Lost my desktop, icons, start button, taskbar

[ken]

I was working merrily away, loaded a java program, and my icons, start
button, task bar etc. all disappeared. I could bring up Task manager
and restore the program windows that were running, but the desktop could
not be restored. I tried New Task button on the Task Manager using
explorer.exe, but that only brought up an explorer window.

Anyone know what to do in this circumstance? Is there some way to
restore the desktop when it disappears?

Thanks
Ken K

 

[Mick Murphy]

Do a System restore.

click start >Programs >Accessories >System Tools >System restore.
If using Norton, disable it before using SR.

 

[Ron Badour]

Agree with Mick/Mike except he seems to have missed the part of your post
about the start menu disappearing. Use this location to start system
restore using the task manager:

C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

 

[ken]

Agree with Mick/Mike except he seems to have missed the part of your post
about the start menu disappearing. Use this location to start system
restore using the task manager:

C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Hi. I apparently did not explain my situation clearly. The start menu
is not the issue. The desktop itself disappears when this happens (and
if I reboot, everything is normal). I am just trying to avoid rebooting
in order to solve the problem.

Imagine that you are working in a window with a word document open, an
excel worksheet minimized to your taskbar, and Outlook minimized on your
desktop. You open a program (in this case is was a java program called
DVArchive) and the taskbar disappears, the icons on your screen
disappear, but the DVArchive window is open and active. You do a
ctrl-alt-del, which brings up the Task Manager window and you select the
Applications tab. There are the programs you have open and running.
you can select any of them and they will open in their window on the
screen, you can do what you want to do, and then do the same process to
open another window. The problem remains, however, that the task bar,
including the start button, are not shown on the screen.

In that situation, is there anything that can be done to restore the
screen icons/start button/taskbar, or must one reboot?

Thanks
Ken K

 

[ken]

Do a System restore.

click start >Programs >Accessories >System Tools >System restore.
If using Norton, disable it before using SR.

Please see the post to Ron Badour. When this happens (and, admittedly
it is rare--like perhaps once a year--the whole taskbar disappears,
including the start button, clock, any buttons for open programs, start
icons, as well as all of the screen icons.

I would like to know if there is a single program that has stopped
running that can be restarted in order to restore the taskbar or if I
have to reboot (which always brings all to normal again)

Thanks
KK

 

[Ron Badour]

In that it only happens once a year or so, I am afraid it is some sort of
gremlin that will be difficult to pin down. Running explorer.exe should
restore the desktop; however, since you have already tried that and it
didn't work, I think the once-a-year reboot will have to be acceptable. A
system restore is clearly not called for now that you have provided
additional information.

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

 

[ken]

In that it only happens once a year or so, I am afraid it is some sort of
gremlin that will be difficult to pin down. Running explorer.exe should
restore the desktop; however, since you have already tried that and it
didn't work, I think the once-a-year reboot will have to be acceptable. A
system restore is clearly not called for now that you have provided
additional information.

Thanks. Sounds like it is not a common problem...!

KK

 

[lostinspace]

This is also happening to me at start-up. I get a blank screen instead of
seeing the desktop icons and taskbar. It is driving me crazy. To get to the
desktop, I need to go into task manager and browse to my computer, select the
c drive, right click to and click on search.. Then the desktop and icons
appear. Sometimes after I actually get to the desktop, my computer totally
locks-up. And by the way....System restore does not WORK. I get the message
regarding no changes were made and not being able to restore.

 

[David]

While this doesn't fix the problem, getting your desktop back is fairly
simple...

The desktop, start button (and bar) etc. are all part of Windows Explorer,
so, in task manager, simply click File / New Task (run) and enter explorer.
All your desktop will then appear (unless there is a problem with explorer).
Doing the search basically starts explorer, but is a little long winded.

--
Best regards,
Dave Colliver.
http://www.AshfieldFOCUS.com
~~
http://www.FOCUSPortals.com - Local franchises available

 

[ju.c]

Desktop Icons and the Taskbar Fail to Load at Startup

This problem may be fixed by using one of these 5 repairs.

(1) Check that this policy is not enabled:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDesktop"=hex:00,00,00,00


(2) Restore a Missing "userinit" Registry Value:

1. Copy below and paste into Notepad:

----------copy inside only----------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Userinit"="C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\userinit.exe,"

----------copy inside only----------

2. If your Windows is not on drive C: replace C: with your Windows
drive letter and Save-As Userinit.reg (or any name + .reg).
3. Double-click or right-click and merge into the registry.
4. Restart.


(3) Delete an Incorrect "Explorer.Exe" Entry in the Registry:

1. Open the Run box and enter: regedit
2. Go to this key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options]
3. If you see "explorer.exe" as a subkey below, delete it.
4. Restart.


(4) Restore a Missing "explorer.exe" Entry in the Registry:

1. Copy below and paste into Notepad:

----------copy inside only----------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Shell"="explorer.exe"

----------copy inside only----------

2. Save-As WinLogon.reg (or any name + .reg).
3. Double-click or right-click and merge into the registry.
4. Restart.


(5) If Exlorer.exe is Missing:

If explorer.exe is not in C:\WINDOWS\ then insert your Windows CD and,
using the 'Task Manager' (File -> New Task), run the 'System File Checker'
utility with this command: sfc /scannow

If the 'System File Checker' didn't replace it, boot to the Recovery Console
with the Windows CD and copy explorer.exe manually:

1. Insert the Windows CD and restart.
2. When setup begins, choose the "Repair or Recover" option by pressing "R".
3. Once at the command prompt, enter:
expand D:\i386 /F:EXPLORER.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /y
(D: is the CD drive letter, C: is the Windows partition, change if necessary
4. To exit the Recovery Console, type: exit.

If the desktop still does not load then, from within the Task Manager, run a new
task to open the Registry Editor:
regedit.exe
and check the registry data from above, adding as necessary if it is missing or
incorrect.


ju.c