Taskbar-Quick Launch "scramble"

[Dr. Dos]

Dong a "routine" stretch of the quick launch area of the
taskbar, the right side separator bar disappeared. This
created a full left to right quick launch area, bumping up
against the systray. Expanding the taskbar vertically
produces a full row of the icons, but, still all the way
across, with no size bar control (cannot produce the double
drag arrows). Active program notifications show in a another
window bone below quick launch. No amount of adjusting with
locking the taskbar, classical view, or adding in and
removing tool bars cures this. Further the quick launch
icons rearrange themselves. After I re-sequence them and
reboot, they scramble again.

I "solved" this problem by restoring from an over-night
backup, but this is pretty heavy hammer.

I'd like to copy and save the file(s)(make backups) where
quick launch holds the icons and the taskbar's sizing is
specified. So, I am asking about file names, and also
wondering about what I can do in the registry. I have seen
similar references to taskbar glitches in this NG, but do
not think I saw a solution for me.
Anybody with experience or links?

Thank you


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[Keith Miller MVP]

The layout & contents are stored in the registry values found under:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop"

"TaskbarWinXP" holds the settings for the taskbar & any additional toolbars attached to it.
"Toolbars" (if it exists) holds the settings for any toolbars on other edges of the screen.

The tricky part is, these values are only read at login, then retained (and modified if you change
the layout) in memory throughout the user session, and only written back to the registry when the
user logs out.

So, to backup a layout, you need to log off & back on after making any changes and before you export
the registry key. If you want to restore the key from a backup, you would need to:

Open regedit & task manager

Kill the shell by clicking 'Start' -> 'Shutdown', press & hold <Ctrl> + <Alt> +<Shift> & click the
'Cancel' button in the Shutdown dialog.

Import your saved key.

Restart explorer via Task Manager -- 'File' -> 'New Task (Run...)' -> type 'explorer'

 

[User Friendly]

The layout & contents are stored in the registry values found under:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop"

"TaskbarWinXP" holds the settings for the taskbar & any additional
toolbars attached to it. "Toolbars" (if it exists) holds the settings
for any toolbars on other edges of the screen.

The tricky part is, these values are only read at login, then retained
(and modified if you change the layout) in memory throughout the user
session, and only written back to the registry when the user logs out.

So, to backup a layout, you need to log off & back on after making any
changes and before you export the registry key. If you want to restore
the key from a backup, you would need to:

Open regedit & task manager

Kill the shell by clicking 'Start' -> 'Shutdown', press & hold <Ctrl> +
<Alt> +<Shift> & click the 'Cancel' button in the Shutdown dialog.

Import your saved key.

Restart explorer via Task Manager -- 'File' -> 'New Task (Run...)' ->
type 'explorer'

Thank you.
Ah, the little MS XP OS secrets.........
After I pull an image clone of my hdd via Apricorn EZ GIG
II( an incalculably valuable utility used in conjunction
with a hang-on usb backup/clone drive), I'll go through a
test routine of "save"and "restore" as you have delineated
above. I had assumed that corruption of the taskbar might
take place because of a write error to ram during operation.
This you have confirmed.
..

 

[Ayush]

Replied to [Keith Miller MVP]s message :

Kill the shell by clicking 'Start' -> 'Shutdown', press & hold <Ctrl> +
<Alt> +<Shift> & click the 'Cancel' button in the Shutdown dialog.

very good trick.. Thanks.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

You're welcome -- I learned it from one of David Candy's posts.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Replied to [Keith Miller MVP]s message :

Kill the shell by clicking 'Start' -> 'Shutdown', press & hold <Ctrl> + <Alt> +<Shift> & click
the 'Cancel' button in the Shutdown dialog.

very good trick.. Thanks.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Yes, I too got it from David. He also gave this URL earlier.

jeff's WebLog : how to cleanly start and stop explorer.exe:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jeffdav/archive/2004/07/22/191636.aspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


You're welcome -- I learned it from one of David Candy's posts.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Replied to [Keith Miller MVP]s message :

Kill the shell by clicking 'Start' -> 'Shutdown', press & hold <Ctrl> + <Alt> +<Shift> & click
the 'Cancel' button in the Shutdown dialog.

very good trick.. Thanks.