I am really pleased that your problem resolved itself...
But it seems to me the only time I ever allow myself to *assume* that the
Original Poster has himself installed a Windows XP Service Pack at some
time, and it turns out they [you] never have done !!
If there aren't a large number of system files in the folder :
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386
...then it must be because you have not installed further service packs
other than the revision level of your version of Windows [XP] (or you
deleted them all, which I think you did not do).
If it is the case no extra SPs were installed, then you could, instead,
compare your file (if present) with that of the copy on your original XP
Installation Disk (i386 folder).
As you state you have a folder named [i386] in the root of your system
drive [C:] I will assume that this folder does indeed contain the original
installation files copied from the XP Installation disk.
However, unlike the files stored in the [ServicePackFiles] folder (for
systems that have installed further service packs) the files on the
original installation disk (or copied to your hard-drive) are mostly
compressed and have to be expanded before you can "File-Compare" them.
You would do this if a file in the [i386] folder had an extension that
contained an "underscore" character (e.g; "explorer.ex_" ) you would simply
expand it first issuing the command :
expand c:\i386\explorer.ex_ c:\temp\explorer.exe
Unfortunately, in the case of the file [hkcmd.exe] - turns out that this
file is related to specific Intel© chipsets (Hot-Key Commands) and is not a
part of the WinXP OS - so, very sorry about that...
But you may still compare files in the [C:\i386] folder (expanding those
files that require it) to those in your WINDOWS / system32 directories.
==
Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.
Terry Pinnell said:
Tim Meddick said:
One possibility is with the "HkCMD.exe" file...
Make sure that the following command is present in your registry's "RUN"
Key :
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"HotKeysCmds"="C:\WINDOWS\system32\HKCMD.EXE"
...and that the file :
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\HKCMD.EXE"
...is present and not corrupted.
You can check that the file is not corrupted by doing a "File-Compare" on
it using the copy contained in [C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386] as a
reference, e.g.; at the command-prompt type :
fc c:\windows\system32\hkcmd.exe c:\windows\servicepackfiles\hkcmd.exe
...should return "FC: no differences encountered" if all is well.
==
Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.
Normally when I want to clear the desktop I use Win + M. But suddenly
that
no longer minimises all Explorer windows. Any applications that are
open
are minimised, but the folders stay open.
Can anyone suggest possible cause and fix please?
Thanks Tim.
I rebooted and happily I have Win+M functionality back again. But you've
aroused my curiosity now, because I have neither that registry entry nor
the file hkcmd.exe anywhere on my HD! What is its function?
My i386 folder is at C:\i386. (520 MB; 6,788 Files; 154 Folders)
And, FWIW, the only file in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles is
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\ServicePackCache\i386\msrdp.cab
which I see is duplicated at
C:\WINDOWS\$hf_mig$\KB956744\SP2QFE\msrdp.cab
