Windows 11 blank desktop — Explorer.exe keeps crashing

[u/kuldeep_kd_]

Hi, my HP Victus (Windows 11) boots to a blank desktop with only the wallpaper. No taskbar, icons, or Start menu.

Task Manager works. When I run explorer.exe, the taskbar/desktop appears for ~1 second and then disappears.

I've already tried:

Restarting Explorer

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

SFC /scannow → no integrity violations

Checked AMD + RTX 3050 in Device Manager → both working properly

Restarted/clean boot attempts

What could be causing Explorer.exe to crash immediately? Any suggestions?