Solved Windows 8 showing file extensions causes crash

[solo2002]

Dear all,

I have recently installed Windows 8 Enterprise RTM x86 on FSC V3505 laptop and so far the OS has been working for a month. However, Recently I tried to access "Control panel -> Indexing options -> Advanced -> File types" which caused the Indexing options windows to close. Similarly, trying to access "Control panel -> Default Programs - > Associate a file type or protocol with a program" causes windows explorer to crash. The Event Viewer reports are shown below. Both options I am trying to access are supposed to show a list of file extensions. I am trying to figure out what is the reason for this behavior and possible to correct the issue without reinstalling windows from scratch. System restore is not a good option since there are only two restore points corresponding to recent time points.

I hope somebody has experienced the same. looking forward to your replies.
Regards
Solo

Attempting to access
Control panel -> Indexing options -> Advanced -> File types
causes the following error in Event Viewer

Faulting application name: DllHost.exe, version: 6.2.9200.16384, time stamp: 0x5010888a
Faulting module name: combase.dll, version: 6.2.9200.16420, time stamp: 0x505a976e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00027579
Faulting process id: 0xc58
Faulting application start time: 0x01cdb1548dcb21a1
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\DllHost.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\combase.dll
Report Id: cd0e851c-1d47-11e2-aff6-001a6b18f2c6
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Attempting to access Control panel -> Default Programs - > Associate a file type or protocol with a program
causes the following error in Event Viewer

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 6.2.9200.16384, time stamp: 0x50107d1c
Faulting module name: combase.dll, version: 6.2.9200.16420, time stamp: 0x505a976e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00027579
Faulting process id: 0xc04
Faulting application start time: 0x01cdb14ed4f8e396
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\combase.dll
Report Id: 5e9f398c-1d47-11e2-aff6-001a6b18f2c6
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

 

[Mystere]

That's a weird one. Combase.dll is used for Com/ActiveX controls. It seems odd that it would crash only on this, since Com is so heavily used in the system.

Do you have any apps installed that install explorer extensions? Like right click extensions? They might be causing the problem. You could try doing a system reset.

 

[solo2002]

I don't have so many right click options in explorer (UltraISO, Winrar, Avast, Adobe Bridge). I will leave it this way since I rarely try to change file associations. I will post again if I come up with a solution.

 

[solo2002]

A little update. I downloaded FileTypesMan 1.62 and executing the application gives me the following error reported by the FileTypesMan itself.

Exception C0000005 at address 76F87579 in module combase.dll
Registers:
EAX=00000000 EBX=0013C744 ECX=253506B7 EDX=0013C4C0
ESI=80004005 EDI=00000000 EBP=0013BB4C ESP=0013BAF8
EIP=76F87579
Stack Data: 24 C1 13 00 00 00 00 00 C4 7B 2B 00 3E 0F E9 41 C1 56 33 46 81 C3 6E 8B AC 8B DD 70 64 3B F6 76 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 5C BB 13 00 A8 7B 2B 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C4 7B 2B 00 01 00 00 00 80 BF 13 00 8C BB 13 00 DF 4F F8 76 C0 C4 13 00 00 00 00 00 B8 0A CC 04 44 C7 13 00 24 C1 13 00 00 00 00 00 C4 EB 06 77 24 C1 13 00 00 00 00 00
Code Data: 8B 08 50 FF 51 08 8B 4D 10 85 C9 74 06 8B 01 51 FF 50 08 8B C6 5E 5F 8B E5 5D C2 10 00 90 90 90 90 90 8B FF 55 8B EC 83 EC 34 A1 9C EB 06 77 33 C5 89 45 FC 8B 45 0C 83 65 E0 00 53 8B 5D 08 56 57 8B 7D 10 8D 4D E0 89 45 CC 8B 45 14 51 68 1C 3A F8 76 89 45 D8 8B 07 57 FF 50 10 85 C0 0F 89 6B E6 07 00 8B 03 83 65 D0 00 83 65 DC 00 8D 4D D0 51 8D 4D DC 51 57 53 FF 50 14 8B F0 85 F6 78

 

[solo2002]

The problem is solved! I used ShellExView to disable shell extensions. The problematic one was "Microsoft Access Custom Icon Handler". The solution is to disable "Microsoft Access Custom Icon Handler" or to move the soa800.dll file to a different location. I hope this thread will help others.

 

[Mystere]

Glad you figured it out. Like I said, I figured it was probably one of these extensions.

Are you using Access 97? That's a *REALLY* old version, and wasn't supported on Windows 7 either.

See Windows 7 & Access 97 Associated Files error/crash - Microsoft Community

 

[solo2002]

I currently have MS Office 2010 installed with only MS Word, MS Excel and MS Powerpoint. Strangely I have this folder "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Access 97" where I have files with showing as date modifies between 1996-1998. One of this files is soa800.dll.

 

[Mystere]

That's very strange that an ancient version of Access would somehow get it's context menu extension installed. Maybe you should just delete the whole folder.