Basilisk
Senior member
Clicking the Admin'Tools [AT] icon in Control Panel [CP] just directs one back to the Control Panel. In UNIX terms, it's as if the AT icon links to the CP directory instead of the AT dir'. 'Can't say -when- this occurred as I rarely use this link.
I sense that the CP is an artifice -- that it displays like a directory yet there is no such directory on the HD. At least I can't find it! AT is a regular directory, under "All Users\.....", and it appears intact. Since I don't understand the CP's structure/management, I can't debug why I can't use its AT link.
I identified a single Registry reference [...\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Administrative Tools] to the AT directory: this entry and its companion keys appeared intact/correct when compared to another system -- but I might have missed some nuance.
I'm lost! 'Can't Google any references to this problem, and 'don't grasp enough of XP internals to proceed further -- I've spent hours staring at Registry dumps, etc! I'd appreciate a clue as to how to repair this; although I -can- work around it by going to that AT directory by other means, I'd like to identify/remove any corruption. Please, don't mention anything involving re-install or upgrade... either would involve further Problems!!
TIA
- The system: is fully updated; runs AV s/w [Grisoft AVG] & has been found clean; and has, over the past year, suffered several glitches -- Registry damage (exefile[?] corruption preventing .exe execution, a shell extension problem preventing windows-explorer properly working) and HD corruption resulting in lost files. I repaired all those.
I sense that the CP is an artifice -- that it displays like a directory yet there is no such directory on the HD. At least I can't find it! AT is a regular directory, under "All Users\.....", and it appears intact. Since I don't understand the CP's structure/management, I can't debug why I can't use its AT link.
I identified a single Registry reference [...\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Administrative Tools] to the AT directory: this entry and its companion keys appeared intact/correct when compared to another system -- but I might have missed some nuance.
I'm lost! 'Can't Google any references to this problem, and 'don't grasp enough of XP internals to proceed further -- I've spent hours staring at Registry dumps, etc! I'd appreciate a clue as to how to repair this; although I -can- work around it by going to that AT directory by other means, I'd like to identify/remove any corruption. Please, don't mention anything involving re-install or upgrade... either would involve further Problems!!
TIA
