UPDATE: Found a workaround! See bottom of post.

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Hey all, first-time poster here. I searched both Google and this forum and couldn’t find any mention of this, so I thought I’d share my issue in case anyone can help:

I’m a longtime Nexus user. Recently I updated my Windows 10 theme, and as part of that I installed Windhawk and tried out the Aerexplorer mod. At first everything seemed fine, but then I noticed that Nexus crashes the moment I try to open any File Explorer windows from it. This only happens with Aerexplorer enabled, and stops happening instantly when Aerexplorer is disabled. I suspect it has something to do with how Aerexplorer “needs to hook into svchost.exe to successfully capture the creation of Explorer windows” (per Aerexplorer’s description), though I’m no software dev and I cannot troubleshoot it myself.

Ultimately this isn’t a critical issue; if I have to choose between Aerexplorer and Nexus, I’ve already chosen Nexus. But it sure would be nice if I could get them to play nice together.

Windows 10 Pro (x64) v22H2
Winstep Nexus v26.1
Windhawk v1.7.3.0 + Aerexplorer v1.8.2

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SOLUTION: Just needed to add the Nexus.exe process to Aerexplorer’s exclusions in Advanced → Custom process exclusion list. That’s it. Can now run Aerexplorer and launch File Explorer windows from Nexus without issue.

Thanks for the heads up, but this needs to be directed at the developers of the Aerexplorer mod - it's the mod that hooks into other processes and is obviously causing problems in how it does this.

Unfortunately it is the kind of situation where Nexus would get blamed as "buggy" (because from your description it is Nexus that crashes when this Windhawk mod is installed) rather than the actual culprit.

Also, check out their disclaimer:

"This mod is primarily tested on Windows 10 Vibranium (which includes 2004, 20H2, 21H1, 21H2, and 22H2), but it has been confirmed to work to a varying degree on:

Redstone 4 (1803)
Redstone 5 (1809)
Vanadium (1909)
Iron (Server 2022)

Additionally, you can get it working on newer versions such as Windows 11 by replacing ExplorerFrame.dll with that from build 21332, but it is not supported and not recommended.

Feel free to try it on other versions, but it may not work."

All right, I’ll open an issue on the Windhawk Mods GitHub page. Thanks.

It's always like this it seems - something suddenly goes wrong when some other app is run alongside Winstep apps and the latter craps out, and first stop is this forum/Winstep support, instead of going to the app causing the problem. :/ I really wish people would take a logical approach to these issues.

Because Nexus is the one doing the crashing (and usually also taking the blame), although for no fault of its own.

I actually prefer that users say something about this here, for a couple of reasons: first I can point them in the right direction, second, I become aware of that there is an issue and the cause, third a post like this can actually clue in other users too.

Update: On a whim, I tried adding the Nexus.exe process to Aerexplorer’s custom process exclusion list … and it worked. I can now run Aerexplorer and launch File Explorer windows from Nexus without issue.

Would’ve been nice if such an obvious solution had occurred to me days ago, but c’est la vie.

Will update my OP with this info, in case anyone with the same issue stumbles across it.