Task Manager Won't Come Up; Restart Gone from It When It Does

[Chad Harris]

Task Manager Won't Come Up. I've seen this before--sometimes a reboot helps--sometimes it'll come up one way but not the other but not this time.

The only thing that I changed (no software or hardware or hardware driver changes was to load a Stardocks skin). That's not it because it's never made a difference with TM in the past.

On this box: XPP SP2
This isn't a beta phenom because it has nothing to do with any beta build. It just began a couple hours ago. I did apply a couple Stardocks skins but I also took them off and it isn't impacted by that.

1) I tried everything offered on Kelly's site at http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_t.htm
There's a way to go straight to the task manager part Kelly's page, but I haven't cracked the code to do it yet.
When I can go to the subsections of her site like System Restore, then I can get a URL to go straight to the topic. Otherwise, a right click will get you the letter of A to Z but not the way to go to the Task Manager section of "T."

2) 3 ways to bring up TM: Hour glass tries to run and stops--I'm getting no error message and nothing Event Viewer.

Righ tclick task bar Won't
Ctrl+Alt+Delete Won't
Ctrl+Shift+Escape Won't

3) I tried all the regedits for enabling TM on Kelly's Tweaks.
4) I checked the registry key for Ctrl+Alt+Delete value is OK.
5) gpedit.msc--Ctrl+Alt+Delete--set correctly.

6) Virus--Not part of this problem.
7) TM is present in the System 32 folder and clicking on the iconnette there does nothing.

I rebooted twice--no change.

I could fish it out of the 1386 folder off the shiny thing that looks like a phonograph record that came with Win XP, but I doubt that'll help.

I have a second question: I noticed when I started using SP2--not a Beta question since it's also public, that often but not always restart was not on the Task Manager toolbar, but I had to do it off a pull down from hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete, having the desktop icons disappear and a "Windows Security" dialogue box come up where I had to hit "Shut Down" and use the pull down there. I could go to the start menu, msconfig in the run box, or use a command to shut down or restart or make a button on the desktop to shut down.

Does anyone know why there is no restart option when I can bring up task manager?
Does anyone know a command that will restart, and does it have to be used from the dos prompt or can it be used in the run box as well?

Tia,

Chad Harris

 

[Chad Harris]

I tried rebooting several times thinking that Task Mgr would come up but it didn't. But I found that when I hit CTrl+Shift+Escape several times (in anger to be honest), that Task Manager came up in its normal mode instead of the "Windows Security Dialogue Box" with Task Manager as one of the buttons. If I want to bring up the Windows Security Dialogue box it seems to come up with Ctrl+Alt+Delete and the desktop disappears (icons and taskbar) and if there's no crash, then the desktop comes back. If I want the regular task manager to come up its Ctrl+Shift+Escape or "taskmgr.exe" in the run box or a right click on the task bar, so in other words Ctrl+Shift +Escape several times got things back to normal.

One reason for wanting it around besides ending a program that hangs, is to avoid a dirty shut down or picking off a process that doesn't need to be running and stopping it from starting.

Does anyone know if there is any qualitative difference between Ctrl+Alt+Delete and Ctrl+Shift+Escape that would give me the different result and why the first couldn't bring up Task Manager, and the second could and how to bring back restart to the task manager tool bar?

Thanks,

Chad Harris
_______________________________________________



Task Manager Won't Come Up. I've seen this before--sometimes a reboot helps--sometimes it'll come up one way but not the other but not this time.

The only thing that I changed (no software or hardware or hardware driver changes was to load a Stardocks skin). That's not it because it's never made a difference with TM in the past.

On this box: XPP SP2
This isn't a beta phenom because it has nothing to do with any beta build. It just began a couple hours ago. I did apply a couple Stardocks skins but I also took them off and it isn't impacted by that.

1) I tried everything offered on Kelly's site at http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_t.htm
There's a way to go straight to the task manager part Kelly's page, but I haven't cracked the code to do it yet.
When I can go to the subsections of her site like System Restore, then I can get a URL to go straight to the topic. Otherwise, a right click will get you the letter of A to Z but not the way to go to the Task Manager section of "T."

2) 3 ways to bring up TM: Hour glass tries to run and stops--I'm getting no error message and nothing Event Viewer.

Righ tclick task bar Won't
Ctrl+Alt+Delete Won't
Ctrl+Shift+Escape Won't

3) I tried all the regedits for enabling TM on Kelly's Tweaks.
4) I checked the registry key for Ctrl+Alt+Delete value is OK.
5) gpedit.msc--Ctrl+Alt+Delete--set correctly.

6) Virus--Not part of this problem.
7) TM is present in the System 32 folder and clicking on the iconnette there does nothing.

I rebooted twice--no change.

I could fish it out of the 1386 folder off the shiny thing that looks like a phonograph record that came with Win XP, but I doubt that'll help.

I have a second question: I noticed when I started using SP2--not a Beta question since it's also public, that often but not always restart was not on the Task Manager toolbar, but I had to do it off a pull down from hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete, having the desktop icons disappear and a "Windows Security" dialogue box come up where I had to hit "Shut Down" and use the pull down there. I could go to the start menu, msconfig in the run box, or use a command to shut down or restart or make a button on the desktop to shut down.

Does anyone know why there is no restart option when I can bring up task manager?
Does anyone know a command that will restart, and does it have to be used from the dos prompt or can it be used in the run box as well?

Tia,

Chad Harris

 

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Hi Chad,

Does anyone know a command that will restart, and does it have to be used from the dos prompt or
can it be used in the run box as well?

shutdown -r -t 00

You can type the above mentioned command at Start>Run and this will result in an immediate restart.

--

Anando
Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
http://www.mvps.org

Folder customizations
http://newdelhi.sancharnet.in/minku

Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


Task Manager Won't Come Up. I've seen this before--sometimes a reboot helps--sometimes it'll come
up one way but not the other but not this time.

The only thing that I changed (no software or hardware or hardware driver changes was to load a
Stardocks skin). That's not it because it's never made a difference with TM in the past.

On this box: XPP SP2
This isn't a beta phenom because it has nothing to do with any beta build. It just began a couple
hours ago. I did apply a couple Stardocks skins but I also took them off and it isn't impacted by
that.

1) I tried everything offered on Kelly's site at http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_t.htm
There's a way to go straight to the task manager part Kelly's page, but I haven't cracked the code
to do it yet.
When I can go to the subsections of her site like System Restore, then I can get a URL to go
straight to the topic. Otherwise, a right click will get you the letter of A to Z but not the way
to go to the Task Manager section of "T."

2) 3 ways to bring up TM: Hour glass tries to run and stops--I'm getting no error message and
nothing Event Viewer.

Righ tclick task bar Won't
Ctrl+Alt+Delete Won't
Ctrl+Shift+Escape Won't

3) I tried all the regedits for enabling TM on Kelly's Tweaks.
4) I checked the registry key for Ctrl+Alt+Delete value is OK.
5) gpedit.msc--Ctrl+Alt+Delete--set correctly.

6) Virus--Not part of this problem.
7) TM is present in the System 32 folder and clicking on the iconnette there does nothing.

I rebooted twice--no change.

I could fish it out of the 1386 folder off the shiny thing that looks like a phonograph record that
came with Win XP, but I doubt that'll help.

I have a second question: I noticed when I started using SP2--not a Beta question since it's also
public, that often but not always restart was not on the Task Manager toolbar, but I had to do it
off a pull down from hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete, having the desktop icons disappear and a "Windows
Security" dialogue box come up where I had to hit "Shut Down" and use the pull down there. I could
go to the start menu, msconfig in the run box, or use a command to shut down or restart or make a
button on the desktop to shut down.

Does anyone know why there is no restart option when I can bring up task manager?
Does anyone know a command that will restart, and does it have to be used from the dos prompt or can
it be used in the run box as well?

Tia,

Chad Harris

 

[Chad Harris]

Arnado--

Thanks for reminding me. I also saw a KB that has some information on this
and it reminded me of some of your posts and Jim Eschelman's site here:

Shortcuts to Shutdown:

http://www.aumha.org/kb.htm


I'm still looking for differences in the Ctrl+Alt +Delete and Ctrl+Shift
+Escape which work differently with TM (possibly because of Stardocks).

Do you know any reason why I was able to bring my task manager back to
working when I got ticked off and hit Ctrl+Shift+ Escape several times and
what the context of that Security Center dialouge box is that
Ctrl+Alt+Delete has been bringing up since I started using XP SP2 that makes
the desktop and task bar temporarily disappear when it comes up which is
different from the traditional XP task manager that we all know with its
different tabs. I think Stardocks may have something to do with this that I
can't figure out. I know that just right clicking the top of task manager
now that I have it back working with a Star dock's skin in force will make
it disappear and ctrl+shift+escape will make it reappear. If I minimize TM
with the Stardock's skin in force with that diagnal arrow that you get with
Stardock's skins I may have trouble bringing up TM whereas if I just right
click TM to make it disappear I don't. I'll try to get some info from them
on that.


The XP task manager, besides its obvious ability to monitor processes and
end them, has the advantage that

1) it can often avoid an IE crash by opening a new explorer shell from
Applications tab>new task button
2) Even if you have a shell crash or an Explorer crash and no desktop and
taskbar, you can still open up explorer from the same place or sometimes the
browser and continue on from there without a taskbar if you don't want to
reboot and want to finish some work.

3) Do you have a "restart on the toolbar" of your task manager, because I
used to and now I don't and I have seen that come and go. No clicking
anywhere on TM will bring it back.
If I use Ctrl+Alt+Delete or put taskmgr.exe in the run box I get the
security center and I can hit a "Shut Down" button and get a dialogue box
with a shut down pull down that lists different reasons for shutting down
which I suppose is MSFT's way of gathering info--I can't think of another
reason for the pull down shut down options.

Thanks for the switches.

Chad Harris
__________________________________________________________________________

 

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Hi Chad,

You are using (a) A third party skinning software (b) Windows XP SP 2, which is still in beta. The
symptoms that you are experiencing might be due to these two reasons. You might want to disable the
third party skinning software and try again.

Surprisingly, i too do not find the restart option in Task manager anymore (running SP2 beta here
too). Please note that SP2 is still in beta stages and this problem might just be because of this
fact. Also, do not confuse the 'Windows security' dialog box with the security center...these two
are totally different things.

I would suggest you to post your problem in the SP2 newsgroups also. Somebody out there might have
experienced similar problems and might have a solution to it.

--

Anando
Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
http://www.mvps.org

Folder customizations
http://newdelhi.sancharnet.in/minku

Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Chad Harris]

Anado--

I appreciate those points, and have tried to experiment the usual with and
without troubleshooting to see if Stardocks is causing this. I think it has
to do with a Stardocks setting that I've changed that also puts all the
shortcuts in the Notification Center when miminized instead of their usual
spot on the taskbar.

What I should distinguish for you though is I don't mean the "Security
Center" (sorry if I called this box that) Ctrl Panel applet that SP2 has
installed to ensure that very basic users who don't have time, inclination
or interest to spend a lot of time digging into Windows, patches, firewalls,
or AV can look to remind themselves AV is running with autoprotect, and the
Firewall is on and a way to link them to Technet's security pages hoping
that they will take some straight forward cues to keep their security
updated. Pictures of that thing will be all over the place with the $250
million SP2 ad campaign MSFT will launch next week.

I'm talking about what seems to be an SP2 feature because I never saw it
before that when you Ctrl+Alt+Delete the desktop icons and taskbar disappear
and a box comes up that says Windows Security with buttons that say Lock
Computer/Log Off/Shutdown/Change Password/TaskManager/Cancel.

I haven't seen much written about this, and if it was in XP out of the box,
I missed it for two years.

Thanks,

Chad Harris

______________________________________________________

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

For additional help see www.dougknox.com, Win XP Utilities, Create Emergency Copies of Critical XP System Utilities. This small VB Program will create backup, usable copies of Task Manger, Regedit and MSConfig (named Taskmgr1.exe, Regedit.com and MSConfig1.exe) in a new folder C:\EmergencyUtil. Many virus programs will intercept these programs, based on their original file name. The modified file names, allow them to be run. Open Windows Explorer to C:\EmergencyUtil and double click the application you need. The next revision will allow you to browse for the folder you want to place the backups in.

If the renamed copy of the application works, then you have a virus, or some type of malware on your system that is killing the Taskmgr.exe process as soon as its loaded.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Chad Harris]

Thanks Doug. I forgot about that and I picked it up from a post here where
someone suggested it and I downloaded it a little while back and played with
it. I'm going to get it out again--appreciate the reminder. That's such
a useful program and backstop, and I could have used it yesterday and should
have remembered it. Everybody should have it on their machine. As you
know well, it's not infrequent that people complain those utilities are
gone.

Stardocks has a couple settings that cause what was happening to me and once
you change them things are back to normal. They give a little variety to
how and where programs and web pages are minimized and they played with
Task Manager. Probably extensively explained in tutorials on their site
that I should have read and will get to.

It's probably dependent on understanding their code from a developer's
standpoint, but something that the setting that puts minimizes all your
programs, folders and web pages into the Notification area (not center)
minimizes the Task manager to the task bar but it's refractory to coming up
with a click. It also wouldn't come up from the run box (taskmgr.exe) or
right clicking the taskbar. But it would come up if you repeatedly hit
Ctrl+Alt+Escape but not Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

Do you know where anytihng is written about *the box whose origin confuses
me--if I Ctrl+Alt+Delete right now--everything will disappear--icons, this
message, OE's main window, and the task bar and the box called "Windows
Security"* I just described will come up? What confuses me is I got the
idea that I never saw it before SP2 but other people have seen it out of the
box. One of the buttons is task manager, and if things aren't crashing,
hitting it usually will bring up the regular TM and it will also restore
your desktop. Ctrl+Alt+Delete will also bring it up and returning via the
TM button will help resolve some freezes (or time will or both).

Also are you seeing "restart" on your Task Manager?? I guess by using your
program I could have access to restart on it, because I have seen it go away
and come back and go away again while using SP2. I wasn't tracking it
closely so maybe it's build specific, and I should ask in the Beta groups to
get straigtened out with that.

I haven't read all the SP2 material available on Technet and MSDN but most
of it and I haven't seen the box mention though I could have missed it.

Sometimes during a crash to restart and get everything shut down first,
I'll use Task Manager if I can get it up--I need to go back and look at your
utility copies and how I could fit them in there. If I'm crashed and can
only bring up task manager without the Restart category on TM's toolbar,
then going to the Applications Tab>New>and getting a runbox you can either
use the commands Armando talked about or type msconfig into that runbox and
use it to restart.

Thanks again for your site and all the useful info, fixes and programs
there. I've used it to help myself and other people.

Chad Harris
_______________________________________________




For additional help see www.dougknox.com, Win XP Utilities, Create Emergency
Copies of Critical XP System Utilities. This small VB Program will create
backup, usable copies of Task Manger, Regedit and MSConfig (named
Taskmgr1.exe, Regedit.com and MSConfig1.exe) in a new folder
C:\EmergencyUtil. Many virus programs will intercept these programs, based
on their original file name. The modified file names, allow them to be run.
Open Windows Explorer to C:\EmergencyUtil and double click the application
you need. The next revision will allow you to browse for the folder you
want to place the backups in.

If the renamed copy of the application works, then you have a virus, or some
type of malware on your system that is killing the Taskmgr.exe process as
soon as its loaded.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Chad,

I don't have any experience with Stardocks, so I can't address your questions about it. It does sound like it makes some major changes to the System, so I'd start with their web site and/or their support personnel.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com