\System32 directory unreadable - Sort Of, Apps won't work but system does

[Dave Aultman]

Here's a strange one:

I uninstalled PGPFreeware v7 and rebooted when directed. Upon reboot,
I got the BSOD with a 0x0000001E in ntoskrnl.

I rebooted again and it appeared to start up correctly, but after the
desktop appeared some services and applications weren't working (NAV,
InetExplorer, and anything else that relies on a file in
\winnt\system32). The copy and paste features in windows explorer
don't work.

A little investigation found this wierdness: Explorer can't see the
contents of the \winnt\system32 directory. The folder and it's
subfolders show in the folders pane, but nothing, even the subfolders
show in the file pane. All the subfolder's can be seen, and their
contents. It's just this one folder.

If I open a command box and do a dir on that directory, all the files
show. If I share the folder, I can view the files in the directory
over the network, so they're still there, but the OS can't see them to
use them.

I've run chkdsk, which reports no errors.
It's not a matter of folder view options either.

Why wouuld the shell not be able to see and even use the files in this
directory, but a command box can (command line progs like copy and
xcopy work)?

Any ideas how to fix this...I really don't want to do a reinstall.
System is Win2k with all the SP's and updates off windows update.

Thanks for any tips.

 

[BT]

Did you try repairing Internet Explorer? It's a great way to repair many shell errors. If you can't repair, as might be the case,
try reinstalling IE.