Win XP is not showing my desktop! Please Help

[ibex333]

It boots into the desktop, but it's empty! No icons, no start button, no anything.

The system is responsive... When I press alt+ctrl+del it shows the task manager..

I know for sure that NOTHING was changed in the sytem in the past 2 days except me installing Roxio to make a music CD. That damn thing is so full of bloatware, that I wouldnt be surprised if it's the culprit. I cant uninstall it though, because i cannot "use" Windows!
Needless to say, if Roxio is causing all this, I'll be returned, and they are getting an angry letter from me.
I am sure that I have no viruses or trojans/spyware. I scan my PC every 2 days on average.

Please help.

 

[mechBgon]

In Task Manager, go to the Applications tab, click the New Task button, and try running explorer.exe. What now?

If that won't work, try launching System Restore with this command:

%SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

 

[Netopia]

I've got a guy's laptop here with the EXACT same problem, both on his and the admin desktop.

I had already tried running explorer from the task manager, and for a moment (really short) I get a flash of task bar, and then everything is again gone!

I'll have to try the system restore from your post and see what happens.

Joe

 

[ibex333]

Hello.

My problem is solved everything is fine.... I assume I got lucky though.

I did 5 things:

1)Running explorer.exe was the 1st thing I did long before I posted here.

2)rstui.exe did nothing because it wouldn't even launch in safe mode. And when I tried running any commands from task manager after a normal boot, the system would become non responsive.

3)There's something called the "shell fix" google it. It's a reg file that you can install in "safe mode" that supposed to fix your problem... Did that, didn't help.

3)Someone in a forum I got from google said Tweakui might help because it has a "rebuild" option. I DLed this thing in safe mode, installed and use the rebuild option - NOTHING.

4)Finally I found a registry hack on windows website that allows you to uninstall programs in safe mode. I uninstalled that damned Roxio Suite and rebooted... Still, the screen was blank... Rebooted again.. Still nothing...

5)Got pissed of and turned off the PC, went to watch TV. Came back booted up, and VOILA everything is back. My desktop is again full of icons, and everything is working perfectly well. I was like WTF?! lol (sorry for the language)

Anyhow... I believe that the key to fixing these problems is trying to remember what is it you did to your PC that caused your problem.

Some of the right questions to ask are: "Did you download anything?" If yes, how, when and what.

Did you install anything?

Did you alter anything? Registry? Settings? Anything at all?


Asking these questions helps me to retrace my steps and find the root of the problem. As long as I at least have leads on what the problem might be, google and anandtech will do the rest.