Lost desktop and toolbar - everything!

[glyn012003 via WindowsKB.com]

Advice welcome! Booted up this evening; laptop said needed to check one of
the drives (c:\ drive checked). It proceeded to delete some 'corrupt' files.
Now on log-in I don't have a taskbar or any icons, no 'Start' button. The
desktop wallpaper is there, but that's it!

I can access things via control-alt-delete, but obviously need to get to the
bottom of the problem.

Have tried one or two solutions already posted. Trying a 'previously
successful configuration' and starting up in 'safe mode' all looks the same.
There is not a 'explorer.exe' file in Systems32 folder either. Thanks in
advance.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Advice welcome! Booted up this evening; laptop said needed to check one of
the drives (c:\ drive checked). It proceeded to delete some 'corrupt' files.
Now on log-in I don't have a taskbar or any icons, no 'Start' button. The
desktop wallpaper is there, but that's it!

I can access things via control-alt-delete, but obviously need to get to the
bottom of the problem.

Have tried one or two solutions already posted. Trying a 'previously
successful configuration' and starting up in 'safe mode' all looks the same.
There is not a 'explorer.exe' file in Systems32 folder either. Thanks in
advance.

Try running explorer.exe - it usually resides in the C:\windows folder.

 

[JBrunelle]

If you can get task manager up, and hence the run... utility, you can
run explorer.exe from there, as pegasus said. If you have your OS cd
handy, you might want to run the system file checker, by inserting the
cd, and then opening run... and typing sfc /scannow. Remember to check
windows update after running system file checker.

Advice welcome! Booted up this evening; laptop said needed to check one of
the drives (c:\ drive checked). It proceeded to delete some 'corrupt' files.
Now on log-in I don't have a taskbar or any icons, no 'Start' button. The
desktop wallpaper is there, but that's it!

I can access things via control-alt-delete, but obviously need to get to the
bottom of the problem.

Have tried one or two solutions already posted. Trying a 'previously
successful configuration' and starting up in 'safe mode' all looks the same.
There is not a 'explorer.exe' file in Systems32 folder either. Thanks in
advance.

 

[Rock]

"glyn012003 wrote

Advice welcome! Booted up this evening; laptop said needed to check one of
the drives (c:\ drive checked). It proceeded to delete some 'corrupt'
files.
Now on log-in I don't have a taskbar or any icons, no 'Start' button. The
desktop wallpaper is there, but that's it!

I can access things via control-alt-delete, but obviously need to get to
the
bottom of the problem.

Have tried one or two solutions already posted. Trying a 'previously
successful configuration' and starting up in 'safe mode' all looks the
same.
There is not a 'explorer.exe' file in Systems32 folder either. Thanks in
advance.

From the desktop do ctrl-shift-esc to bring up the task manager. Then run
explorer.exe as a new task. Does the taskbar appear? Also from task
manager try running a system restore to before this happened. The command
line is c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Make sure you have a full and complete backup of important data. I suggest
you download a drive diagnostic utility from the hard drive manufacturer's
web site. That will create a bootable floppy or CD. Boot from that and run
the diagnostics to check on the health of the drive.

 

[Rock]

If you can get task manager up, and hence the run... utility, you can
run explorer.exe from there, as pegasus said. If you have your OS cd
handy, you might want to run the system file checker, by inserting the
cd, and then opening run... and typing sfc /scannow. Remember to check
windows update after running system file checker.

Why check windows update after running SFC? That's not needed just because
SFC was run. Or are you just suggesting it because of the problem they had?

 

[glyn012003 via WindowsKB.com]

Thanks very much for the tips! Unfortunately none worked: even restoring back
from beginning of the month still had the problem. Also tried some tips from
Dell website to no avail; so the problem was a bit more terminal than I had
hoped! Dell were brilliant - my first good experience to be honest - and over
the phone they helped me wipe everything, re-install Windows and started from
scratch! Frustrating, but back to normal now. Seems some files got corrupted
and were deleted on a clean-up. Fortunately I had all the re-install discs
from a different problem 6 months ago!

Advice welcome! Booted up this evening; laptop said needed to check one of
the drives (c:\ drive checked). It proceeded to delete some 'corrupt'

[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]

There is not a 'explorer.exe' file in Systems32 folder either. Thanks in
advance.

From the desktop do ctrl-shift-esc to bring up the task manager. Then run
explorer.exe as a new task. Does the taskbar appear? Also from task
manager try running a system restore to before this happened. The command
line is c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Make sure you have a full and complete backup of important data. I suggest
you download a drive diagnostic utility from the hard drive manufacturer's
web site. That will create a bootable floppy or CD. Boot from that and run
the diagnostics to check on the health of the drive.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Fortunately I had all the re-install discs

from a different problem 6 months ago!

I would not call this "fortune" but "good housekeeping":
Whenever you install a new program you should alway
consider what you would do if you had to install it again.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Rock]

Ok, sorry we couldn't get a resolution for you but glad that Dell was able
to get you back running. Thanks for posting back.

"glyn012003"wrote:

Thanks very much for the tips! Unfortunately none worked: even restoring
back
from beginning of the month still had the problem. Also tried some tips
from
Dell website to no avail; so the problem was a bit more terminal than I
had
hoped! Dell were brilliant - my first good experience to be honest - and
over
the phone they helped me wipe everything, re-install Windows and started
from
scratch! Frustrating, but back to normal now. Seems some files got
corrupted
and were deleted on a clean-up. Fortunately I had all the re-install discs
from a different problem 6 months ago!

Advice welcome! Booted up this evening; laptop said needed to check one
of
the drives (c:\ drive checked). It proceeded to delete some 'corrupt'

[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]

There is not a 'explorer.exe' file in Systems32 folder either. Thanks in
advance.

From the desktop do ctrl-shift-esc to bring up the task manager. Then run
explorer.exe as a new task. Does the taskbar appear? Also from task
manager try running a system restore to before this happened. The command
line is c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Make sure you have a full and complete backup of important data. I
suggest
you download a drive diagnostic utility from the hard drive manufacturer's
web site. That will create a bootable floppy or CD. Boot from that and
run
the diagnostics to check on the health of the drive.