Network Connections - ENTIRE FOLDER IS MISSING!

[Guest]

Hi - after setting up a wireless router and my own laptop to connect to it, I went about setting up my girlfriend's nearly identical laptop and discovered that her Network Connections folder has COMPLETELY disappeared from the Control Panel folder (oddly, there are two empty unnamed folders there now).

Attempting to open the Network Connections shortcut from Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications does not work, I get an hourglass cursor for a second then nothing happens; I've also noticed the Network Setup Wizard is also inoperable from there as well with identical results.

She's still able to get wireless internet access thru other routers in the building as well as via NIC cable, but she no longer gets notification bubble messages from the system tray that confirm her wireless card's connection or what network it's connected to - she only gets a confirmation sound. However, since the Network Connections folder is gone, it's impossible to configure for the new encrypted WLAN, or any other for that matter.

I install and configure all software on her laptop, and she's good about not messing with settings, so I'm dumbfounded why Network Connections disappeared. A couple weeks ago I uninstalled the OEM installed version of Windows Messenger and MSN Explorer because she doesn't use either and could use the disk space, but wouldn't have expected that to nuke the networking like this and can't confirm the problem happened after that for sure.

I've read plenty of advice here in the newsgroup about checking the services and such when icons are missing in the Network Connections folder, but haven't seen anything about the entire folder disappearing. The My Network Places folder is still there, and seems to work. Any ideas?

 

[Ken Wickes [MSFT]]

Can she run "ncpa.cpl" from the Start/Run?

--

Ken Wickes [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi - after setting up a wireless router and my own laptop to connect to

it, I went about setting up my girlfriend's nearly identical laptop and
discovered that her Network Connections folder has COMPLETELY disappeared
from the Control Panel folder (oddly, there are two empty unnamed folders
there now).

Attempting to open the Network Connections shortcut from

Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications does not work, I get an hourglass
cursor for a second then nothing happens; I've also noticed the Network
Setup Wizard is also inoperable from there as well with identical results.

She's still able to get wireless internet access thru other routers in the

building as well as via NIC cable, but she no longer gets notification
bubble messages from the system tray that confirm her wireless card's
connection or what network it's connected to - she only gets a confirmation
sound. However, since the Network Connections folder is gone, it's
impossible to configure for the new encrypted WLAN, or any other for that
matter.

I install and configure all software on her laptop, and she's good about

not messing with settings, so I'm dumbfounded why Network Connections
disappeared. A couple weeks ago I uninstalled the OEM installed version of
Windows Messenger and MSN Explorer because she doesn't use either and could
use the disk space, but wouldn't have expected that to nuke the networking
like this and can't confirm the problem happened after that for sure.

I've read plenty of advice here in the newsgroup about checking the

services and such when icons are missing in the Network Connections folder,
but haven't seen anything about the entire folder disappearing. The My
Network Places folder is still there, and seems to work. Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Hi Ken, and thanks for replying...

I saw an article about the Control Panel shortcuts in the Knowledge Base, and located the Control Panel NCPA.CPL shortcut in the \Windows\System folder, created a desktop shortcut to it, which on doubleclicking provided the same results as running it out of the Accessories/Communications folder - a momentary hourglass, followed by nothing (a look at Task Manager while this happened seemed to show and application I recall as "SysFade" running during this short time, which I'm guessing was the fading behavior for the XP Menus?).

Does it matter if it runs from Start/Run or the desktop?

 

[Guest]

Ken
I stand (ever so slightly) corrected...to clarify: it was the Windows\System32 folder (not System) that I found NCPA.CPL in

Again, dunno what would have caused such an extinction-level event on that folder. The worst that's happened lately is she's had a few hangs whilst playing The Sims (and yes, I dutifully ran defragging and error checking on the hard drive afterwards to clean up any mess that might have been made, with nothing of circumstance reported that I can see).

She tells me it's probably been a week since the notifications were last seen, and the only system-impacting thing I can see which might have been installed since then was a Windows Update on 11/18 (code number unavailable at the moment, but it was probably a security update released that day or before). Any problems with any of those recently, or with running them while using a wireless connection

Thanks,
Scot

 

[Ken Wickes [MSFT]]

No shouldn't matter.

It's probably worth trying a regsvr... "regsvr32
\windows\system32\netshell.dll" and seeing if that helps.

--

Ken Wickes [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Ken, and thanks for replying...

I saw an article about the Control Panel shortcuts in the Knowledge Base,

and located the Control Panel NCPA.CPL shortcut in the \Windows\System
folder, created a desktop shortcut to it, which on doubleclicking provided
the same results as running it out of the Accessories/Communications
folder - a momentary hourglass, followed by nothing (a look at Task Manager
while this happened seemed to show and application I recall as "SysFade"
running during this short time, which I'm guessing was the fading behavior
for the XP Menus?).

 

[Guest]

Hey Ken

Well whattdya know....we have a winnner - this worked! Thanks! :
(Any idea what might have caused it to come unglued?

On a similar note, there's now just one empty folder in Control Panel (remember from my earlier note I said there were 2). My guess is it's a similarly nuked Folder Options, from a perusal of my Control Panel vs. hers....is there a registration routine which will resurrect that one too

I note also she's got a Wireless Link shortcut in her Control Panel that I don't have...and we both have essentially the same model laptop with supposedly the same IR features (only differences are I'm running XP Pro vs. her Home edition, and I'm on a speedier Athlon vs. her Celeron). Is there a registration routine for that as well, or an OS setting that enables it

Thanks
-Scott

 

[Ken Wickes [MSFT]]

Sometimes bad software installation programs can get at those regkeys.

Folder options? Not sure but I would try a "regsvr32
\windows\system32\shell32.dll"

Troubleshooting Missing Network and Dial-Up Connections Icons
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329050


--

Ken Wickes [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hey Ken -

Well whattdya know....we have a winnner - this worked! Thanks!
(Any idea what might have caused it to come unglued?)

On a similar note, there's now just one empty folder in Control Panel

(remember from my earlier note I said there were 2). My guess is it's a
similarly nuked Folder Options, from a perusal of my Control Panel vs.
hers....is there a registration routine which will resurrect that one too?

I note also she's got a Wireless Link shortcut in her Control Panel that I

don't have...and we both have essentially the same model laptop with
supposedly the same IR features (only differences are I'm running XP Pro vs.
her Home edition, and I'm on a speedier Athlon vs. her Celeron). Is there a
registration routine for that as well, or an OS setting that enables it?