window explorer loses its toolbars and menu bar

[JD]

Hi,

I invoke the window explorer by pressing "E" whild holding the window
key (which sits between ctrl and alt keys on my keyboard, and has a
window logo on it). Recently, my window explorer loses its menu bar
(with File, edit, view, favoriates, etc), standard buttons toolbar, and
address bar. Only the title bar is there. I cannot make the missing
bars re-show up because right-clicking on the title bar won't help. I
also try to drag the border below the title bar but nothing happens.

If I click on my folder icons on the desktop (instead of using the hot
keys mentioned above), the window explorer works just fine, with all the
toolbars.

Is this a windows bug? Or is there a way to set it back to normal? Any
help is much appreciated.

Tony

 

[Larry Gardner]

Did you check your keyboard settings in Control Panel | Accessibility
Options?

See what you have for Sticky Keys Settings.

 

[JD]

Hi Larry,

The "Use StickyKeys" check box is unchecked. I don't use sticky key.
Is there reason why this option has something to do with the window
explorer's missing toolbars? Please advise. Thanks.

Tony

 

[Guest]

To resolve this problem, edit the registry to remove the corrupt value(s).

Close all open Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer windows. Start the
Registry Editor (Click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT.EXE).

Go to the following Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar

For Windows Explorer: In the right pane, locate the Explorer sub-key and
open it. In the right pane, locate the ITBarLayout value. Right click this
value and select Delete.

For Internet Explorer: In the right pane, locate the WebBrowser sub-key and
open it. In the right pane, locate the ITBarLayout value. Right click this
value and select Delete.

Quit Registry Editor.

Open the affected program (Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer) and verify
that you're Menu bar/Toolbar has been restored. If not, close all open
Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer Windows and repeat the above step.
Then locate the ShellBrowser sub-key, open it and delete the ITBarLayout
value there.

 

[Sharon F]

Hi,

I invoke the window explorer by pressing "E" whild holding the window
key (which sits between ctrl and alt keys on my keyboard, and has a
window logo on it). Recently, my window explorer loses its menu bar
(with File, edit, view, favoriates, etc), standard buttons toolbar, and
address bar. Only the title bar is there. I cannot make the missing
bars re-show up because right-clicking on the title bar won't help. I
also try to drag the border below the title bar but nothing happens.

If I click on my folder icons on the desktop (instead of using the hot
keys mentioned above), the window explorer works just fine, with all the
toolbars.

Is this a windows bug? Or is there a way to set it back to normal? Any
help is much appreciated.

Tony

This happens often enough in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer that a
few MVPs have fixes posted on their websites. MVP Doug Knox has one here:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_toolbarfix.htm