mkvmerge GUI causes windows explorer to stop working

[codemaster]

every time I mux .264 and .ac3 streams to .mkv, windows explorer stops working as soon as I open the directory containing the muxed .mkv file.

a window "windows explorer has stopped working" pops up, and explorer.exe restarts automatically.

[poisondeathray]

Do you have thumbnails enabled in the haali media spitter settings under "explorer integration"?

[Ai Haibara]

The problem sounds suspiciously like the old codecs/thumbnail crash problem with Explorer. I didn't know it could still happen with Win7, if that's indeed the case.

Does it happen every time you open the folder/directory, now? Even after a reboot? Do you have thumbnails enabled in that directory? (I think Vista and 7 have them enabled by default, anyway...) What codecs/DirectShow filters do you have installed for h.264 playback? Did you have anything installed that would integrate with Explorer's thumbnail feature and generate thumbnails for MKV videos? (Yes, including Haali, as poisondeathray pointed out. )

[codemaster]

I didn't install Haali Media Splitter since MPC-HC and VLC supports mkv

[codemaster]

@Ai Haibara

on Win7, the streams muxed automatically by StaxRip don't cause this problem, only mkv files that I muxed using mkvmerge GUI

I don't have haali installed. Other than ffdshow, I only have xvid installed

when I muxed the streams to mkv using mkvmerge GUI, with the output location set to desktop, windows explorer began to restart itself infinitely; the only solution was to use mpc-hc to delete it

[Ai Haibara]

Have you tried setting it to a directory other than the desktop?

What happens if you go into the general Explorer options and turn thumbnails off for all media files? (I can only guess at the options, as I'm using Vista. I know it shouldn't be that different from Vista, but still...)

Hmm... wonder if Win7 includes support (thumbnail, splitter, etc.) for MKV, at that. Or whether ffdshow is doing all of that...

[codemaster]

what is really relevant is that:

1. all mkv files downloaded from the internet don't cause explorer.exe to crash and auto restart;

2. some mkv files that I mux using mkvmerge GUI causes explorer.exe to crash and auto restart, as soon as I open the directory in wich I output them while muxing the streams with mkvmerge GUI;

3. when I demux a flv and mux it into mkv with mkvmerge GUI, that mkv doesn't cause explorer.exe to crash, but it does only with .264 and .ac3 streams resulted from StaxRip. Not the mkv file muxed automatically by StaxRip, but the mkv in wich I mux with mkvmerge GUI, the .264 and .ac3 streams generated by StaxRip.

[dimsim3478]

I had this problem for quite a while and wasn't even able to access the directory which the output file was in without Windows Explorer crashing. I believe it was caused by a failed muxed which resulted in a corrupted output file. However, I was able to access the folders within the broken directory by using the directory tree (the thing with the little arrows next to each folder that allows you to navigate through the directories) on the left side of the Windows 7 version of Windows Explorer. This allowed me to cut all the folders and files out of the broken directory and into a temporary location, and then I simply deleted the whole directory with the broken file in it. Beware of broken muxes.

[Ai Haibara]

If you're familiar with DOS commands, and Win7/8 still allow regular access to the DOS/Command windows, you can navigate to the folder or directory that way, and manually delete the file.

I'm still not sure why certain 'broken' MKVs cause so many conflicts with Explorer, though.