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4
Ah, I see that Vista's preview handlers crash twice as often as XP's shmedia and shimgvw handlers.
If you open a folder full of movies and pictures, you can almost guarantee COM Surrogate will crash constantly until it gets through every file you have (and it trudges through every subdirectory to do so).
In Explorer, click Organize > Folder and Search Options (or Tools > Folder Options), then go to the View tab. Checkmark Always show icons, never thumbnails.
Edit: As Simon has pointed out in the comments below, the main cause is usually third-party software (of which I was afflicted when I wrote this post). I'm sure one of those retarded codec packs causes it for most people (dear god people, stop using codec packs and just get VLC Player).
Simon Zerafa stated:
The main culprit seems to be older versions of Nero (the Vista Upgrade advisor flags these as incompatible with Vista) and DivX players.
It seems to be caused by third party players and applications that patch those functions in XP / Vista to allow previews in Explorer.
Updating the affected software to Vista compatible versions seem to be the best course of action. Failing that, find Vista-compatible alternatives.
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13 Responses to “COM Surrogate has stopped working”
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Hi DJ,
I am sure you know this however there does appear to be a small and growing list of applications which cause COM Surrogate errors.
The main culprit seems to be older versions of Nero (the Vista Upgrade advisor flags these as incompatible with Vista) and DivX players.
It seems to be cause when third party players and applications patch those functions in XP / Vista to allow previews in Explorer.
Updating the affected software to Vista compatible versions seem to be the best course of action. Failing that find Vista compatible alternatives.
Kind Regards
Simon
That's is true. I will update the post with a quote from your comment.
I just started recieving this error today.I have had vista installed on the pc since the day it was released,and nero since the day after,all codecs were installed on that same day.I didnt recieve any errors like this until today when I went to burn a dvd for the first time.I couldnt see anything that shut down,everything was still working and the dvd turned out fine.But when I get this error it tells me the fix is to dl and install some acs filter from the gedes website,I have dl and installed this but still get the error.Can someone plz tell me what this filter is,and where to install it to,and even if it will do any good.I tried all the other options suggested above,and the removal of that file didnt solve it,I just tried the setting to veiw only icons.No errors as of yet,but I would still like to know what this filter is.Thanks
Uninstall all your codec’s and install this codec pack and all your worries are over!!
And you can still use older Nero versions with out any problems.
http://rapidshare.com/files/29171924/VistaCodecs_v440.rar
I don't like codec packs. They get people into trouble. Also, that's a whole slew of new items to be registered to COM Surrogate, so, I highly recommend that DjLizard.net visitors do NOT install the above codec pack.
Anyway, I don't see the need for codec packs when VideoLAN Client (VLC) and Media Player Classic (MPC) can play everything (except QT and RA which you can get "Alternative" versions for).
I need the codecs for tversity wich i use to stream my content to media devices that cant natively play all codecs. So just because VLC and MPC suits yours needs please do not be so blind to see that some people do need to use codecs.
I obviously wasn't very clear because you think I said nobody needs codecs.
You have a use for them, and that's fine. Codec packs are not a great blanket suggestion for all users.
MelloW said "Uninstall all your codec’s [sic] and install this codec pack and all your worries are over!!"
Right.
Well i do agree with you that codec packs are not the route to go. Downloading the individual codecs you need is the best idea. So i do owe you an apology because you did state codec packs and not individual codecs. However i also do not think that VLC and MPC are the end all solution.
thank u for such guidance
i owe u
anytime u need help please e-mail me i will try my best to sort it out.
thanks a lot................
Yes, this issue is getting to be a common one and caused by a few things, like as posted above Nero, Divx, and for me it was XVid that did it.
There is also a workaround for it that allot of people are using, including myself, that works well. But I found a secondary issue with it that can also be fixed rather easily.
The fix involves adding the dllhost.exe to the Data Execution Protection (DEP) Ignore list. Here's the method in Vista (all Flavors):
Right click My Computer, select Properties - select Advanced System Settings from the left side pane - in thePerformance box, click Settings - click Data Execution Prevention tab - Check the "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select" option - click "Add".
A navigation box opens, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllhost.exe, click it to add and hit OK.
This should now add this "Com Surrogate", with a checked box, into the list area, OK out, reboot and you're done. The Com Surrogate errors should disappear.
But I also found that secondary problem, my Avant Browser also stopped working soon after I applied this fix. I tried all the usual troubleshooting and nothing was working. I remembered turning on DEP for All Programs with that other fix so I wondered if this was causing it.
I went to the same settings box and this time I added the Avant Browser.exe to the same list I added the other, rebooted and now Avant worked again. I was able to reproduce this many times so it is a definate fixable issue.
It may also cause other browsers or programs to Stop Working in Vista, so if this happens to you soon after you apply the above fix for COM Surrogate errors, and something stops working, simply add it's exe to the DEP list, reboot and it should be working again.
This will NOT affect your system adversely BTW, DEP was turned off by default for everything but Windows Services and Programs, so adding anything to the Ignore list in the above manner simply returns it to the default state.
Thx
Dave C (Chappy)
Admin - Besttechie.net Tech Support Forums
The action descried turns off thumbs... And in my case VLC is CAUSING the problem as it doesn't support thumbs in Vista...
Are you calling me an assmunch? I guess that doesn't really matter; this post isn't about your problem anyway. It only exists to let people know how to quickly avoid crappy thumbnail generators.
COM surrogate has many, many more functions and is simply a major part of the COM+ subsystem in Vista.
If VLC is crashing with a COM surrogate message then it means VLC has bugs in its codecs (VideoLAN\VLC\plugins\*.dll) or other external VLC libraries.
Hey DjLizard, loved Butterflies ;) I just got a new souped up computer from Alienware and Vista Ultimate. I can't believe that they install fancy shmancy blu-ray hardware and Vista doesn't think much of the Nero player they installed on it? Couldn't Micro$oft just come out with a fix that allows you to say "don't show this message anymore" like on other stuff?