DDE Server Window preventing shutdown; Explorer.exe Application Error

Some users have mentioned that their Windows computer could not shut down due to DDE Server Window. DDE Server is a built-in Windows utility that allows programs on your computer to communicate with each other. However, when you want to shut down your computer, the utility should just allow you to do that, but that’s not the case here. In this post, we will discuss this issue and see what you can do to resolve it.

DDE Server Window: explorer.exe – Application Error
The instruction at 0x00255878 referenced memory at 0x00000070. The memory could not be read.
Click on OK to terminate the program

Unable to Shutdown due to DDE Server Window Explorer.exe warning

If your computer cannot shut down due to DDE Server Window warning, follow these suggestions:

1. Restart File Explorer
2. Tweak these Registry settings
3. Use a different method to Shutdown your system
4. Turn off Automatically Hide Taskbar
5. Run SFC and DISM
6. Troubleshoot in Clean Boot

Let us talk about them in detail.

1] Restart File Epxlorer

The first thing you should do is restart File Explorer. Restarting the Explorer can flush the glitch that might be causing the error code in question. To do the same, follow the prescribed steps.

1. Open Task Manager.
2. Right-click on Windows Explorer or Explorer.exe.
3. Select Restart.

Your Taskbar will hide and reappear. Finally, retry shutting down your system and see if that works.

2] Tweak these Registry settings

When you give Windows the command to shut down your system, it takes 4-5 seconds to turn off all the background tasks before shutting the system down. In this solution, we will create the following two registry keys and configure them to reduce the time it takes for the background tasks to get disabled.

• WaitToKillServiceTimeout: This key is used to inform the system how much it will take to close all the tasks.
• AutoEndTask: Force closes all the apps as soon as you click the Shutdown button.

We are going to configure these two services to resolve your issue. However, before that, it is better to create a backup of your Registry, in case something goes wrong. Follow the prescribed steps to do the same.

1. Open Registry Editor from the Start Menu.
2. Navigate to the following location.

   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

3. Double-click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout set the Value data to 2000, and click Ok.
4. Now, try shutting down your computer and see if the issue is resolved. In case, the issue persists, we need to configure the AutoEndTask as well.
5. Navigate to the following location in Registry Editor.

   Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

6. Right-click on Desktop and select New > String Value.
7. Rename it to AutoEndTask, right-click on the value, and select Edit.
8. Set Value data to 1 and click Ok.

Finally, shut down your computer. This will do the job for you.

You can also use Ultimate Windows Tweaker to change these settings.

You will see the tweaks under Performace section.

Read: Change how long Windows waits before closing apps at Shutdown

3] Use a different method to Shutdown your system

If you were trying to shut down your system from the Start Menu and receiving the error message, use any of the following methods to shut down your computer.

• Hit Alt + F4, select Shutdown from the drop-down menu, and click on OK.
• Open Run (Win + R), type shutdown -s -f -t 00 and click OK.

4] Turn off Automatic Hide Taskbar

This might seem a little weird but some users reported that they encountered this issue when the Automatic Hide Taskbar feature was enabled. This situation may be valid in your case as well, we can try to disable the Automatic Hide Taskbar option and see if that helps. Follow the prescribed steps to do the same.

1. Open Settings by Win + I.
2. Go to Personalization > Taskbar.
3. Expand Taskbar behavior (you don’t have to do this on Windows 10) and disable Automatically hide the taskbar or Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode.

Finally, close the Settings and see if the issue is resolved.

5] Run SFC and DISM

You may also encounter the issue in question if your system files are corrupted. In order to repair system files, we need to run a few commands. So, launch Command Prompt as an administrator and we are going to run some commands.

First, let us run the System File Checker of the SFC command and see if that works.

sfc /scannow

If, after executing the said command, your issue is resolved, close cmd and get back to work. In case the issue persists, run the DISM command mentioned below.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

After executing the two commands, check if the issue is resolved.

6] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot

If nothing works, your last resort is to troubleshoot in Clean Boot to find out if there is a third-party application conflicting with the Shutdown process. If you can restart the system in Clean Boot, we can say that there is third-party software causing this issue. Then just manually enable processes and find out the culprit. Finally, uninstall or disable the trouble-causing program and your issue will be resolved for good.

Related: Windows PC will not Shutdown

Hopefully, you will be able to resolve the issue using the solutions mentioned in this post.

Is DDE server a virus?

DDE is an abbreviation for Dynamic Data Exchange. The DDE Server allows apps on your system to communicate with each other. It is an old Windows utility and is defiantly not a virus. If you are still skeptical, try scanning your system either using an antivirus or Microsoft Defender tool.

Read: How to manually scan individual files and using Microsoft Defender

How do I fix DDE server windows?

DDE Server stops the user from shutting down their system. To fix the issue, you can disable the Automatically hide the taskbar or use some other solutions mentioned in this post. However, we would recommend you start from the first solution and then move your way down. Hopefully, you will be able to resolve the issue using these solutions.

Also Read: Windows Update and Shutdown/Restart not working and won’t go away.