I come home to my sister telling me her computer is broken. When it starts up everything is fine until you log in, after logging in, this message appears: Explorer.exe - Entry point not found The procedure entry point SHCreatThreadRef could not be located in the dynamic link library SHLWAPI.dll. She says she just installed updates and when she rebooted this comes up. There is no desktop, start menu, icons ect, just her wallpaper. When i click ok on this warning, nothing changes, all i see is the wallpaper. Anyone know what to do? Thanks, Chris
Well, a google groups search shows that you're not the only person with this exact problem. Unfortunately, nobody has an answer yet. Seems to be related to a bad patch. Try to start in safe mode and see if that lets you in. If so, try uninstalling the updates. Good luck.
Chris, I don't see you online. Drop me a line when you are on. Try to boot up to a command prompt (F8 and choosing command prompt, not the safe mode command prompt). Then CD Windows SCANREG /RESTORE and see if you have a restore mark that you can restore to. Give that a shot. If not, then there might be another alternative. But I need to know if you are getting the schwapi error (I forget the dll but that's what we used to call it).
Try this as well: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;284706 Its a similiar but not exact error that calls for replacement of the shlwapi.dll Sunny
possible solution since i have had similar problems before. If possible connect the hard drive as a slave on a working computer with same operating system, I assume its windows Xp. when you have this, go to the Windows folder on the HD of the working computer, then go to System32 folder look for the missing .dll then copy it. Now go to the slave HD (hers) and locate the same folder System32 under Windows folder, and paste the .dll, now you could return the HD to her computer and that should be it. worked on my situation in which i messed up 3 .dll's and explorer.exe but make sure is same OS.
They can be. Versions are more impornant. The OS's must be the same for most of the .dll copying. But typically, this is only a worst case scenario: i.e. - your OS will not bootup, system restore, no go, the drive is in NTFS, and you don't have a way to read/write to NTFS in DOS. etc. What's the update Chris?
Still SOL man. Need to get this fixed soon or the sister will have a meltdown (she's dependant on AIM) Should i try the hard drive approach? I really don't want to because i haven't backed stuff up on my 'puta recently.
Unless you know how to mess around with hardware, don't start swapping hard disks. Use the one good computer you have to research XP recovery methods on Microsoft's support site, and do them in order of increasing complexity. Are you the household IT bod? It's a crappy position. You might be better off saying you don't know how to fix it, and waiting for it to be taken to a shop to be fixed. Wean them off your IT skills now. Also, it may not be a bad thing to let it sit for a week or two if your sister is addicted to IM.
Ok, i just tried something that might work. Get your self a floppy and put it on the working computer, copy the .dll onto the floppy. Now turn on the non-working computer and press F8 before the windows logo comes up... select "safe mode with command prompt" when you log on the command prompt should be there... now insert the floppy on the non-working computer, type a: on the command prompt then type COPY A:\*filename* C:\WINDOWS\System32 that should copy the missing/corrupted dll after that type exit then press ALT +F4 and select shutdown, restart and that should be it... (make sure to remove floppy before restart). Joe
