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XP no desktop

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16 replies

by picturethat

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I boot into XP everything looks ok, if I choose something it works, however if I just wait for the desktop to finish loading all the icons disapear and I have a nice picture of the field with nothing to select. If I press ctrl-alt-delete I get a strange box with all the running processes --- HELP!!!

16 replies

by foster_dchi

Bring up the task manager, click on the Processes tab, and see if explorer.exe is running. If not, go to File, then New Task (Run...), type "explorer.exe", and click OK. I don't think this will be a permanent fix, but it should atleast give you a desktop to troubleshoot further.

by picturethat

Nice try but when you press ctrl-alt-del you only get the processes and no ability to do anything else.

by inletgrovehs

What kind of computer do you have? I know that Gateway limits what will come up when you press CTRL-ALT-DEL on their machines.

by picturethat

This is a self built system, it has worked great for over 8 mos. ECS Motherboard (I know...bad but it has worked flawlessly) 2200+ CPU, WD HD, 512MB Ram...

by mark

You may have a virus, spyware, or just setup for hiding icons. I assume you have the task bar and start button? Goto Start, Run, MSCONFIG. Disable the Startup Items and see if they come back. Then track down the culprit in the list.

by picturethat

No assumptions, I have no start button, nothing except the background and a mouse pointer. Safe mode, administrator login and antivirus says no virus, Adaware 6.0 say no spyware...

by dmiles

First scan system for any viruses,to make sure issue is not virus related

Right click on any empty space of the desk top,click on Arrange Icons By,make sure that show desktop icons is checked.

by w2ktechman

Can you boot into system restore, safe mode, and/or recovery console? If not try running a repair from the windows CD. If so, try re-copying explorer.exe to the system, or just restore the system to a previous date.
Or, if you can, try opening task manager and IEExplore then try getting to getting to microsoft and reload SP1.

by curacao_dejavu

my feeling is that is has to do with something in active desktop.
boot in safe mode, r-klik on the desktop and my make there the option of active dsktop and show web contents are deselected.
Also create another userid on the system to check if the problem lies only in that particular useraccount or if it's a system setting that is messed up.

Leopold

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