[Solved] Green ribbon of death on Windows 7

[mara-]

Hi guys,

For several days I have this damn issue. Who don't know what it is, it's when you try to open some folder, green ribbon starts filling, reaches almost end and never finishes, just sits there. During this, I can't right click, icons are gone, just showing white instead. I scanned for malware, everything is clean. First, I used log off-log on to resolve issue, which is random by the way, and later I discovered I need to terminate process dllhost.exe, and that is COM Surrogate process which is responsible for thumbnail extraction. I suspected codecs, and did re-install and tried with latest version, still the issue. And the issue is it's completely random, there isn't any specific folder which is causing this. Process Monitor and Process Explorer are completely stuck when this happens, although, it seems process monitor is working, but it updates its list only when I terminate dllhost.exe, but I can't find anything suspicions. I also tried sfc/scannow and no damaged files. So, anybody has any idea, as I'm completely lost here. Thanks.

Cheers ;)

[pekahman]

Hi Man,

Do you have Acronis True Image installed on your computer ?

Cause few month ago i have this problem and the cause was Acronis.

[mara-]

Yeah, I use it, and I suspected it as some of it's dll were attached to dllhost.exe process and I recently installed it, but it was strange to me that backup software would cause this. Is there any solution other then uninstalling Acronis?

Cheers ;)

[widetail]

Did you try to disable indexing ?

[dcs18]

Can you check whether the following 2 tweaks have been appropriately configured (as in enabled):-

• Always show icons, never thumbnails and
• Launch folder windows in a separate process

[alaindc]

sorry to hear that.

if you have multiple drive, does it always happen on one particular drive?

if you have some USB drive or stick, have you try to unplug them for a few hours, and see if this help?

if you use Malwarebytes realtime scanner, plus an antivirus, try to disable the malwarebytes services (start, run, services.msc), and also disable the realtime scanner in the program option, and reboot.

see if that help.

if both scanner try to check files at the same time, it can really slow accessing files and folder, sometimes.

[dcs18]

The third tweak that affects, directly - is whether your folders are optimized for General viewing:-

(Right-click any folder) >>> Customize >>> (select) General Items (from the drop-down menu) >>> (tick / enable) Also apply this template to all sub-folders.

A sign-off is recommended after configuring these 3 tweaks through an icon refresh.

[mara-]

@widetail

Indexing is only disabled on my SSD, and I never change anything regarding it since I got SSD, one year ago, other drives has it enabled.

@alaindc

No drives plugged in, I plug it only when needed. MBAM is installed, but real time is not active, nor MBAM, I just use it for manual scan.

@dcs18

All tweaks you mentioned are not enabled here, and I'm not sure I want to use third. You suggest applying all three?

The most probable cause is what pekahman said, and I'm just waiting to see is there any other solution other then removing Acronis. It looks like a perfect timing for when my problem started.

Cheers ;)

[pekahman]

Yeah, I use it, and I suspected it as some of it's dll were attached to dllhost.exe process and I recently installed it, but it was strange to me that backup software would cause this. Is there any solution other then uninstalling Acronis?

Cheers ;)

For me, the solution was to uninstall Acronis and reinstall it, after this all was perfect or if you want you can simply disable the Acronis windows explorer integration in the option of Acronis or with . ShellExView from Nirsoft

From Acronis Knowledge : http://forum.acronis.com/forum/35064

[pekahman]

You can test immediatly with ShellExView without reboot, 2 minutes and your issue will fix

[mara-]

OK, I just used ShellExView and disabled all Acronis items. There was one item that could possible cause this, and it's Acronis Icons Overlay. Since this was completely random, I'll need some time to see if it will re-appear. Thanks for your help, and everybody else, too.

Cheers ;)

[pekahman]

If you have this bug after update Acronis, uninstall and reinstall it will fix it, this is my case.

[mara-]

OK, will do. Thanks again.

Cheers ;)

[dcs18]

@dcs18

All tweaks you mentioned are not enabled here, and I'm not sure I want to use third. You suggest applying all three?

Yes, certainly - apply all the 3 tweaks (I'm surprised that such basics have not yet been configured.)

BTW, Acronis TIH is installed, here without the issue that you're having. ;)

[calguyhunk]

...when you try to open some folder, green ribbon starts filling, reaches almost end and never finishes, just sits there.....

That's just your explorer.exe taking it's own sweet time to load the folders/files in the location in question :( Can happen for a variety of reasons, but my best guess is that that's a real time scanner at work especially if the folder you're trying to open has a lot of executable files, batches, autoit scripts etc. ;) You don't need chkdsk or sfc /scannow. Your HDD doesn't have bad sectors, nor does your Windows file system have any issues, relax. :D

During this, I can't right click, icons are gone, just showing white instead

The folder/file icons are not gone. They are yet to arrive. Your AV/malware scanner doesn't want to give you access to those folders/files, till it is done scanning 'em. Changing to a different AV (with faster real-time scanning) or white-listing some of those locations you know to be safe will get you a faster access :yes:

Also, large folders with videos, images etc. take longer to open especially if some other background process/script is at work. The green band does appear during that time :(

the issue is it's completely random, there isn't any specific folder which is causing this.

It's not random. The specific folders I mentioned will do this the first time you try to access those locations after each startup. ;)

EDIT: Before white-listing locations, temporarily disable your AV/real time protection and then try to access the location. You'll see the difference immediately :)

[mara-]

@dcs18

I'm not surprised. :lol: I never wanted to make my folder look Generic and didn't see a need to use separate process. And if you check that link on Acronis forum, you'll see that people have randomly this issue, and that re-install fix it for them. You were lucky and don't have the issue.

@calguyhunk

There isn't any specific folder, I'm telling you. Sometimes I just open Computer and this happens, or when I open folder and only others folder are inside. And no, explorer is not taking it's sweet time.I waited for 10-15 minutes just to see if it will finish, and it never does. That's why it's called Green Ribbon of death, just type it in Google and you'll see. I'm not sanjoa to rush to post about my problem :lmao: before I explore all options I could find.

BTW, I have SSD, so there is no way it needs so much time, as access time is 0,130ms. Also, I'm using Eset, so there is no lighter solution. I suspected it, tried disabling, no change, and if you read my first post again, you'll see that I nailed issue to dllhost.exe (COM surrogate) which is responsible for thumbnail extraction and possibly all interactions with icons. When I terminate it, green ribbon unfreezes and continues to work normally until next time, since dllhost.exe returns immediately until it start giving this problem again.

Cheers ;)

[rudrax]

Updated version of windows XP's blue screen of death :lol:

[calguyhunk]

@calguyhunk

There isn't any specific folder, I'm telling you. Sometimes I just open Computer and this happens, or when I open folder and only others folder are inside. And no, explorer is not taking it's sweet time.I waited for 10-15 minutes just to see if it will finish, and it never does. That's why it's called Green Ribbon of death, just type it in Google and you'll see. I'm not sanjoa to rush to post about my problem :lmao: before I explore all options I could find.

BTW, I have SSD, so there is no way it needs so much time, as access time is 0,130ms. Also, I'm using Eset, so there is no lighter solution. I suspected it, tried disabling, no change, and if you read my first post again, you'll see that I nailed issue to dllhost.exe (COM surrogate) which is responsible for thumbnail extraction and possibly all interactions with icons. When I terminate it, green ribbon unfreezes and continues to work normally until next time, since dllhost.exe returns immediately until it start giving this problem again.

Cheers ;)

So it's a background process. You can use Process hacker to see which dll's are actually running under dllhost.exe. This is my gripe with Task Manager. You don't know what is running under svchost, dllhost, rundll32 :angry:

Anyways, PH should give you the answer. That you you can pinpoint and terminate any unwanted dll process executing on your PC. Hopefully that will work. You know more 'bout these things than I do. Just trying to come up with whatever comes at the top of my head in case you missed something ;)

[R0H1T]

@dcs18

I'm not surprised. :lol: I never wanted to make my folder look Generic and didn't see a need to use separate process. And if you check that link on Acronis forum, you'll see that people have randomly this issue, and that re-install fix it for them. You were lucky and don't have the issue.

@calguyhunk

There isn't any specific folder, I'm telling you. Sometimes I just open Computer and this happens, or when I open folder and only others folder are inside. And no, explorer is not taking it's sweet time.I waited for 10-15 minutes just to see if it will finish, and it never does. That's why it's called Green Ribbon of death, just type it in Google and you'll see. I'm not sanjoa to rush to post about my problem :lmao: before I explore all options I could find.

BTW, I have SSD, so there is no way it needs so much time, as access time is 0,130ms. Also, I'm using Eset, so there is no lighter solution. I suspected it, tried disabling, no change, and if you read my first post again, you'll see that I nailed issue to dllhost.exe (COM surrogate) which is responsible for thumbnail extraction and possibly all interactions with icons. When I terminate it, green ribbon unfreezes and continues to work normally until next time, since dllhost.exe returns immediately until it start giving this problem again.

Cheers ;)

The problem isn't dllhost/thumbnail extraction, try increasing system icon cache size for verification, its most probably the explorer shell that hangs for whatever reason & the problem persists even in Win8 ! There's only one way to resolve this problem that I know of i.e. restart the windows shell & it should alleviate this mess right away <_<

[mara-]

I tried with Process Exporer but it's also blocked when this issue occurs, it wont update process activity until I terminate dllhost.exe. I usually get this issue at least once a day, and since disabling Acronis explorer integration, but I need a few extra days to be sure. But, thanks for you input.

Cheers ;)

[mara-]

The problem isn't dllhost/thumbnail extraction, try increasing system icon cache size for verification, its most probably the explorer shell that hangs for whatever reason & the problem persists even in Win8 ! There's only one way to resolve this problem that I know of i.e. restart the windows shell & it should alleviate this mess right away <_<

Restart Windows shell? Do you mean, restart explorer.exe? If yes, I already tried, and it does not fix the problem. Only terminating dllhost.exe. If you mean restart it somehow else, please write how.

Cheers ;)

[R0H1T]

The problem isn't dllhost/thumbnail extraction, try increasing system icon cache size for verification, its most probably the explorer shell that hangs for whatever reason & the problem persists even in Win8 ! There's only one way to resolve this problem that I know of i.e. restart the windows shell & it should alleviate this mess right away <_<

Restart Windows shell? Do you mean, restart explorer.exe? If yes, I already tried, and it does not fix the problem. Only terminating dllhost.exe. If you mean restart it somehow else, please write how.

Cheers ;)

Alright a couple of things here ~

1) If you run task manager, process explorer/hacker or any other process manager with admin rights & access the same files/folders you should be able to see them normally. I've tried this which suggests to me that the explorer shell is what is responsible, atleast according to me, for this peculiar behavior & not the system icon/thumbnail cache so nothing to do with dllhost et al.

2) I use Yamicsoft win7/win8 manager & run(elevated) privacy protector which restarts the explorer shell & also clears the system icon/thumbnail cache that solves this problem ^_^

[dcs18]

@dcs18

I'm not surprised. :lol: I never wanted to make my folder look Generic and didn't see a need to use separate process. And if you check that link on Acronis forum, you'll see that people have randomly this issue, and that re-install fix it for them. You were lucky and don't have the issue.

Yes, glad your issue is resolved by uninstalling Acronis - no, I'm not lucky (I never am - it's always, by design.) 8)

I'm afraid those are basic tweaks (at best) that one should never leave at the mercy of Microsoft - they're not reputed for an optimized configuration, at default (unfortunately, no Developer is.)

[mara-]

@R0H1T

Well, since terminating dllhost.exe fixes the issue, problem is connected to it. And UAC is disabled here, so Run As admin is not necessary. Process Explorer and Monitor are stuck when this happens, and as soon as I terminate dllhost, they start working.

@dcs18

I didn't uninstall it, just disabled Explorer integration.

Cheers ;)

[nuttertools]

Hi, mara-, please read your PM