Disclaimer:

All comments posted to this web site are opinions expressed by the poster and/or the owner of this web site. The owner is not responsible for comments or repairs to computers that others may do. I will  warn you that you may be violating your computer manufacture's warrantee for certain things. Be sure to read it before opening your computer case!

I work hard to expand this free information.

You may express your gratitude by donating with your help supporting the server costs and help keeping the section alive.

Comments for No Desktop Icons or Start/Menu Bar Average Rating Click here to add your own comments

Jul 09, 2009 Rating Desktop disappeared by: Support Hello Ben, Normally when the desktop disappears it is because the user's profile has become corrupt. You can try this and see if it brings the desktop back: When you log on bring up the task manager, on the task bar go to file/New Task (run...) and type in explorer.exe. If this brings up your desktop right click on on the desktop and go to properties, change something then change it back, click on apply. Restart the system, if the desktop comes back you have fixed the profile, if not then you will have to do a more drastic change. You will have to have access to the Administrator's ID. Log on with the Administrator's ID, go to the user id under "Documents and Settings" and find the ID that is having problems, go to the My Documents folder and copy it to another part of the volume or to another one if you have more than one volume in the computer. Now if you have Microsoft Office and use Outlook you will need to copy the settings before you delete the profile or you will loose all you saved emails. The Outlook.pst is in the 'Applications/Microsoft/Outlook' folder under the "Documents and Settings" for the ID. Once you have copied what you want to save go to My Computer and right click, in the menu select Properties, when the properties page opens go to 'Advanced' tab, then open 'User Profiles', select the corrupt profile and delete it. Then log on with the user id that was having the problems, the desktop should be back, log off and log on with the Administrator's ID and copy back all the folders/files you copied. Log back on with the user id that was corrupt, check that your data is back. Hope this helps and you get your desktop back...

Jul 11, 2009 Rating Not Able to Find "Documents and Settings" by: Ben When I tried explorer.exe, a message came up which said the file could not be located. Then I tried to sign in as Admin., but even in safe mode, there are no icons or start menu items, so I can't find "Documents and Settings" to attempt to make the changes you suggested. Are there any other options to try?

Jul 11, 2009 Rating Corrupt Hard drive by: Support Hello Ben, If you come up with a file not found then I fear the hard drive is corrupt. You have some options - If you have a pen drive and another computer you could make a bootable device. With a bootable device you could access the drive and see if you can backup your data. Once you have your data off of the drive you need to find out why the drive became corrupt. Is it starting to fail or did it have a virus that did the damage? If you run some tests on the drive and it is ok then you can assume that a virus corrupted the drive. Once you have deterimed the statis of the hard drive, format and put the Operating System back on or replace the hard drive and then install a fresh copy of the Operating System. Here are a couple of articles to get you started: Create a bootable CD/DVD Create a bootable USB device Installing a Hard Drive Normally I would suggest you try a program like GetDataBack but you hard drive is to far gone. Hope this helps...

Oct 04, 2010 Rating Same problem by: Mark I have had the same problem (no desktop icons blank desktop) for some time now. I get an error signature message which states: AppName: explorer.exe AppVer: 6.0.2600.0 ModName: Shlwapi.dll ModVer: 6.0.2900.2180 Offset: 0001face When I open the task manager, new task and type in explorer.exe it just cycles back to the error message saying "Windows explorer has encountered an error has shut down" I've downloaded a fresh new version of the "shlwapi.dll" file and placed in the system 32 folder of the Windows directory which hasn't solved the issue. Previous attempts at using a copy of the shlwapi.dll from a back up external hard drive were unsuccessful as was replacing the whole system 32 folder from the back up location. I cannot boot into safe mode, have tried a repair from the windows install CD, and cannot attempt a system restore as I cannot access any window functions as there is no icons or start menu on the desktop. I'm at the end of my rope as it has been over 3 months and the system still isn't back up and running. I've searched all over the internet for a fix but they all require being able to access programs and windows features which of course I cannot as I'm unable to get past the blank desktop. I do appreciate all the advice you have provided with my previous 2 posts and find the information on the site extremely useful and informative. Any further advice that you can provide given this latest update is greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

Oct 04, 2010 Rating Explorer will not load desktop by: Support Hello Mark, If you have changed a dll and still the Explorere cycles but will not load the desktop then your hard drive is corrupt. I suggest you back up your data and re-install the Operating System. Sorry but that is the only solution I have for this problem.

Oct 04, 2010 Rating No desktop by: Mark Ok thanks. Sounds like a corrupt hard drive then. I will reinstall windows onto another hard drive. In a previous post with Ben this was mentioned: Now if you have Microsoft Office and use Outlook you will need to copy the settings before you delete the profile or you will loose all you saved emails. The Outlook.pst is in the 'Applications/Microsoft/Outlook' folder under the "Documents and Settings" for the ID. While attempting this to save all emails when I access the user profile under the "Documents and Settings" folder there is no 'Applications/Microsoft/Outlook' folder. How can I go about another way of find and saving these emails and contact lists? Thanks again.

Oct 05, 2010 Rating Finding Outlook files by: Support Hello Mark, The easiest way to find your Outlook files is to do a search for *.pst and *.pab. These are the email archive and the address book, when you install MS Office and have reconfigured Outlook in the properties of Outlook look check the Data Files, the path to the new *.pst and *.pab will be there, copy the backup files to that folder, ok to over write the files because they will be empty. Hope this helps...

Click here to add your own comments Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Q and A

Finally geek secrets revealed then translated in to everyday English! Self Computer Repair Unleashed! E-book The Official  www.diy-computer-repair.com Reference manuals Get yours Today!

Home

E-Courses!

DIY Computer Repair Five Part E-Course

A seven part Advanced E-Course on computer repair for you!

Would you like to Over Clock your cpu and/or memory with out destroying them? Here is an E-Course that will show you how to do it!

What do you think of when you hear virtual computing?

Windows 7 is coming to a computer near you! Don't be left wondering what to do! Order your copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Guide now!

Please donate $5