Open/Explore items stopped working in Start Menu folders

Hello.

I just had a problem occur after I used TweakUI. Nothing I did in TweakUI should have caused it.

Here's the problem:

When I right-click on a folder in the Start Menu (All Programs), Open and Explore don't work in the context menu. The other 4 items (delete, rename, sort, properties) DO work.

I'd like to know how to fix this. I installed the program ShellExView, but I'm not certain if I should use that, and if so, what I should change.

I'm using Windows XP SP3.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

i found this post after realizing i had the same problem, and i've since found the solution.

shellexview is indeed what you need here. the problem is caused by a faulty shell extension, which you have to locate and disable.

basically, you have to go through the whole list in shellexview, and disable, one-by-one, every non-microsoft extension. after disabling one, see if the problem persists (you don't have to reboot or even close the program, the disabling is instant). if the problem is cured, then you're finished!

if the problem remains, then re-enable the thing you disabled, and scroll down to the next non-microsoft one, and try the same with that. keep going until you find the culprit.

it does look like a very long list but actually, most of them are microsoft ones which you can ignore, and there's a column on the right labelled "microsoft" which tells you "yes" or "no", so just check the ones which are "no" in the microsoft column. shouldn't take more than 5 minutes or so to go through the list.

for me, the culprit was magic iso software. it will probably be something different for you.