How to Fix Windows Shell Common DLL Stopped Working Error
If you’re experiencing Windows Shell Common DLL stopped working errors, there are various solutions you can take to fix them – one being to run an SFC scan.
Computers depend upon many files to operate successfully, including DLLs, system 32 files, cmd programs and command prompts. When any of these are missing or corrupted, an operating system might report an error like Windows Shell Common DLL stopped working and cause further complications.
1. Restart your computer
Windows programs rely on Dll files, which are essential components in their operation. When these files don’t function as expected, programs may fail to run – an error which may occur if either DLL is damaged or missing from Windows.
First step to solve this issue: Restart Your Computer
Once logged in as an administrator, press the Windows key and R keys together to open a Run dialog box. Type “msconfig” in the text field of this box, and click OK.
Navigating to the Services tab, uncheck “Hide all Microsoft services.” Once this step has been taken, click Disable All for further action.
As well as this, restarting your computer can also help ensure everything is running optimally, clearing away errors and optimizing its performance.
As part of your remedy, it may also help to update all device drivers to see if that helps. Advanced Driver Updater can scan for and install outdated drivers automatically.
Staying current will also keep your drivers up-to-date and reduce the chances of them failing or becoming incompatible with other applications.
An alternative cause could be that your audio device drivers do not support certain equalizer modes or effects, necessitating an update for them. To address this, it would be prudent to update them.
2. Run a SFC scan
Windows operating systems come equipped with an inbuilt tool known as SFC (System File Checker). This utility helps detect and resolve system file issues.
SFC (System File Checker) scan is an invaluable way to detect issues on a Windows computer, from Blue Screens of Death and errors with system files, all the way through to registry corruption and repairs of other system files that might have become damaged over time.
To run an SFC scan, open Command Prompt and type: “sfc/scannow,” which will launch a full system scan that may take 10-15 minutes to complete. Be patient while it runs as it could take some time before any results come back in.
As soon as your scan has completed, a report should appear in the Command Prompt window containing details on every file it found and whether or not they have been repaired. This will allow you to assess which ones were fixed successfully.
Based on your results, you have two options for dealing with damaged files: replace them with healthy copies or reinstall Windows. If opting for the latter approach, download Microsoft’s online server to obtain their latest operating system version and install that instead.
Alternative strategies involve creating a bootable DVD or flash drive and using it to perform an SFC scan and repair, which may help your Windows OS be back up and running faster than any other method. This may take longer, but can potentially get it working again quickly.
SFC scan is an invaluable tool for troubleshooting Windows files, often helping restore them back to their original condition. In some instances, however, SFC might not be sufficient in fixing your problem; you might need to explore other avenues – CHKDSK command, DISM or repair install may help as alternatives.
3. Run a DISM scan
If the CHKDSK and SFC commands are failing to produce results, DISM may be your solution. As the Microsoft tool for servicing Windows images, DISM allows for convenient management of data, drivers, language packs and configuration tasks.
Before running a DISM scan, however, it is necessary to first conduct an evaluation of the health of Windows image files using either the check health command or scan health command.
This test can help identify whether any corruptions exist within the Windows image file and allow you to resolve them if necessary.
To do this, open a command prompt with administrator privileges and type in “DISM /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth.” Press Enter.
If there are no errors, your Windows image is healthy and you may proceed with the next step.
Once your checks have been performed, it’s time to use DISM to repair the Windows image. It will scan through, detect any corrupt files and restore everything back to its original state; but please be patient as this process may take time.
Once the repairs are complete, reboot your computer to check if the problem has been addressed. If not, repeat running those same repairs until they work successfully.
Alternately, try running SFC/SCANNOW to clear out the Component Store and any potentially corrupted files – this should resolve the problem and avoid having to reinstall Windows Updates.
One potential solution would be to uninstall and then reinstall the latest Windows update on your computer, this should remove any files which were incorrectly downloaded and make installing remaining updates easier.
4. Run a registry scan
If you have been experiencing Windows Shell Common DLL stopped working errors, there are a few steps you can take to address them. These include updating drivers, performing a registry scan and reinstalling software.
Registry scans can be accomplished using various programs, such as CCleaner or RegClean, but the key is selecting one with minimally intrusive settings; if any errors are discovered in your registry cleaner will indicate how many need to be removed or fixed.
The Windows Registry is the central database that stores information regarding system settings and configurations on PCs, making it vital to optimizing PC performance while preventing potential issues from cropping up.
Utilizing a registry cleaner is an excellent way to detect and delete errors causing your PC to run slowly or crash, as well as identify issues you might otherwise miss.
To run a registry scan, download and install an appropriate program on your version of Windows. Next, select items for scanning before clicking “Scan for Issues.”
Some programs allow you to set a time limit for scanning, and store any potential problems on your hard drive for future reference. Once completed, inspect any items marked “Caution,” “Extreme Caution” or other indicators of risk for further action.
ScanReg is a lightweight utility designed to detect any registry errors caused by malware and remove them. Additionally, this tool will assist in the removal of corrupted files which could have contributed to this error.
5. Run a malware scan
If your computer has started showing the Windows Shell Common DLL has stopped working error, there are a few solutions you can try to correct it. One is to run a malware scan; this will help identify and eliminate any harmful files on your machine.
This type of scan will perform an exhaustive check across your entire computer to detect threats or viruses which could be lurking there, like malware. Malware can wreak havoc by slowing down or altering settings, or changing browser homepage without your control.
An average malware scan takes 5-15 minutes to complete, depending on the number of files to check. Once complete, any infections found will be automatically eliminated and any new threats will be blocked from infiltrating.
Alternative is to use a third-party tool which will replace corrupted DLL files with the updated versions from reliable repositories. You can download such tools safely from the Internet.
For instance, Fortect is an efficient DLL file fixer which is trusted and powerful enough to easily restore broken files by replacing them with their official versions – available for both Windows and Mac computers.
Malware scans do more than detect threats; they also check your hard drive for corrupt files and folders, as well as clean out your registry database of settings and options for your PC – helping speed it up while decreasing errors.
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