Win11 constant crashing of explorer.exe after KB5025224 and KB5025239 installs in April

Hi

I am losing the will to live ever since the KB 5025224/50252539 I have experienced constant and worsening Explorer.exe crashing , crashing task bar and display and several apps. Sometimes it restarts and crashed again in a constant loop , sometimes it never restarts .

My machine is now unusable. I have tried every single repair from scf , DISM , chdsk in various commands Mem test etc . Repair installed win11 etc ad nauseam and NOTHING works. Tried the good old tweak now repair tool eventually and still no joy. I have tried every single solution on the web ncluding all those listed by Microsoft .

I cannot uninstall these updates.

I tried the DISM onine get packages and it lists many packages but none I can identify as this SSU/LCU.

Widows have created a monster and I am getting close to buying a MAC!! much against my personal preferences

I do not wish to do a clean install and lose all of my apps as some are not replaceable.

Can anyone please advise how I can keep files and apps and remove these updates ?

Or fix the explorer corruption .

Many thanks

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Welcome to the forum. I don't suppose you created a backup image from before this issue that you could restore?

Perform a clean boot to eliminate software conflict causing the issue if you can operate long enough to get into msconfig . If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. Brink's procedure will help you weed out which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

And, why not take a tip from those of us who have defeated the Updates Beast, by just shutting that dang thing OFF? (MS Updates)

If you brought that PC to my shop, with that complaint, and you didn't have any System Restore points to go back to, (WHY?) or a system backup, (Ooops!) I'd save your data files and do a CLEAN RE-Install of Windows. Then I'd make dang sure that your System Restore feature was turned ON, and I'd make you a Backup Image of your entire C: drive, for future safety. OH, and MS Updates would be permanently shut off, using the program "StopBackups10.exe" .
Life with a PC is so much simpler and happier when you just do a few simple things, for your own safety and well being.

Cheers Mate!
TM

@TechnoMage2021 Truly, I mean no disrespect to your opinions, but every time I see you advising someone to turn off updates to solve a problem my conscience won't let me not disagree. That is not good advice in this day and age. Turning off updates is no more than a cover-up to a problem one has with his machine. It is our responsibility to give the best advice we can on how to FIX problems, not camouflage them, and certainly not give advise that might at some point put someone's system at risk. My disagreement is in no way meant as any kind of personal attack. It's based on common sense and I feel most folks here would agree with me on that.

@assybish Along with clean boot, you can also test using safe boot. You can get into safe boot from within windows OR from recovery options at startup (Hold down shift key while restarting will get you into WinRE-then advanced options)

Report back results of testing in both clean boot and safe boot.

glasskuter said:

Welcome to the forum. I don't suppose you created a backup image from before this issue that you could restore?

Perform a clean boot to eliminate software conflict causing the issue if you can operate long enough to get into msconfig . If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. Brink's procedure will help you weed out which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome . I don't have an image pre this sadly . I did have system restore but windows seems to have deleted several restore points! I will try clean boot .It was on the list left to do. I just hoped someone could advise how the remove the damn updates - as no method works and as I say the DISM listing produces many packages but none that seem to realte os I could use DISM to remove them IF I had the LSU#.I am disgusted by Microsoft . I have been win user fromXP through all variants until buying this machine with the abomination that is win11. Hate it but it kind of worked until the infamous April 2023 SSU !! . Thanks for the input .

TechnoMage2021 said:

And, why not take a tip from those of us who have defeated the Updates Beast, by just shutting that dang thing OFF? (MS Updates)

If you brought that PC to my shop, with that complaint, and you didn't have any System Restore points to go back to, (WHY?) or a system backup, (Ooops!) I'd save your data files and do a CLEAN RE-Install of Windows. Then I'd make dang sure that your System Restore feature was turned ON, and I'd make you a Backup Image of your entire C: drive, for future safety. OH, and MS Updates would be permanently shut off, using the program "StopBackups10.exe" .
Life with a PC is so much simpler and happier when you just do a few simple things, for your own safety and well being.

Cheers Mate!
TM

Click to expand...

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why you so adamantly advocate turning off Microsoft Updates. There is, after all, a reason Microsoft gives us regular updates. They're not just whistling Dixie! Just a few reasons for Windows Updates:

1. Security: Most monthly Windows Updates include updates for security issues, which are the worst possible type, as they can be exploited by malware and hackers.

2. Windows Bugs & Other Issues: Windows isn't perfect, included bugs and other issues can impact the stability and safety of your OS. Microsoft Updates can and do solve these types of issues.

3. Critical Updates: Generally a widely released fix for a specific problem that addresses a critical non-security-related bug. Yeah, coders are human too, and can make mistakes.

System Restore? Why in the world would anyone depend on System Restore? Historically, it fails miserably when trying to go back to an earlier installation.

If you rely on System Restore for any type of Windows backups, you're asking for trouble. Yes, the restore points created automatically have saved my system from failure a time or two; however, all too often I've attempted to turn back the clock only to be informed that my computer could not be restored or something similar. Ain't no way I'll depend on System Restore.

So, for me, shutting off Microsoft Updates is tantamount to opening up my system to malware, hackers, and, a complete lack of security; never mind that I don't receive any Security, Critical, or, Feature Updates, etc.

We must all remember that the advice we give is read by rank beginners, as well as the pros. The pros know better when we give bad advice, but the newbies and beginners will grasp any any straw, no matter how crazy it looks.

I believe I encountered the same issue. After boot and login the desktop would flash white, then wallpaper, then white again in a continuous loop. Spent several hours fighting with it, working by remote complicated the issue. It was possible to bring up taskmanager and cmd prompt, but attempting to enter something at cmd was nearly impossible as each flash interrupted keyboard entry. I had the client force shutdown several times, when it booted up the desktop was normal and there was an "App Could Not Start" error. The offending app was........



Wait for it.........



Cortana!

Go figure.
I disabled Cortana and the problem seems to be resolved.
Hope this helps someone else.