Problem when users right click in their homes folder and hover over 'New'

[gwendes]

A large number of users (and it does follow the user, not computer) are having a problem when they try to create a new folder.

 

User right-clicks in a folder and moves the mouse to hover over 'New' and the sub-menu doesn't load. Instead the computer seizes up and sometimes crashes completely.

 

We've come up with a workaround (open Word and then 'Open...' and click on the 'New folder' button) so doesn't seem to be related to permissions.

 

An unaffected user logs on to the same computer and no problems.

 

We found that moving our year 7 students over to a new profile path resolved the problem so then moved the others and it was happening again before half-term. Now we're all stumped as to what to do next!

 

Does anyone know what the computer is actually doing when it tries to load that sub-menu?

 

Windows XP. Many different configurations and hardware affected.

[glennda]

A large number of users (and it does follow the user, not computer) are having a problem when they try to create a new folder.

 

User right-clicks in a folder and moves the mouse to hover over 'New' and the sub-menu doesn't load. Instead the computer seizes up and sometimes crashes completely.

 

We've come up with a workaround (open Word and then 'Open...' and click on the 'New folder' button) so doesn't seem to be related to permissions.

 

An unaffected user logs on to the same computer and no problems.

 

We found that moving our year 7 students over to a new profile path resolved the problem so then moved the others and it was happening again before half-term. Now we're all stumped as to what to do next!

 

Does anyone know what the computer is actually doing when it tries to load that sub-menu?

 

Windows XP. Many different configurations and hardware affected.

 

are you running securus? we had all sorts of random problems like this, we have just done the most recent upgrade and it seems to have sorted itself out. if you check your version we are running client version 7.00.09 and server version 6.00.70 which works okay now

 

Toby

[p858snake]

Are they running roaming profiles or mandatory profiles?

[gwendes]

are you running securus? we had all sorts of random problems like this, we have just done the most recent upgrade and it seems to have sorted itself out. if you check your version we are running client version 7.00.09 and server version 6.00.70 which works okay now

 

Toby

 

 

No. Not running Securus.

[gwendes]

Are they running roaming profiles or mandatory profiles?

 

Roaming. But it's only affecting some users. 'Luckily' our test accounts are doing this too!

[srochford]

I've seen this kind of problem before. It's almost always due to something "wrong" in the user registry if it only happens for certain people. A quick fix is to delete their profile (assuming they're using roaming profiles) and let a new one get created.

 

If this isn't acceptable or doesn't work then you can try and fix it (but it may not be easy!)

 

A quick google for "troubleshooting right click context menu explorer" gives this Right-click is slow or weird behavior caused by context menu handlers which deals with a number of similar problems, all caused by the things which happen when you right click (Essentially, Windows has to build a list of what to show you; this can go wrong - watch it with process monitor from sysinternals to see who complex it is!). The second method there might help you to find the culprit - you can hopefully then remove it from the affected users.

[glennda]

No. Not running Securus.

 

not the then!!

[howartp]

I had this on my work PC, which only I use and it's the only PC I use, so I never knew whether it was PC or user at that time. Nobody else has reported it in school.

 

However I bought myself a new PC with the next batch and the problem hasn't followed me to my new PC; we're using roaming profiles, but much less is stored in the roaming part for admin users than the students, so that might affect something.

 

Unfortunately I never worked out why the old PC/user profile didn't work.

 

Peter

[Michael]

I seem to recall this was a bug back in the XP SP1 days. I presume you're not running any machines like this are you?

[gwendes]

I seem to recall this was a bug back in the XP SP1 days. I presume you're not running any machines like this are you?

 

Nope. All on SP3.

[gwendes]

I've seen this kind of problem before. It's almost always due to something "wrong" in the user registry if it only happens for certain people. A quick fix is to delete their profile (assuming they're using roaming profiles) and let a new one get created.

 

If this isn't acceptable or doesn't work then you can try and fix it (but it may not be easy!)

 

A quick google for "troubleshooting right click context menu explorer" gives this Right-click is slow or weird behavior caused by context menu handlers which deals with a number of similar problems, all caused by the things which happen when you right click (Essentially, Windows has to build a list of what to show you; this can go wrong - watch it with process monitor from sysinternals to see who complex it is!). The second method there might help you to find the culprit - you can hopefully then remove it from the affected users.

 

The newly created profiles still have the same problem. Also, I've created new users that have this problem the first time they log on. I've even created test users solely for this purpose and found the same thing happening. We haven't got around to watching it happen with SysInternals yet... that's the next step but thought I'd try here first.

 

I'm confused as to how it can be a problem with a process that only affects some users...

 

This is one of those problems that has slowly been reported by only a few people and therefore it's difficult to get an idea about how often and where it is happening. We do know it is repeatable on our test accounts...

Edited February 17, 2010 by gwendes

[Michael]

Does this problem happen creating a new folder in their home directory only or any network drive and/or USB drive?

 

What about if you try File > New > Folder

[sted]

what happens if you delete the local cached copies of the profile that sp3 likes t leave behind even though set not to?

[gwendes]

Does this problem happen creating a new folder in their home directory only or any network drive and/or USB drive?

 

What about if you try File > New > Folder

 

I have two laptops here. Both have no problems logged on with one test account and don't work with a test account I know is not working properly. I've removed the local profile copies on both and from the server and let it rebuild. Same problem remains.

 

The 'broken' user has the same problem on homes folder and shared student network drive.

 

The problem also occurs on flash memory sticks.

 

what happens if you delete the local cached copies of the profile that sp3 likes t leave behind even though set not to?

 

Done this and makes no difference. Like I said, the user can be a brand new, freshly created user and the same thing happens.

[gwendes]

If a user is 'broken' then it will not work on any computer. Wondering if it's perhaps a network wide problem that only affects some students for some reason. However they all have the same settings applied.