File Open/Save Dialog not responding

I upgraded to Vista Ultimate from Windows XP Pro with Office XP. Since
then I have not been able to open or save any document in Office or IE.

The dialog opens then just stops responding. I thought it was a
compatibility issue with Office XP and vista and so I upgraded to Office
2007.
But the problem has not gone away.
This is so anoying that I am unable to perform everyday functions and
am seriously thinking to downgrade to XP Pro.
I am attaching 2 images from dialog hangs. (just attaching was tricky
because the attachment dialog also hung)

anyone has any ideas would be much appreciated.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: savedialog2.jpg |
|Download: 30 |
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Some Windows Vista functions may not work, or Windows Vista may stop
responding: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

There are many possible causes. For example, if your machine was joined to a
domain but now it isn't, you may experience a long delay in the Open/Save
dialog box. This issue is resolved in Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

What I would do is open Process Explorer
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896653.aspx) when the
Open/Save dialog is hung, then double-click the process responsible for
creating the dialog box (Ieuser.exe in the case of IE with Protected Mode
on), and then select the Threads tab. Previously, you will need to configure
Process Explorer to obtain symbols from the MS symbol server so as to get
accurate information.

Taking a look at the thread activity may help you understand why the dialog
is not responding for long time.

You could also perform a clean boot of Windows Vista and see how the system
behaves when there's no 3rd party code running on the computer.

How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/

Thanks everybody for the input. I tried both ideas to no avail. My
laptop was not on a domain but a workgroup. I also have disconnected all
network drives thinking if one of them is hanging the dialog.

However, application does not hang in two cases:
1: If the application is not using windows dialog box (in case of
photoshop cs3).
2: If the application is not using the extended dialog box (like
Notepad)

I hope that helps, Basicly all microsoft applications are hanging on
save.

I had the same issue and it took me forever to figure out! Appearantly
the new KB937287 update changes the registry file for Word. To fix it
you have to delete a file. Follow the instructions here: 'You may
experience several problems after you install an automatic update for
Word 2007 on a Windows Vista-based computer'
(http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;940791)

I followed the instructions and it worked for microsoft office products
for a while but Internet Explorer was still malfunctioning. Anyway,
after I use the MS Word once, the problem comes back.
So, I keep looking. Uninstall looks like the only option, though I have
too many settings that are going to be lost.

I got tired of trying to figuring it out. It looked to me like the
dialog box was trying to read the folder and was not able to. I thought
maybe it was a permissions issue. So I went and did something that would
be a NO-NO on a networked computer and not a laptop.

First, I gave Administrators the ownership of all files and folders on
the C drive. Second, Changed the inheritible permissions on the security
settings to include Everyone and Administrators and for every file and
folder in the drive.

Now I can open the dialog box in all Office applications!!! The only
application that is misbehaving is IE. It is still freezing on opening
any dialog box for file or attachment or saving files. I am not sure
what could be the issue.

Any Ideas?

For those interested or following this thead. Here was the reason for
everything: The problem was because I was using theme solution like
Style XP or Windowblinds when I was using XP.
When I upgraded, it left a few registry entries that were causing
problems. Every time folder would open or a dialog would open, it would
spend alot of time wondering what icons to display.

First I thought it was a permissions issue, then I wondered if it was a
icon, or preview display issue. Anyway I researched on the net and here
is the solution.

Goto this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Icons

Just delete Shell Icons or rename it and the problems will go away. It
will force the shell to just goto shell32.dll for icons.

I got help from Microsoft Support, and they helped me fix: Word Not
Responding. When I opened an existing document, it would immediately try
to shut down Word, and restart Word. When I opened Word from the Start
menu, it opened, but the mouse would not work the scroll bars or
position on the document. The FIX: was to rename the Addins directory
in the registry in two places under Word. The problem was caused by an
incompatible addin, and changing the directory to OldAddins fixed the
problem. The only addins on my system were from Microsoft, but that is a
different issue.

Check this KB article. Some stuff about mapped drives etc,etc. I had
this problem because I had connections to some web folders that I was
accessing. They were showing up under "Network Locations". I selected
then deleted them and now only show my legit mapped network drives and
the problem went away. Anyway...might help

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313937

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I cannot express how much this has helped...I cannot believe that the information you have given is not all over the internet...I searched everywhere and everyone just kept giving people generic answers or none at all...I have been trying to fix this problem for about a year now and with no avail until I came across this

Deleting bad mapped drive links resolved the issue.