Cannot find taskmgr.exe

[null.geist]

Hi,

I have an interesting problem:

I cannot start the Task Manager via taskmgr.exe and Ctrl-Alt-Delete
does not work either. When I try to run taskmgr.exe directly (via
"Start > Run..."), I get the following error: "Windows cannot find
taskmgr.exe".

Here is some additional info that might be of interest:

- I am running Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 and all the updates. Task Manager
and Ctrl-Alt-Delete used to work on this machine. The appearance of
the problem does not coincide with a major change to the machine (i.e.
no new software or hardware installs, etc.).

- The EXE itself is in C:\WINDOWS\system32 folder and its size (135680
bytes) and version (5.1.2600.2180) seem to be OK.

- If I rename the EXE to another name (anything but "taskmgr.exe"), the
EXE works.

- If I rename another EXE as "taskmgr.exe", regardless of its location,
I cannot run it with a similar error message indicating Windows cannot
find the file.

- Note that, some other files such as regedit, sysedit and gpedit.msc
that are commonly prevented to run by viruses run just fine.

- These symptoms exist both in normal mode and in safe mode and under
different users including the Administrator.

- I ran Symantec, Strider, AVG, ClamWin, Ewido, Lavasoft, Spybot using
the latest definitions both in normal mode and in safe mode. I also
ran a TrendMicro HouseCall session and Sysinternals Rootkit Revealer
and SFC /scannow.

- I cannot see anything abnormal in Sysinternals Process Explorer or in
the HijackThis log.

- The machine runs behind a NAT network and is protected by the latest
version of ZoneAlarm Pro. I never had any viruses or other malware on
this machine (i.e. the problem did not appear after I cleaned up a
seemingly unrelated virus or anything like that). I do not observe any
abnormal network activity either in ZoneAlarm logs or in the logs of my
router.

I am about to go crazy since I never had a problem like this before.
Google search did not reveal any useful information either. Any idea
what's going on?

Thanks,

Null

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Hi,

I have an interesting problem:

I cannot start the Task Manager via taskmgr.exe and Ctrl-Alt-Delete
does not work either. When I try to run taskmgr.exe directly (via
"Start > Run..."), I get the following error: "Windows cannot find
taskmgr.exe".

Here is some additional info that might be of interest:

- I am running Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 and all the updates. Task Manager
and Ctrl-Alt-Delete used to work on this machine. The appearance of
the problem does not coincide with a major change to the machine (i.e.
no new software or hardware installs, etc.).

- The EXE itself is in C:\WINDOWS\system32 folder and its size (135680
bytes) and version (5.1.2600.2180) seem to be OK.

- If I rename the EXE to another name (anything but "taskmgr.exe"), the
EXE works.

- If I rename another EXE as "taskmgr.exe", regardless of its location,
I cannot run it with a similar error message indicating Windows cannot
find the file.

- Note that, some other files such as regedit, sysedit and gpedit.msc
that are commonly prevented to run by viruses run just fine.

- These symptoms exist both in normal mode and in safe mode and under
different users including the Administrator.

- I ran Symantec, Strider, AVG, ClamWin, Ewido, Lavasoft, Spybot using
the latest definitions both in normal mode and in safe mode. I also
ran a TrendMicro HouseCall session and Sysinternals Rootkit Revealer
and SFC /scannow.

- I cannot see anything abnormal in Sysinternals Process Explorer or in
the HijackThis log.

- The machine runs behind a NAT network and is protected by the latest
version of ZoneAlarm Pro. I never had any viruses or other malware on
this machine (i.e. the problem did not appear after I cleaned up a
seemingly unrelated virus or anything like that). I do not observe any
abnormal network activity either in ZoneAlarm logs or in the logs of my
router.

I am about to go crazy since I never had a problem like this before.
Google search did not reveal any useful information either. Any idea
what's going on?

Thanks,

Null

Taskmgr.exe is a protected file.

Go to C:\Windows\System32\dllcache and find the copy of taskmgr.exe, double
click the file to see if it brings up the Tasm manager. If it does, copy
that file to the System32 folder, overwriting the corrupted file.