Windows Shell Common DLL

[mdpilam]

I have been getting Windows Shell Common DLL crashes when accessing and modifying properties in my Sound Panel. (I recently connected my SPDIF out to my receiver; I've also been having trouble getting my headphones to work again, but that's another problem) It's shown up in my Reliability Monitor and I've had the "Critical Event" "Windows Shell Common Dll" "Stopped Working" and it has reduced my reliability score from 10 to about 2. When I "Check for a solution" it says there aren't any available. I've checked all drivers and they are up to date. Any idea how to fix this? I've done alot of searching, and all i could find was one guy dl'ing a new SFComm64.dll file and replacing it in his system, which he said worked, but Windows 7 saw as a security threat (?). So, I'm not quite sure what to do - do I try and dl a new SFComm64.dll file? And if so, where do I dl from? I checked Microsoft and couldn't find it. I don't want to dl something malicious.

I have an Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Mobo, i7 920, 6 GB DDR3 OCZ Plat., W7 x64 and my mobo uses SoundMax.

 

[r_manic]

Did you recently install any new drivers for your sound hardware?

 

[mdpilam]

Nope. I checked my drivers to make sure they were up to date, but didn't install any new ones. The only new thing was the SPDIF cable connected to my receiver (which I then set as my default audio device).

 

[davidh88]

Did you figure this out? I get a similar Win7 Shell Dll crash when I try to access my microphone settings. I clean installed Win7 or Sony Vaio. I can not access control panel and the external microphone does not work anymore. All drivers look okay in device manager.

 

[fearlessfred]

Nope. I checked my drivers to make sure they were up to date, but didn't install any new ones. The only new thing was the SPDIF cable connected to my receiver (which I then set as my default audio device).

Many vendors still have 'beta' versions of drivers for win 7, especially x64 versions, try an earlier driver version, or even one for windows vista x64 they should work. Unfortunately there are some issues that will not be resolved easily, as microsoft changed the driver model from vista onwards. Many sound card issues happen because of this, try disabling any 'enhanced audio' effects in the control panel for the sound card, set it up as a simple stereo pair of speakers for example, even for your headphones, see if this helps. I have had to do this with many sound cards on these platforms, as some earlier soundcard drivers want direct access to the hardware, via the 'direct sound' model available in XP and earlier. The newer microsoft versions don't allow for this, and all sound has to driven via a software layer which 'breaks' many sound card drivers. As for windows 7 security seeing file changes to system dll's and the like as a threat, this was a deliberate measure microsoft introduced in this version to safeguard the OS from exploits, Scan the downloaded file for any nasties before installing, and copy the original somewhere else, or rename it so you can always go back, you will have to take ownership of the files to change them, at present the 'System' has the ownership not you. (Right click/Security/Advanced/Owner you may also need to change the permissions in the same place. Hope this helps.
fearlessfred

 

[mdpilam]

Did you figure this out? I get a similar Win7 Shell Dll crash when I try to access my microphone settings. I clean installed Win7 or Sony Vaio. I can not access control panel and the external microphone does not work anymore. All drivers look okay in device manager.

No, sorry. Though, the problem seemed to go away; I haven't had it happen since. I haven't had to mess with my sound settings much though either, so that might be why.

 

[mdpilam]

Best answer selected by mdpilam.

 

[doriyakiz]

I had the same problem too. Internal speaker on my laptop died with the message "Windows Shell Common DLL has stopped working". I fixed it just by choosing the option "Search online for a solution and close the program". After that speaker returned to normal

 

[Guest]

I have the same problem on my laptop. I found out that it is a problem with me changing enhancements and the EQ of my sound/music. I was playing my favorite music and wanted a different EQ, so I went to the Control Panel and into (I have Realtek driver for sound) the driver panel for sound and messed around with the EQ (e.g. "pop", "bass boost", etc). It worked for a while until my laptop ran out of battery and died. When I came back home to charge it back up, sound didn't work at all! I tried loading the speaker driver from Windows and it said the same thing, "Windows Shell Common DLL has stopped working". I fixed it by disabling all the effects and enhancements to the driver. Pooey, now I can't have any enhancements to my music...

 

[numasfir]

i had the same problem and i solved it by removing an unnecessary sound that was in my device manager. it was sndt audio. i still dont know where it came from. i uninstalled it from device manager also choosing to remove the connected program with a check box and the problem was solved.

 

[chairmanz]

I have Realtech headphone and mic combo and wasn't able to get the mic connection to recognize the input jack and also had a windows common dll error. After trying different permutations of different fixes I just happened to left click the speaker icon and opened the mixer button then noticed the scroll bar on the bottom of the screen. This must have happened when I showed all hidden in a windows option. So at the end was a front mic and a rear mic selection. I did use the front mic in the past but was trying to get the rear connection to work now. I deleted the front connection and now the rear mic works fine. Also the dll error is fixed also.

Hope this helps anyone with a similar problem

 

[umi88]

ll sound has to driven via a software layer which 'breaks' many sound card drivers. As for windows 7 security seeing file changes to system dll's and the like as a threat, this was a deliberate measure microsoft introduced in this version to safeguard the OS from exploits, Scan the downloaded file for any nasties before installing, and copy the original somewhere else, or rename it so you can always go back, you will have to take ownership of the files to change them

 

[Marcel_Nduwa]

Hi,

I am having same problem while accessing the internet option ( when trying to change the proxy setting) I just started using script to automatically change the proxy setting.

so now if I need to add some exception I can't access to internet option-Lan Settings....can anyone please have an idea on....