Explorer.exe Crashes When Connecting Second Monitor

Recently (maybe 1-2 months ago), whenever I connect a second monitor to my Windows 11 Notebook via USB-C or HDMI, explorer.exe crashes and (eventually) restarts. The second monitor is detected and set up properly, but just after connecting, the shell crashes. This happens every time.

Setup:

• Windows 11 25H2

• AMD Radeon 780M

• Lenovo Thinkpad T14 Gen 5 (Type 21MD)

• Second monitor: ThinkVision (different models)

What I’ve tried so far:

• Updating Chipset / GPU drivers / display drivers / Windows

• Trying different monitors / cables / ports

• Adjusting display settings (e.g. DPI scaling 100%, native resolution) on both screens

• Run sfc /verifyonly and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth /LogPath:"C:\tmp\DISM_CheckHealth.log" /LogLevel:2 (including /ScanHealth) - no errors or warnings have been reported

Additional details:

• The crash happens immediately after connecting, and repeats periodically within serveral minutes to serveral hours

• Error messages in Event Viewer (under Windows Logs > Application):

  Log Name: Application
  Source: Application Error
  Date: 07/17/2026 04:09:27
  Event ID: 1000
  Task Category: Application Crash Events
  Level: Error
  Keywords: User: ***
  Computer: ***

  Description:
  Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 10.0.26100.8655, time stamp: 0x28f35f49
  Faulting module name: Windows.UI.Xaml.dll, version: 10.0.26100.8521, time stamp: 0xe70b2ca6
  Exception code: 0xc000027b
  Fault offset: 0x00000000008fa853
  Faulting process ID: 0xDCCC
  Faulting application start time: 0x1DD1590737C9541
  Faulting application path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
  Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\Windows.UI.Xaml.dll
  Report ID: fa02f231-1ced-46c7-b1a7-824c76162af7

I suspect an issue with a Windows update. Any advice/ideas on additional troubleshooting steps would be appreciated! Did anyone have/read about similar experiences?

(update - sorry, probably should have submitted this as comment, not as answer...)

22.07.2026: I experience the same symptomatic (Explorer.exe crashing when connecting external monitors), on a different hardware platform, and a different module is been claimed failing. As further evidence I submit my details below.

This happens since mid-last week, I think starting to occur after the system updates from 17.06.2026:

2026-07 Security Update (KB5101650) (26200.8875)

2026-07 .NET Framework Security Update (KB5100998)

(I am afraid I have no time for further debugging now, i.e. trying the mentioned suggestions before weekend.)

My system parameters are:

System: Dell Precision 7680

CPU: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13950HX (2.20 GHz)

GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU (8 GB) and

Intel(R) UHD Graphics (128 MB)

Latest Display Driver is installed:

NVIDIA-Quadro-Txxx0-Quadro-RTX-X000-RTX-xxx0-RTX HV7FV 32.0.15.8195 A36 01

OS: Windows 11 Pro, 25H2, 26200.8875

Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.334.0

Dock: Dell WD19S

Second Screen: Dell U3421WE

Third Screen: Dell U2410f

My Event Viewer entry for the last crash is:

Log Name: Application

Source: Application Error

Date: 22/07/2026 13:01:22

Event ID: 1000

Task Category: Application Crash Events

Level: Error

Keywords:

User: ***

Computer: ***

Description:

Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 10.0.26100.8875, time stamp: 0x0bebf481

Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.26100.8875, time stamp: 0x303b538a

Exception code: 0xc0000409

Fault offset: 0x00000000000a527e

Faulting process id: 0x69A8

Faulting application start time: 0x1DD19A7F84FBD94

Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE

Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\ucrtbase.dll

Report Id: b64393fe-438d-4cc1-a3b9-467778117a19

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID: