thread;Cross-process</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Spoiler: Task Manager screenshots during the hang

• Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.7462)
• Windows 11 Enterprise 25H2 (26200.7462)
• Windows 11 Enterprise IoT LTSC 2024 (26100.7462)

FreeBooter said:

Check hard drive for errors, execute Chkdsk C: /r command.

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PowerShell 7.5.4
PS C:\Users\<REDACTED>> chkdsk C: /scan /perf
The type of the file system is NTFS.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
  983808 file records processed.
File verification completed.
 Phase duration (File record verification): 2.99 seconds.
  15563 large file records processed.
 Phase duration (Orphan file record recovery): 5.01 milliseconds.
  0 bad file records processed.
 Phase duration (Bad file record checking): 0.20 milliseconds.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
  387 reparse records processed.
  1174826 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
 Phase duration (Index verification): 7.86 seconds.
  0 unindexed files scanned.
 Phase duration (Orphan reconnection): 644.02 milliseconds.
  0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
 Phase duration (Orphan recovery to lost and found): 0.24 milliseconds.
  387 reparse records processed.
 Phase duration (Reparse point and Object ID verification): 2.65 milliseconds.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Security descriptor verification completed.
 Phase duration (Security descriptor verification): 44.96 milliseconds.
  95510 data files processed.
 Phase duration (Data attribute verification): 0.24 milliseconds.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
  38149008 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
 Phase duration (USN journal verification): 49.97 milliseconds.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

 873583615 KB total disk space.
 395391196 KB in 346316 files.
    239928 KB in 95511 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
   1117223 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
 476835268 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
 218395903 total allocation units on disk.
 119208817 allocation units available on disk.
Total duration: 11.60 seconds (11606 ms).
PS C:\Users\<REDACTED>>

FreeBooter said:

If you are overclocking (pushing the components beyond their design) you should revert to default at least until the crashing is solved. If you don't know what it is you probably are not overclocking.,

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FreeBooter said:

If you recently added hardware to the system, try removing or replacing it. Or check with the manufacturer to see if any patches are available.

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1. My rig as normal with the RX 6800 XT installed
2. The same rig with the RX 6800 XT removed, running on the iGPU
3. The same rig with the RX 9070 XT installed

FreeBooter said:

Install Windows updates.

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Spoiler: Windows Updates

FreeBooter said:

Look in Device Manager to see if any devices are marked with an exclamation point (!), which indicates a problem. Review the events log displayed in the properties for any faulting device driver. Try to update the related driver.

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Spoiler: Device Manager Check

FreeBooter said:

Use SpeedFan to monitor temperatures in computers, overheating can cause BSOD.


Use Memtest86+ disc to check system memory's (RAM's) for errors.


Use CrystalDiskInfo to check SMART health report of the hard disk drive (HDD).

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Spoiler: Hardware Diagnostics

FreeBooter said:

Why use Chkdsk command if you're not going to repair bad sectors with /r switch.

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FreeBooter said:

All i can say is some background app you installed causing the not responding problem, try clean boot.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows - Microsoft Support

Describes how to use the clean boot process to troubleshoot a problem in Windows

support.microsoft.com

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• Firefox hangs when a new email arrives (toast expected).
• Logi G Hub hangs when changing DPI (toast expected). The toast doesn’t appear, then explorer.exe restarts.
• Thunderbird hangs on new mail (toast expected), sometimes freezing both the app and Explorer.
• Cursor was freezing at the end of a response, which also appears to trigger a notification.

I noticed that WpnUserService was taking up 8 GB of ram only a few minutes after restart, and that shutting it down improved stability. Then, I found a solution here to disable it permanently using registry:
Explorer hangs and taskbar becomes unresponsive when playing game

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[File Explorer (known issue)] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where File Explorer briefly flashes white when you navigate between pages. This issue might occur after you install KB5070311.

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After the latest updates, explorer.exe might stop responding (leading to the taskbar becoming unresponsive) after certain notifications.

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• Firefox hangs when the Gmail Checker Plus extension receives a new update.
• Logi G Hub hangs when I change DPI (which triggers a toast notification).

# Watch-StopWpn.ps1
# Always enforces: stops Windows push notification services whenever they are running.
# Single-instance: exits if another copy is already running.
# Log path is hardcoded.

$IntervalSeconds = 2

# Hardcoded log location
$LogPath = "C:\Logs\wpn_watcher.log"
$LogMaxSizeMB = 10

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path (Split-Path $LogPath) -Force | Out-Null

# Clear log if it exceeds max size
if (Test-Path $LogPath) {
  $logFile = Get-Item $LogPath -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
  if ($logFile -and ($logFile.Length / 1MB) -gt $LogMaxSizeMB) {
    Remove-Item $LogPath -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    # Write initial entry after clearing
    $clearMsg = "{0} [ENFORCE] Log cleared (exceeded {1}MB limit)" -f (Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff"), $LogMaxSizeMB
    $clearMsg | Out-File -FilePath $LogPath -Encoding utf8
  }
}

function Write-Log {
  param([string]$Message)
  $line = "{0} [ENFORCE] {1}" -f (Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff"), $Message
  $line | Out-File -FilePath $LogPath -Append -Encoding utf8
  Write-Host $line
}

function Get-HostedServicesByPid {
  param([int]$ProcessId)
  try {
    $svcs = Get-CimInstance Win32_Service |
      Where-Object { $_.ProcessId -eq $ProcessId } |
      Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
    if ($svcs) { return ($svcs -join ", ") }
    return ""
  } catch {
    return ""
  }
}

# Single-instance guard (mutex name derived from script path so it is unique per script)
$createdNew = $false
$mutex = $null
try {
  $idSource = if ($PSCommandPath) { $PSCommandPath } else { "Watch-StopWpn.ps1" }
  $bytes = [Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($idSource)
  $hash  = [Security.Cryptography.SHA1]::Create().ComputeHash($bytes)
  $hashHex = ($hash | ForEach-Object { $_.ToString("x2") }) -join ""
  $mutexName = "Global\WatchStopWpn_$hashHex"

  $mutex = New-Object System.Threading.Mutex($true, $mutexName, [ref]$createdNew)
  if (-not $createdNew) {
    Write-Log "Another instance is already running. Exiting."
    exit 0
  }

  # Exit if not elevated (stopping services requires admin)
  $isAdmin = ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal] [Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()
             ).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole]::Administrator)
  if (-not $isAdmin) {
    Write-Log "Error: not running elevated. Admin rights required. Exiting."
    exit 1
  }

  Write-Log "Watcher started. IntervalSeconds=$IntervalSeconds"

  while ($true) {
    try {
      # Stop all WpnService/WpnUserService* if running
      foreach ($pattern in @("WpnService", "WpnUserService*")) {
        $services = Get-Service -Name $pattern -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        if (-not $services) { continue }

        foreach ($svc in $services) {
          if ($svc.Status -eq "Running") {
            $cim = Get-CimInstance Win32_Service -Filter "Name='$($svc.Name)'" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
            $svcPid = if ($cim) { [int]$cim.ProcessId } else { 0 }
            $hosted = if ($svcPid -gt 0) { Get-HostedServicesByPid -ProcessId $svcPid } else { "" }

            Write-Log "RUNNING: $($svc.Name) PID=$svcPid HostedServices=[$hosted] Action=STOPPING"

            try {
              Stop-Service -Name $svc.Name -Force -ErrorAction Stop
              Write-Log "STOPPED: $($svc.Name)"
            } catch {
              Write-Log "FAILED_STOP: $($svc.Name) Error=$($_.Exception.Message)"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    } catch {
      Write-Log "Loop error: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    }

    Start-Sleep -Seconds $IntervalSeconds
  }
}
finally {
  if ($mutex) {
    try { $mutex.ReleaseMutex() } catch {}
    $mutex.Dispose()
  }
}

• Checks if wpn_watcher.log is 10MB or larger. If so, it clears the log before continuing.
• Checks if another instance of the script is already running. If so, it exits.
• Checks if the script is running elevated. If not, it logs a warning (stopping services may fail without admin).

• Every 2 seconds, checks whether WpnService or WpnUserService (to match any unique ID) are running, If so, it stops them
• Logs all actions to "C:\Logs\wpn_watcher.log"

• At startup (boot)
  Every 5 minutes thereafter

• Runs as an admin user with stored password
• “Run with highest privileges” enabled
• Runs PowerShell 7 with -ExecutionPolicy Bypass
  • Program: "C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe"
  • Arguments: -NoLogo -NonInteractive -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "\Script living directory\Watch-StopWpn.ps1"
  • Start in: "\Script living directory\"
• Allows parallel runs (the script’s single-instance guard handles duplicates)
• No runtime limit (the script is a watcher)
• “Start the task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed” enabled

sc config WpnService start= disabled
sc config WpnUserService start= disabled
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnUserService" /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WpnUserService" /v UserServiceFlags /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

PandaSeeker99 said:

I can update here that the problem still exists as I pursue a solution beyond disabling WPNUserService via regedit - at first, I thought it was a hardware issue, but it seems to just be a Windows error.

I have a brand-new PC running a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and an Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti. I have never had an AMD CPU with an Nvidia GPU before; I have always used Intel. Wondering if something here is causing an issue in Windows.

The only solution that works right now is to disable WPNUserService permanently, but it's annoying because it bricks things like the notifications tab, the calendar widget, and some apps that rely on overlays.

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