I fixed this issue for a customer on two Windows XP Home OEM machines that were running Internet Explorer 8. It would boot to the login screen ok but Explorer.exe would not load after login and would present the error “This application has failed to start because iertutil.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem”
It seemed that c:\windows\system32\iertutil.dll for one reason or another went missing. I found a working Windows XP Home computer and copied that file to the affected machines, and all of a sudden login works again. Although strangely both machines loaded the IE 8 install wizard and apparently re-installed IE 8.
This link has some further information on the fault.
I had this at 2 sites in the last 2 days. iertutil.dll missing and explorer not starting. Control Panel shows 3 security updates on ie8 beforehand and the dll is missing. Safe mode and LKG startup are useless. Have to use bootdisk or remove drive and use caddy to copy iertutil.dll back to system32. then you may have to manually download and install ie8 OR at this point to a system restore then force all updates to run. Multiple scans show no evidence of malware etc, seems to be XP + ie8. Not sure, but may occur if user cancels ie8 update. update ocurred Friday AM 3am
I’ve had this at 3 sites now, and it’s a nasty little error. Used a linux distro to boot to CD and fix. V Annoying. Any idea of the cause yet? I’ve contacted MS to try to determine why the sudden increase, and it seems like it could be due to a push last week, but still unknown.
This problem usually occurs if the machine has already Internet Explorer 8 on it and then automatic update installs IE8 on top of it.
My count is also now much higher. And yep, the problem usually occurs if the machine has IE 8 already and then automatic updates installs it again.
I’m using Hirens 10.0 and a USB flash drive with iertutil.dll on it. Boot into Mini XP and then its just a straight file copy in Windows Explorer. Its a shame there is no remote fix (VNC or TeamViewer)