XP Home, lost Accessory

[theojig]

An error occurred during a recent upgrade of one of my programs and windows
crashed. The reboot proceeded as per normal with windows checking the disk
for errors. All seemed fine until a day or two later when I went to use
Notepad, the link in Accessories was gone. I checked further and found
Wordpad, Calculator and the Character Set links were also gone.

I managed to find the exe. files for Notepad, Wordpad & the Calculator, and
to restore the links to Accessories, however I have not been able to find the
exe. file for the Character Sets.

I have searched the System32 files, checking each exe. file but none seem to
be the right one. I have tried doing an internet search, but all I get is
info about individual Character Sets, and of course a ton of technical info
that is baffling to anyone but an expert. I have also tried finding it on
the XP CD, but again no luck.

Does anyone know where the exe. file for the Character Sets is located in XP
Home? I use the Character sets quite frequently and really would like to get
them back.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Rey Santos]

The Accessories program group is not displayed on the All Programs menu in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=891893

 

[RobertVA]

An error occurred during a recent upgrade of one of my programs and windows
crashed. The reboot proceeded as per normal with windows checking the disk
for errors. All seemed fine until a day or two later when I went to use
Notepad, the link in Accessories was gone. I checked further and found
Wordpad, Calculator and the Character Set links were also gone.

I managed to find the exe. files for Notepad, Wordpad & the Calculator, and
to restore the links to Accessories, however I have not been able to find the
exe. file for the Character Sets.

I have searched the System32 files, checking each exe. file but none seem to
be the right one. I have tried doing an internet search, but all I get is
info about individual Character Sets, and of course a ton of technical info
that is baffling to anyone but an expert. I have also tried finding it on
the XP CD, but again no luck.

Does anyone know where the exe. file for the Character Sets is located in XP
Home? I use the Character sets quite frequently and really would like to get
them back.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Do you mean Character Map?

%SystemRoot%\system32\charmap.exe

If you don't find it there you may need to use Add/Remove Windows
components (via the start menu, Control Panel and Add or Remove
Programs) to reinstall it. You might need to uncheck Character Map to
uninstall it, exit the wizard then enter the wizard again to reinstall.
The process will probably also reestablish the shortcut on the start menu.

If you or your computer manufacturer had to install or upgrade to
Windows XP from optical media you might need that media as a source for
the Character Map reinstallation. Brand name computers, including many
notebooks, may have a hidden hard drive partition that can serve as a
source for the reinstallation.

 

[theojig]

Rey and Robert,

Thank you for the info. I could not find charmap.exe is not in the system
32 directory. I tried using Add/Remove, and followed your advice, but kept
getting an error that Win could not find the file on the XP CD. Next I tried
to remove excessories completely to reinstall, but got the same message.
Obviously there is more wrong with XP than just the loss of a few links.

I suppose my only real option now would be to reinstall all of XP. Is it
possible to install XP upon itself, or will I have to reformat the C drive
and do a clean install?

 

[Rey Santos]

You may need to browse to the i386 folder of the CD so the installation
routine can find the necessary files. You may also have installation files on
the hard drive, you may need to direct the routine to the windows/i386 folder
there.

Or try this:
Line 309. Restore Accessories - Start Menu/All Prog
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

 

[Roy Smith]

Rey and Robert,

Thank you for the info. I could not find charmap.exe is not in the system
32 directory. I tried using Add/Remove, and followed your advice, but kept
getting an error that Win could not find the file on the XP CD. Next I tried
to remove excessories completely to reinstall, but got the same message.
Obviously there is more wrong with XP than just the loss of a few links.

I suppose my only real option now would be to reinstall all of XP. Is it
possible to install XP upon itself, or will I have to reformat the C drive
and do a clean install?

Yes you could do a repair installation on Windows. Just put in your
Windows installation media and reboot. Watch the screens and don't use
the first repair option that you see, that's the Windows recovery
console and not what you want. The one you want is where you are asked
where to install Windows, but there will also be a repair option as
well. Though keep in mind that by doing this you will have to reinstall
all of the security updates and service packs, as well as your programs
but your user created data will not be touched.

Another thing you could do that wouldn't be so drastic would be to open
the run Window by holding down the Windows key and pressing "R". Then
type in there "sfc /scannow" (without the quotes). Have your Windows
install disk handy just in case as it may ask for it. This will scan
your Windows files and reinstall any that are missing or corrupt.