File Menu with Explorer Giving Errors

Keywords: file menu errors explorer  unable to load batch dll

Question:

I just downloaded your WinBatch this morning, installed it and rebooted my computer. Windows NT 4.0 Server, SP #1.
When its all back and running again, i start to use, but find to my horror that when i now use Windows NT Explorer and right click on a file, i get 3 small error box's telling me that there is an error in the menu file and then the menu appears, and i find it's the default menu that appears with a fresh install of NT!
The error is something like, "UNABLE TO LOAD BATCH DLL."
What the hell happened to my nice context menus that had AntiVirus, CleanSweep, Add to ZIP etc...???
Directories are still ok, its just clicking on files.

Is there anyway i can get it all back? I have uninstalled WinBatch.

Answer:

Good question. I don't know, but I can give you some background information to help solve the problem.

The "right-click" menus are called "Context menus". Various applications like WinZip, and the "FileMenu" part of WinBatch and others notify Windows Explorer that they wish to add menus to the context menu by making entries in the registry. To add a context menu to all files they put an entry at:

       HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers

for a specific file type (say *.xyz) they would add an entry at:

      HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ZIP\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers

The entries are some kind of strange number that can be looked up at:

      HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{strange number}\InProcServer32

to give the name of the responsible DLL.

In any case, when you do a normal install of WinBatch, it adds its "FileMenu.DLL" into the "all files". (So does WinZip)

OK, now it is installed.

When you right-click on a file, Windows Explorer examines the registry and calls all the applicable context menu handlers, asking each one what menus it would like to add to the context menu.

FileMenu examines "c:\whereever you installed it\winbatch\system\filemenu.ini" to get the names of the menu files it needs to examine. Usually "FileMenu for all filetypes.mnw".

It loads the menu items defined in that file and passes the information back to Windows.

I think the three small error messages are trying to tell you that the menu file is not formatted properly, or that something like Explorer itself is corrupted.

OK. Anyway you had problems and decided that maybe it was Winbatch and uninstalled it. Did you use the Control Panel Add/Remove dialog (or run the uninstal.exe file in the system directory) or did you just delete the WinBatch directory structure?

If you just deleted the directory structure, then there are still entries in the registry trying to tell Windows about the context menu handler. One solution might be to re-install then run the uninstal.exe program (In old versions it was called setup.exe - found in the installed WinBatch/System subdirectory.)

So what happened? I'm not sure. It sounds like maybe a double or triple problem. What version did you install (the latest version?).

Q: Why did FileMenu not work the first time?
A: Most likely the "FileMenu for all filetypes.mnw" file was corrupt or had a bad edit done to it.

Q: Why did not the WinZip/AntiVirus/Other menu appear?
A: Not sure. Maybe the bad menu file passed a bad menu back to Windows and confused Explorer.

Q: How come after I uninstall WinBatch I still cannot get my files?
A: Maybe it was not all deleted. Especially look for FileMenu.DLL and make sure it is gone. You may need to reboot after the uninstall (Although I'm sure you have done this many times by now.)

Q: What can I do now?
A: Panic. Actually before you do that, try starting up regedit.exe (or is it still regedt32.exe) and open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, then open the * , then open shellex , then open ContextMenuHandlers and look to see that is there. If you see "FileMenu" they you can just delete the entire FileMenu key entry. Then close RegEdit and then reboot the system.

Q: What if that does not fix it.
A: Then you are in trouble. Corrupt registry maybe? Try running ScanDisk to check for hard drive problems. This is not a common problem. You can find a lot of info at:

http://techsupt.windowware.com

and on our WebBBS about all sorts of bugs and stuff, but this is not one of them.

Q: How Can I check for a corrupt registry?
A: Start up regedit and make some kind of minor change. (Add a dummy key someplace). Close down regedit. Start it up again. Do you see the key still there? If so the registry is probably ok. Usually when the registry is corrupt, Windows complains when you close regedit.

Q: What if scandisk says everything is ok and I can edit my registry.
A: OK, now it is time to panic. Try re-installing WinZip and the other software. It will try to re-establish its registry information. That might do it. If not, you may have to reinstall Windows...

Question 2:

I am having the same problem as previously stated. An important note, is that this only happens from my desktop when I right click. I am not using the standard Windows Desktop, it is a Domain Desktop. Any Suggestions?

Answer:

Make sure you have a clean install of Winbatch. Also Make sure that the WinBatch\System directory is on your system path...

REPLY: that worked great for me!

Article ID:   W13021

Filename:   FileMenu with Explorer giving 3 Errors.txt

File Created: 2002:11:21:11:43:16

Last Updated: 2002:11:21:11:43:16

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