Start menu has blank pane and cascading menus don't work

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Tong
  • Start date Start date
D

David Tong

Every day or two I find the Start menu has gone wrong. It opens (with the
Windows button or a left-click on Start) but the left-hand pane is blacked
out and none of the cascading menus work (eg, My Recent Documents or
Favourites). If I click on Run, Search, or Help and Support, it offers to
make a shortcut instead of opening the feature. (With Start menu in Classic
mode either it won't open at all, or it opens but the various cascading
menus don't work).

It works normally again if I reboot, log off and on, or stop and restart
explorer.exe from Task Manager.

I'm getting the same thing on a three-year-old laptop and on a new one (one
month old). Both run fully patched XP Pro with almost the same set of
installed software. I never had this issue until about two months ago. I
suspected Nokia PC Suite because I installed it shortly before I first got
the problem. However it happens even when NPCS is not running - which is
most of the time.

I've drawn a blank with Google searches so would appreciate any help or
advice…
 
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on Start
Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then you know
that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for the new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when trying to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide or just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that solves the
problem.
 
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially if the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after several
hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in this situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally I have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered about.
What did you have in mind?
 
Have a look at this.

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click the
menu
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially if the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after
several hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in this
situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally I have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered
about. What did you have in mind?

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
Lawrence J. Gardner said:
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on Start
Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then you
know that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for the new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when trying to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide or just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that solves
the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Wes,

Thanks for the link. It's the first time I've seen the problem referenced,
even though it seems to refer to a permanent affliction rather than the
intermittent one that I'm experiencing. I ran regsvr32 /i shell32.dll and
got the message 'DllRegisterSXerver and DllInstall in shell32.dll
succeeded'. But whether it's done any good or not, only time will tell.
It's most frustrating when you can't make it perform to order.

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh ("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry. However I'll be able to spend more
time on it tomorrow.

Another strange thing that may be linked (and might give you inspiration :-)
is this... I use Power Drawers extensively
http://www.dynamickarma.com/powerdrawers.htm). It lets you right-click on
any folder to expand it in a tree, and hence drill down to any file very
easily. Anyway it has a right-click option 'Copy path to clipboard'. I
found today that almost every time I use 'copy path' Power Drawers becomes
disabled. Restarting explorer.exe brings it back.

Thanks for helping. Will report back.

--
David Tong


Wesley Vogel said:
Have a look at this.

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click the
menu
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially if
the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after
several hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in this
situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally I
have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered
about. What did you have in mind?

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
Lawrence J. Gardner said:
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on Start
Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then you
know that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for the
new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when trying
to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide or
just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that solves
the problem.

Every day or two I find the Start menu has gone wrong. It opens (with
the
Windows button or a left-click on Start) but the left-hand pane is
blacked
out and none of the cascading menus work (eg, My Recent Documents or
Favourites). If I click on Run, Search, or Help and Support, it offers
to
make a shortcut instead of opening the feature. (With Start menu in
Classic
mode either it won't open at all, or it opens but the various cascading
menus don't work).

It works normally again if I reboot, log off and on, or stop and
restart
explorer.exe from Task Manager.

I'm getting the same thing on a three-year-old laptop and on a new one
(one
month old). Both run fully patched XP Pro with almost the same set of
installed software. I never had this issue until about two months ago.
I
suspected Nokia PC Suite because I installed it shortly before I first
got the problem. However it happens even when NPCS is not running -
which is most of the time.

I've drawn a blank with Google searches so would appreciate any help or
advice.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
David,
I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh ("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry.
Click to expand...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

There are two tables here with the default values.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

[[Typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog. Fix the data for these four
registry values: (The defaults can be taken from the UserShellFolders
page.)]]
from...
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

UserShellFolders on the above page is a link to
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Wes,

Thanks for the link. It's the first time I've seen the problem
referenced, even though it seems to refer to a permanent affliction
rather than the intermittent one that I'm experiencing. I ran regsvr32
/i shell32.dll and got the message 'DllRegisterSXerver and DllInstall in
shell32.dll succeeded'. But whether it's done any good or not, only time
will tell. It's most frustrating when you can't make it perform to order.

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh ("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry. However I'll be able to spend
more time on it tomorrow.

Another strange thing that may be linked (and might give you inspiration
:-) is this... I use Power Drawers extensively
http://www.dynamickarma.com/powerdrawers.htm). It lets you right-click on
any folder to expand it in a tree, and hence drill down to any file very
easily. Anyway it has a right-click option 'Copy path to clipboard'. I
found today that almost every time I use 'copy path' Power Drawers becomes
disabled. Restarting explorer.exe brings it back.

Thanks for helping. Will report back.

--
David Tong


Wesley Vogel said:
Have a look at this.

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click the
menu
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially if
the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after
several hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in this
situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally I
have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered
about. What did you have in mind?

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on
Start Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then you
know that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for the
new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when trying
to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide or
just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that
solves the problem.

Every day or two I find the Start menu has gone wrong. It opens (with
the
Windows button or a left-click on Start) but the left-hand pane is
blacked
out and none of the cascading menus work (eg, My Recent Documents or
Favourites). If I click on Run, Search, or Help and Support, it
offers to
make a shortcut instead of opening the feature. (With Start menu in
Classic
mode either it won't open at all, or it opens but the various
cascading menus don't work).

It works normally again if I reboot, log off and on, or stop and
restart
explorer.exe from Task Manager.

I'm getting the same thing on a three-year-old laptop and on a new one
(one
month old). Both run fully patched XP Pro with almost the same set of
installed software. I never had this issue until about two months
ago. I
suspected Nokia PC Suite because I installed it shortly before I first
got the problem. However it happens even when NPCS is not running -
which is most of the time.

I've drawn a blank with Google searches so would appreciate any help
or advice.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Wes,

Thanks for the explanation. Glad to say that since I ran regsvr32 /i
shell32.dll the Start menu has behaved itself, but it could still be
coincidence...

I looked at the reg keys and they seem ok. My Docs (with My Pics and My
Music as subfolders) is actually relocated to D: drive but it and My Pics
show correctly in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders. However My Music doesn't have an entry, yet it's definitely
there under My Docs in Explorer. TweakUI shows it as relocated there as
well, and it seems to work as expected. I'm not sure if I should add the
variable to the reg key. However it's also missing from the reg key on my
old laptop that has pretty much the same set up, and that works ok.

The on-going problem with Power Drawers shows there's still something queer
going on. I've defined that problem better now. What it boils down to is
that a right click on a folder or file in an expanded cascade: (a) makes the
right-click menu unfurl only to be immediately written over by another
identical menu; (b) if I then left click an option in the resulting menu (a
folder, 'new subfolder’, or ‘copy path to clipboard’) I get the expected
result, except that afterwards Power Drawers has disappeared from the right
click options. To get it back I have to stop and restart explorer.exe.
Maybe this problem is off-topic here, and I've requested help from the Power
Drawers publisher, but any bright ideas would be gratefully received :-)

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
Wesley Vogel said:
David,
I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh ("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry.
Click to expand...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

There are two tables here with the default values.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

[[Typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog. Fix the data for these four
registry values: (The defaults can be taken from the UserShellFolders
page.)]]
from...
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

UserShellFolders on the above page is a link to
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Wes,

Thanks for the link. It's the first time I've seen the problem
referenced, even though it seems to refer to a permanent affliction
rather than the intermittent one that I'm experiencing. I ran regsvr32
/i shell32.dll and got the message 'DllRegisterSXerver and DllInstall in
shell32.dll succeeded'. But whether it's done any good or not, only time
will tell. It's most frustrating when you can't make it perform to order.

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh ("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry. However I'll be able to spend
more time on it tomorrow.

Another strange thing that may be linked (and might give you inspiration
:-) is this... I use Power Drawers extensively
http://www.dynamickarma.com/powerdrawers.htm). It lets you right-click
on
any folder to expand it in a tree, and hence drill down to any file very
easily. Anyway it has a right-click option 'Copy path to clipboard'. I
found today that almost every time I use 'copy path' Power Drawers
becomes
disabled. Restarting explorer.exe brings it back.

Thanks for helping. Will report back.

--
David Tong


Wesley Vogel said:
Have a look at this.

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click the
menu
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In David Tong <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially if
the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after
several hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in this
situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally I
have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered
about. What did you have in mind?

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on
Start Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then you
know that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for the
new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when trying
to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide or
just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that
solves the problem.

Every day or two I find the Start menu has gone wrong. It opens
(with
the
Windows button or a left-click on Start) but the left-hand pane is
blacked
out and none of the cascading menus work (eg, My Recent Documents or
Favourites). If I click on Run, Search, or Help and Support, it
offers to
make a shortcut instead of opening the feature. (With Start menu in
Classic
mode either it won't open at all, or it opens but the various
cascading menus don't work).

It works normally again if I reboot, log off and on, or stop and
restart
explorer.exe from Task Manager.

I'm getting the same thing on a three-year-old laptop and on a new
one
(one
month old). Both run fully patched XP Pro with almost the same set
of
installed software. I never had this issue until about two months
ago. I
suspected Nokia PC Suite because I installed it shortly before I
first
got the problem. However it happens even when NPCS is not running -
which is most of the time.

I've drawn a blank with Google searches so would appreciate any help
or advice.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
However My Music doesn't have an entry, yet it's
definitely there under My Docs in Explorer.
Click to expand...

I never noticed that My Music was missing. So is My Videos. ;-)

I don't know anything about Power Drawers, David. ;-(

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Wes,

Thanks for the explanation. Glad to say that since I ran regsvr32 /i
shell32.dll the Start menu has behaved itself, but it could still be
coincidence...

I looked at the reg keys and they seem ok. My Docs (with My Pics and My
Music as subfolders) is actually relocated to D: drive but it and My Pics
show correctly in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders. However My Music doesn't have an entry, yet it's
definitely there under My Docs in Explorer. TweakUI shows it as
relocated there as well, and it seems to work as expected. I'm not sure
if I should add the variable to the reg key. However it's also missing
from the reg key on my old laptop that has pretty much the same set up,
and that works ok.

The on-going problem with Power Drawers shows there's still something
queer going on. I've defined that problem better now. What it boils
down to is that a right click on a folder or file in an expanded cascade:
(a) makes the right-click menu unfurl only to be immediately written over
by another identical menu; (b) if I then left click an option in the
resulting menu (a folder, 'new subfolder’, or ‘copy path to clipboard’) I
get the expected result, except that afterwards Power Drawers has
disappeared from the right click options. To get it back I have to stop
and restart explorer.exe. Maybe this problem is off-topic here, and I've
requested help from the Power Drawers publisher, but any bright ideas
would be gratefully received :-)

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
Wesley Vogel said:
David,
I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh ("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry.
Click to expand...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

There are two tables here with the default values.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

[[Typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog. Fix the data for these
four registry values: (The defaults can be taken from the
UserShellFolders page.)]]
from...
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

UserShellFolders on the above page is a link to
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Wes,

Thanks for the link. It's the first time I've seen the problem
referenced, even though it seems to refer to a permanent affliction
rather than the intermittent one that I'm experiencing. I ran regsvr32
/i shell32.dll and got the message 'DllRegisterSXerver and DllInstall in
shell32.dll succeeded'. But whether it's done any good or not, only
time will tell. It's most frustrating when you can't make it perform to
order.

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh ("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry. However I'll be able to spend
more time on it tomorrow.

Another strange thing that may be linked (and might give you inspiration
:-) is this... I use Power Drawers extensively
http://www.dynamickarma.com/powerdrawers.htm). It lets you right-click
on
any folder to expand it in a tree, and hence drill down to any file very
easily. Anyway it has a right-click option 'Copy path to clipboard'.
I found today that almost every time I use 'copy path' Power Drawers
becomes
disabled. Restarting explorer.exe brings it back.

Thanks for helping. Will report back.

--
David Tong


Have a look at this.

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click
the menu
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In David Tong <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially if
the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after
several hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in
this situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally I
have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered
about. What did you have in mind?

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on
Start Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then you
know that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for the
new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when
trying to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide or
just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that
solves the problem.

Every day or two I find the Start menu has gone wrong. It opens
(with
the
Windows button or a left-click on Start) but the left-hand pane is
blacked
out and none of the cascading menus work (eg, My Recent Documents or
Favourites). If I click on Run, Search, or Help and Support, it
offers to
make a shortcut instead of opening the feature. (With Start menu in
Classic
mode either it won't open at all, or it opens but the various
cascading menus don't work).

It works normally again if I reboot, log off and on, or stop and
restart
explorer.exe from Task Manager.

I'm getting the same thing on a three-year-old laptop and on a new
one
(one
month old). Both run fully patched XP Pro with almost the same set
of
installed software. I never had this issue until about two months
ago. I
suspected Nokia PC Suite because I installed it shortly before I
first
got the problem. However it happens even when NPCS is not running -
which is most of the time.

I've drawn a blank with Google searches so would appreciate any help
or advice.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Wes,

Just to complete the story... I finally pinned down the nasty problem
with Power Drawers. It worked fine after I used ShellExView to disable one
of the context items used by Toshiba Bluetooth Manager. The latter seems to
do unacceptable things to the context menu for files.

Unfortunately the context item gets re-enabled every time TBM restarts (say
after a reboot) so in the circumstances I've ditched it in favour of XP SP2
Bluetooth Stack because I can't imagine life without Power Drawers, despite
the strange name that, to a Brit, suggests a connection with Superman's
underwear].

The Start menu problem has not resurfaced but I'd be surprised if that's the
end of the story. Still I've learned a lot I didn't know before :-)

Thanks for all your help.
--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
Wesley Vogel said:
However My Music doesn't have an entry, yet it's
definitely there under My Docs in Explorer.
Click to expand...

I never noticed that My Music was missing. So is My Videos. ;-)

I don't know anything about Power Drawers, David. ;-(

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Wes,

Thanks for the explanation. Glad to say that since I ran regsvr32 /i
shell32.dll the Start menu has behaved itself, but it could still be
coincidence...

I looked at the reg keys and they seem ok. My Docs (with My Pics and My
Music as subfolders) is actually relocated to D: drive but it and My Pics
show correctly in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders. However My Music doesn't have an entry, yet it's
definitely there under My Docs in Explorer. TweakUI shows it as
relocated there as well, and it seems to work as expected. I'm not sure
if I should add the variable to the reg key. However it's also missing
from the reg key on my old laptop that has pretty much the same set up,
and that works ok.

The on-going problem with Power Drawers shows there's still something
queer going on. I've defined that problem better now. What it boils
down to is that a right click on a folder or file in an expanded cascade:
(a) makes the right-click menu unfurl only to be immediately written over
by another identical menu; (b) if I then left click an option in the
resulting menu (a folder, 'new subfolder’, or ‘copy path to clipboard’) I
get the expected result, except that afterwards Power Drawers has
disappeared from the right click options. To get it back I have to stop
and restart explorer.exe. Maybe this problem is off-topic here, and I've
requested help from the Power Drawers publisher, but any bright ideas
would be gratefully received :-)

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
Wesley Vogel said:
David,

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh
("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

There are two tables here with the default values.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

[[Typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog. Fix the data for these
four registry values: (The defaults can be taken from the
UserShellFolders page.)]]
from...
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

UserShellFolders on the above page is a link to
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In David Tong <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Wes,

Thanks for the link. It's the first time I've seen the problem
referenced, even though it seems to refer to a permanent affliction
rather than the intermittent one that I'm experiencing. I ran regsvr32
/i shell32.dll and got the message 'DllRegisterSXerver and DllInstall
in
shell32.dll succeeded'. But whether it's done any good or not, only
time will tell. It's most frustrating when you can't make it perform to
order.

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh
("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately see
where they are lurking in the Registry. However I'll be able to spend
more time on it tomorrow.

Another strange thing that may be linked (and might give you
inspiration
:-) is this... I use Power Drawers extensively
http://www.dynamickarma.com/powerdrawers.htm). It lets you right-click
on
any folder to expand it in a tree, and hence drill down to any file
very
easily. Anyway it has a right-click option 'Copy path to clipboard'.
I found today that almost every time I use 'copy path' Power Drawers
becomes
disabled. Restarting explorer.exe brings it back.

Thanks for helping. Will report back.

--
David Tong


Have a look at this.

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click
the menu
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In David Tong <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially
if
the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after
several hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in
this situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally I
have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered
about. What did you have in mind?

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on
Start Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then
you
know that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for
the
new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when
trying to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide or
just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that
solves the problem.

Every day or two I find the Start menu has gone wrong. It opens
(with
the
Windows button or a left-click on Start) but the left-hand pane is
blacked
out and none of the cascading menus work (eg, My Recent Documents
or
Favourites). If I click on Run, Search, or Help and Support, it
offers to
make a shortcut instead of opening the feature. (With Start menu
in
Classic
mode either it won't open at all, or it opens but the various
cascading menus don't work).

It works normally again if I reboot, log off and on, or stop and
restart
explorer.exe from Task Manager.

I'm getting the same thing on a three-year-old laptop and on a new
one
(one
month old). Both run fully patched XP Pro with almost the same set
of
installed software. I never had this issue until about two months
ago. I
suspected Nokia PC Suite because I installed it shortly before I
first
got the problem. However it happens even when NPCS is not
running -
which is most of the time.

I've drawn a blank with Google searches so would appreciate any
help
or advice.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Power
Drawers, despite the strange name that, to a Brit, suggests a connection
with Superman's underwear].
Click to expand...

I was thinking something along those lines myself. LOL

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Wes,

Just to complete the story... I finally pinned down the nasty problem
with Power Drawers. It worked fine after I used ShellExView to disable
one of the context items used by Toshiba Bluetooth Manager. The latter
seems to do unacceptable things to the context menu for files.

Unfortunately the context item gets re-enabled every time TBM restarts
(say after a reboot) so in the circumstances I've ditched it in favour of
XP SP2 Bluetooth Stack because I can't imagine life without Power
Drawers, despite the strange name that, to a Brit, suggests a connection
with Superman's underwear].

The Start menu problem has not resurfaced but I'd be surprised if that's
the end of the story. Still I've learned a lot I didn't know before :-)

Thanks for all your help.
--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
Wesley Vogel said:
However My Music doesn't have an entry, yet it's
definitely there under My Docs in Explorer.
Click to expand...

I never noticed that My Music was missing. So is My Videos. ;-)

I don't know anything about Power Drawers, David. ;-(

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
David Tong said:
Wes,

Thanks for the explanation. Glad to say that since I ran regsvr32 /i
shell32.dll the Start menu has behaved itself, but it could still be
coincidence...

I looked at the reg keys and they seem ok. My Docs (with My Pics and My
Music as subfolders) is actually relocated to D: drive but it and My
Pics show correctly in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders. However My Music doesn't have an entry, yet it's
definitely there under My Docs in Explorer. TweakUI shows it as
relocated there as well, and it seems to work as expected. I'm not sure
if I should add the variable to the reg key. However it's also missing
from the reg key on my old laptop that has pretty much the same set up,
and that works ok.

The on-going problem with Power Drawers shows there's still something
queer going on. I've defined that problem better now. What it boils
down to is that a right click on a folder or file in an expanded
cascade: (a) makes the right-click menu unfurl only to be immediately
written over by another identical menu; (b) if I then left click an
option in the resulting menu (a folder, 'new subfolder’, or ‘copy path
to clipboard’) I get the expected result, except that afterwards Power
Drawers has disappeared from the right click options. To get it back I
have to stop and restart explorer.exe. Maybe this problem is off-topic
here, and I've requested help from the Power Drawers publisher, but any
bright ideas would be gratefully received :-)

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
David,

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh
("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately
see where they are lurking in the Registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

There are two tables here with the default values.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

[[Typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog. Fix the data for these
four registry values: (The defaults can be taken from the
UserShellFolders page.)]]
from...
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

UserShellFolders on the above page is a link to
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In David Tong <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Wes,

Thanks for the link. It's the first time I've seen the problem
referenced, even though it seems to refer to a permanent affliction
rather than the intermittent one that I'm experiencing. I ran
regsvr32 /i shell32.dll and got the message 'DllRegisterSXerver and
DllInstall in
shell32.dll succeeded'. But whether it's done any good or not, only
time will tell. It's most frustrating when you can't make it perform
to order.

I tried to have a quick look at the reg keys suggested by Ramesh
("Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Common Start Menu, Common Programs. Under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Start Menu, Programs") but couldn't immediately
see where they are lurking in the Registry. However I'll be able to
spend more time on it tomorrow.

Another strange thing that may be linked (and might give you
inspiration
:-) is this... I use Power Drawers extensively
http://www.dynamickarma.com/powerdrawers.htm). It lets you
right-click on
any folder to expand it in a tree, and hence drill down to any file
very
easily. Anyway it has a right-click option 'Copy path to clipboard'.
I found today that almost every time I use 'copy path' Power Drawers
becomes
disabled. Restarting explorer.exe brings it back.

Thanks for helping. Will report back.

--
David Tong


Have a look at this.

Start Menu 'All Programs' is empty or nothing happens when you click
the menu
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In David Tong <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Lawrence,

Thanks for coming back to the query. Great suggestions, especially
if
the
fault were always present. But since it might not happen even after
several hours of normal use, it's not so easy to make the tests in
this situation.

Start menu is set to the default of six programs. However normally
I have
set to Classic so this parameter is not something I've ever bothered
about. What did you have in mind?

--
David Tong

[Please replace 'invalid' with 'com' to reply].
What is Start Menu | Properties | Customize, Number of Programs on
Start Menu set to?

First:

Have you tried the Start Menu under Safe Mode. If it works, then
you
know that it is something auto started when Windows boots normally.

Second:

Create a new user and boot as that user. If Start Menu works for
the
new
user, then the problem affects just your user account.
Remember, to delete the user. I always create a Test User when
trying to
locate problems. This way I can narrow done if it is system-wide
or just
local to my account.

Last:

Use msconfig, turn off everything in Startup groups. See if that
solves the problem.

Every day or two I find the Start menu has gone wrong. It opens
(with
the
Windows button or a left-click on Start) but the left-hand pane is
blacked
out and none of the cascading menus work (eg, My Recent Documents
or
Favourites). If I click on Run, Search, or Help and Support, it
offers to
make a shortcut instead of opening the feature. (With Start menu
in
Classic
mode either it won't open at all, or it opens but the various
cascading menus don't work).

It works normally again if I reboot, log off and on, or stop and
restart
explorer.exe from Task Manager.

I'm getting the same thing on a three-year-old laptop and on a new
one
(one
month old). Both run fully patched XP Pro with almost the same
set of
installed software. I never had this issue until about two months
ago. I
suspected Nokia PC Suite because I installed it shortly before I
first
got the problem. However it happens even when NPCS is not
running -
which is most of the time.

I've drawn a blank with Google searches so would appreciate any
help
or advice.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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