Explorer.exe does not load on login, need to manually run it every time

Is there any solution to this. Every time I log in, I have to manually start explorer.exe from Task Manager > New Task(Run) > Explorer.exe

I am on Winodws 7 64 Bit.

4 Answers

Check the Shell value for Winlogon in your registry. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon should show:

Shell REG_SZ explorer.exe 

Or download this tool: Download

This utility checks for the correct GINA value in the Registry and will allow you to restore it, if its incorrect.

try this too

Start > Run , type in 'regedit' (without the quotes of course) in the search box .

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. 

In Winlogon, on the right side, there should be a value called "Shell". Double click this value. Make sure only 'Explorer.exe' is the value of Shell, if anything else is there , simply delete it and leave 'Explorer.exe' . Close out the window and restart....

start>run>msconfig click on startup, make sure Explorer.exe is checked on See if that works..

I had the same problem Win 7 64 bit after a virus was cleaned from the computer. I tried many of the suggestions I found online and this is what worked for me...

Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Double-click Userinit value and change the value data to:

C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe, (or the directory where windows is installed) Exit Regedit and reboot.

Voila... I hope it works for you too.

I had the same issue on Windows 7. Most of the answers online are like that of Unnikrishnan above. I also tried Bryan's method, and it didn't work either. Upgrading to Windows 10 didn't fix it.

Due to the upgrade, I searched for the solution for Windows 10, and ran into SacTekGuy's answer here. It shed some light on the issue. I went to this location to check:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\

Apparently, System is not there. Another round of Googling led me here. Carlo TJ's answer suggests using this in Command Prompt:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I ran that, but the System key did not show up afterwards. So I manually created it, and add the Shell string with value of Explorer.exe to it. That fixed my issue. Hope this would help others from wiping their OS out of frustration.

I found the same problem in my PC. and found one solution that works for me.

Go to Run--> System Configuration ---> In General, select Selective startup, and click Use original boot configuration