■ Block shell extensions from crashing xplorer²

The changelog for the recently released v6.0 mentions a way to block rogue shell extensions from crashing xplorer² and this blog post explains how. It is based on a simple detour plugin that stops unwanted DLLs from invading into a process address space. In layman's terms, if you have some 3rd party shell extension that doesn't work well with xplorer², instead of uninstalling it completely you can add it in the block list. It won't work in xplorer² but it won't crash it either! You can continue using said rogue shell extension with windows explorer. It is the "have your cake and eat it" kind of scenario and everyone's happy!

The first step is to discover the file name of the shell extension to be blocked e.g. FOOBAR.DLL, which you can get either by examining its installation folder, or checking the reliability monitor. Find the latest xplorer² crash event and double click to see the details; the DLL to blame is Fault module name

Make sure the faulting DLL belongs to some shell extension you have installed, and it's not some system library like KERNEL.DLL. If you have trouble locating the DLL to block, use Help > Crash information menu command and contact support.

Then download the blocker plugin (see below), extract the files, edit BLACK-DLL.TXT with Notepad and add the DLL filename you just discovered in a new line. You don't need to add path information, just FOOBAR.DLL will do. If you have more DLLs to block, add them each separately in a new row. Then save BLACK-DLL.TXT and drag-drop it along with the detour MinHook.x64.dll into xplorer² installation folder (usually C:\program files\zabkat\xplorer2). When you restart xplorer², it should be safe from the blocked DLLs at least.

new You can block all non-system DLLs from xplorer² using the special keyword DBG_ALL in BLACK-DLL.TXT. However this is extremely crippling as all shell extensions will be blocked, including text filters, preview handlers etc. It may be useful for debugging purposes.

Click to download DLL block plugin (16 KB)

Download and unzip the file, then follow the instructions above.