Illegal Operation or Access Violation When Starting Windows

Last reviewed: March 20, 1998
Article ID: Q175930
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01 for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01 for Windows NT 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you start your computer, you may receive the following error message if the Windows Desktop Update component is enabled:

Windows 95:

   This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
   If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

When you click Details, one of the following details are displayed:
  • Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module Explorer.exe at <address>.
  • Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module Shdocvw.dll at <address>.

Note that this behavior can occur whether you start Windows 95 normally or in Safe mode.

Windows NT 4.0:

   An application error has occurred and an application error log is being
   generated.

   Explorer.exe
   Exception: access violation (0xc0000005), Address: <address>

If you click OK or Close, only your desktop wallpaper may be displayed (the Start button, taskbar, and desktop icons may not be displayed).

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the Shdocvw.dll file is missing, damaged or the wrong version.

The following tables list the version number, date, and size of the Shdocvw.dll file for Internet Explorer 4.0 and 4.01 for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0:

   Internet Explorer 4.0:

   Operating system   Version       Date      Size (in bytes)
   ----------------------------------------------------------

   Windows 95         4.71.1712.5   9/18/97   1,909,520
   Windows NT 4.0     4.71.1712.5   9/18/97   1,910,032

   Internet Explorer 4.01:

   Operating system   Version       Date       Size (in bytes)
   ----------------------------------------------------------

   Windows 95         4.72.2106.7   11/18/97   1,916,688
   Windows NT 4.0     4.72.2106.7   11/18/97   1,916,688

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, follow the appropriate steps below for the version of Internet Explorer you are using:

Internet Explorer for Windows 95

  1. Restart Windows 95, press the F8 key when you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, and then choose Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu.

  2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

          ren <drive>:\<windows>\system\shdocvw.dll shdocvw.old
    

    where <drive> is the drive letter on which the Windows folder is located, and <windows> is the name of the folder in which Windows is installed. For example:

          ren c:\windows\system\shdocvw.dll shdocvw.old
    

    NOTE: This procedure assumes you do not have a Shdocvw.old file already located on your hard disk. If this file already exists, use a file name extension that is not currently in use.

  3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

          extract /l <path1> <path2>\ie4_s3.cab ie4_3.cab
    

    where <path1> is the path to the folder to which to extract the Ie4_3.cab cabinet file, and <path2> is the path to the folder in which the Internet Explorer 4.0 Setup files are located.

    NOTE: If you downloaded Internet Explorer 4.0 from the Internet, <path2> is location of the Internet Explorer 4.0 Setup files on your hard disk. If you installed Internet Explorer 4.0 from a CD-ROM, <path2> is either of the following paths:

        - <drive>:\win95\eng\packages for Internet Explorer 4.0 Plus CD
    

        - <drive>:\en\ie40 for Internet Explorer 4.0 Commemorative (1-800) CD
    

           where <drive> is the driver letter of the CD-ROM drive that
           contains the Internet Explorer 4.0 CD.
    

           NOTE: If you are unable to access your CD-ROM drive in MS-DOS mode,
           you need to load the real-mode CD-ROM driver and real-mode
           Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions driver (Mscdex.exe), in your
           Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files. For more information, please see
           the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    

              ARTICLE-ID: Q135174
              TITLE     : Cannot Access CD-ROM Drive from MS-DOS Mode or
                          Command Prompt
    
    

  4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

          extract /l <path1> <path2>\ie4_3.cab shdocvw.dll
    

    where <path1> is the location of the Windows\System folder, <path2> is the path to the folder in which the Ie4_3.cab cabinet file (extracted in Step 3 above) is located.

  5. Restart your computer.

Internet Explorer for Windows NT 4.0

  1. Click OK to close the Dr. Watson error dialog box.

  2. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager to start Windows NT Task Manager.

  3. On the Options menu, click Always On Top to clear the check mark.

  4. On the File menu, click New Task (Run...).

  5. Type "cmd" (without quotation marks) and then click OK.

  6. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

          ren <drive>:\<windows>\system32\shdocvw.dll shdocvw.old
    

    where <drive> is the drive letter on which the Windows NT folder is located, and <windows> is the name of the folder in which Windows NT is installed. For example:

          ren c:\winnt\system32\shdocvw.dll shdocvw.old
    

    NOTE: This procedure assumes you do not have a file named Shdocvw.old. If you do have a file by this name, use a file name extension that is not currently in use.

  7. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

          extract /l <path1> <path2>\ie4nt_s2.cab ie4nt_2.cab
    

    where <path1> is the path to the folder to which to extract the Ie4nt_2.cab cabinet file, and <path2> is the path to the folder in which the Internet Explorer 4.0 Setup files are located.

    NOTE: If you downloaded Internet Explorer 4.0 from the Internet, <path2> is location of the Internet Explorer 4.0 Setup files on your hard disk. If you installed Internet Explorer 4.0 from a CD-ROM, <path2> is either of the following paths:

        - <drive>:\win95\eng\packages for Internet Explorer 4.0 Plus CD
    

        - <drive>:\en\ie40 for Internet Explorer 4.0 Commemorative (1-800) CD
    

           where <drive> is the driver letter of the CD-ROM drive that
           contains the Internet Explorer 4.0 CD.
    

  8. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

          extract /l <path1> <path2>\ie4nt_2.cab shdocvw.dll
    

    where <path1> is the location of the Winnt\System32 folder, <path2> is the path to the folder in which the ie4nt_2.cab cabinet file (extracted in Step 3 above) is located.

  9. At the command prompt, type "exit" (without quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

  10. On the File menu, click Exit Task Manager.

  11. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Shutdown.

  12. Click Shutdown And Restart.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about using the Extract tool, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q129605
   TITLE     : How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files


Additional query words: ipf gpf
Keywords : kbdisplay kberrmsg msient msiew95
Version : WINDOWS:4.0
Platform : WINDOWS


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Last reviewed: March 20, 1998
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