I have a question about How do get the taskbar and desktop back if Explorer crashes:

Another message to say that after repeating the actions as discussed, I have finally managed to restore the desktop and icon tray. However I am at a loss to understand as to how, after repeating the action many times, it decides to work? But I have been told that computers don't make mistakes, only the computer operator!!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

your right computer do not make mistakes but operators do. xp is still a young os and needs more tweaking. one possible reason why this happens is something within the system. information got tangled and the processor gets mixed up and hangs or crashes. but in xp i believe you wont have any problems with it


On Friday, February 8, 2002 at 2:54 pm, Mark wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do get the taskbar and desktop back if Explorer crashes:

>
>Another message to say that after repeating the actions as discussed, I have finally
>managed to restore the desktop and icon tray. However I am at a loss to understand
>as to how, after repeating the action many times, it decides to work? But I have
>been told that computers don't make mistakes, only the computer operator!!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

After hours of searching on the Web this is the only thread that approximates the problem I'm having. Suddenly I have no desktop or taskbar. Like someone else, I also find that:
>1. Folder Options will NOT work from the icon in control panel, but will work from
>the tools menu.
>Tried:
>1. Searching for taskbar on all edges of screen.
>2. Ctrl Esc. (doesn't work)
>3. Windows key (doesn't work) And after repeated tries to run explorer, as recommended, I get only the MyDocuments folder but no desktop or taskbar. Any help greatly appreciated.


On Friday, February 8, 2002 at 2:54 pm, Mark wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do get the taskbar and desktop back if Explorer crashes:

>
>Another message to say that after repeating the actions as discussed, I have finally
>managed to restore the desktop and icon tray. However I am at a loss to understand
>as to how, after repeating the action many times, it decides to work? But I have
>been told that computers don't make mistakes, only the computer operator!!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I've had similar problems with explorer in XP. I upgraded recently from Windows 98 to XP Home, and found I couldn't use Windows Explorer. Each time I tried to access any of the folders of the hard drives in the left hand pane of Explorer, it stalls, making the taskbar and desktop icons momentarily disappear. I can look at the 'My Documents' folder, but looking at anything else the screen disappears to a blank desktop. The icons and menu bar then refresh, without Explorer open. I spent over an hour on the phone with a Microsoft technician, who said they hadn't come across the problem before. He took me through a partial reinstallation 'repair' of XP, but the problem remained. He couldn't offer any explanation, so I had to uninstall XP back to Windows 98. My system: Epox KTA3+ Athlon 1.4GHz 2 hard drives (non RAID): IBM 40Gb 7200, partitioned into C: E: F: and G: Maxtor 18Gb 5400, D: 100Mb Zip drive accessed from Promise Ultra100TX2 IDE Controller (used for backup) STB 16Mb video card NETGEAR FA310TX PCI Ethernet Adapter


On Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 10:28 pm, mt wrote:
>After hours of searching on the Web this is the only thread that approximates the
>problem I'm having. Suddenly I have no desktop or taskbar. Like someone else, I also
>find that:
>
>1. Folder Options will NOT work from the icon in control panel, but will work from
>the tools menu.
>Tried:
>1. Searching for taskbar on all edges of screen.
>2. Ctrl Esc. (doesn't work)
>3. Windows key (doesn't work)
>
>And after repeated tries to run explorer, as recommended, I get only the MyDocuments
>folder but no desktop or taskbar.
>
>Any help greatly appreciated.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

We've had XP home for a couple of years now, and this problem is the first of its kind we've dealt with. With ours, everything works, the hard drive, everything. But here's our issue, we can't get the task bar or the desktop to appear, at all. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I am having same problem--something is interfering with explorer. I cannot get desktop, start menu or toolbars to display. If I use task manager I can browse and run individual programs and if I ask it to lauch explorer.exe, the items controlled by explorer flash on briefly and then disappear. I have windows xp pro, with Norton Internet Security. I have done a full virus scan and run Ad Aware and Spy sweeper. I would really really appreciate help with this. Not clear from reading other posts what the solution is.


On Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 5:56 pm, Grey Allen wrote:
>We've had XP home for a couple of years now, and this problem is the first of its
>kind we've dealt with. With ours, everything works, the hard drive, everything. But
>here's our issue, we can't get the task bar or the desktop to appear, at all.
>Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I am having the exact same problem! So people are having the problem but no one knows the answer?


On Friday, August 19, 2005 at 1:13 pm, dwitter wrote:
>I am having same problem--something is interfering with explorer. I cannot get desktop,
>start menu or toolbars to display. If I use task manager I can browse and run individual
>programs and if I ask it to lauch explorer.exe, the items controlled by explorer
>flash on briefly and then disappear. I have windows xp pro, with Norton Internet
>Security. I have done a full virus scan and run Ad Aware and Spy sweeper. I would
>really really appreciate help with this. Not clear from reading other posts what
>the solution is.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Same problem here, it appears that this is just happening recently. People from Windows, if you're keeping track, any updates?


On Sunday, August 28, 2005 at 8:01 pm, Jom wrote:
>I am having the exact same problem! So people are having the problem but no one knows
>the answer?
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have the same problem, I found for a solution but I don't find any answer. Anyone knows the solution? Thanks in advance


On Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 6:04 pm, Mitch wrote:
>
>Same problem here, it appears that this is just happening recently. People from Windows,
>if you're keeping track, any updates?
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have a similar problem, and I'm wondering if anybody has a solution to this. Well, what happens to my computer is that my computer loads and starts up, but the moment I try clicking on the icons, it doesn't work. I mean, the start menu and the icons don't open up or are not responding. I have a spyware program installed and it scans at the startup. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I also tried it in Safe Mode and it does the same thing. I also tried shutting it down with ctrl-alt-del and the task manager pops up, but it doesn't have the different tabs on the top. It just has the open tasks. And when I move the window around, it leaves a trail(as in, it kind of gets frozen). If anybody has a solution to this, or knows what it is, please let me know. Thank you.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Nov 07, 2005 - same problem here - I've run the WindowsXP repair twice - still a problem. I've stopped almost all services, rebooted - still a problem. The machine is usable if I go into the TaskManager and choose c:\windows\explorer.exe as the new task. I can run anything that way, (keeping TaskManager minimized), but as soon as I log out or re-boot the problem re-appears. After searching on the internet a LONG time, it may be that a common denominator is Norton Anti-Virus. Is there some incompatiblity between that and the last Microsoft update?


On Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at 9:14 am, Donata wrote:
>I have a similar problem, and I'm wondering if anybody has a solution to this. Well,
>what happens to my computer is that my computer loads and starts up, but the moment
>I try clicking on the icons, it doesn't work. I mean, the start menu and the icons
>don't open up or are not responding. I have a spyware program installed and it scans
>at the startup. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I also tried it
>in Safe Mode and it does the same thing. I also tried shutting it down with ctrl-alt-del
>and the task manager pops up, but it doesn't have the different tabs on the top.
> It just has the open tasks. And when I move the window around, it leaves a trail(as
>in, it kind of gets frozen). If anybody has a solution to this, or knows what it
>is, please let me know. Thank you.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have just got this problem and I do not have Norton Anti Virus - I use Zone Alarm. My problem came after I'd been messing about in the registry and then had to restore from the backup registry. I'll post an answer here if I can find one.


On Monday, November 7, 2005 at 11:00 am, Kathy Hoff wrote:
>Nov 07, 2005 - same problem here - I've run the WindowsXP repair twice - still a
>problem. I've stopped almost all services, rebooted - still a problem. The machine
>is usable if I go into the TaskManager and choose c:\windows\explorer.exe as the
>new task. I can run anything that way, (keeping TaskManager minimized), but as soon
>as I log out or re-boot the problem re-appears. After searching on the internet
>a LONG time, it may be that a common denominator is Norton Anti-Virus. Is there
>some incompatiblity between that and the last Microsoft update?
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

This appears to have cleared the problem. I got task mgr up then started to end the non system processes one by one, after ending each process I tried to run Explorer.exe from the task manager. I was able to start explorer successfully after ending the IPMON32 and IPCLIENT processes. I then ran msconfig and removed those two processes from the start tab. Incidentally I had previously used msconfig to remove these two after getting a warning from Zone Alarm that ipmon32 was trying to monitor keystrokes. These programs are apparently used by DSL service providers to monitor connection quality and according to another search I did on them they can safely be disabled. Anyway after removing these processes from the start up my desktop icons stay put. Hope this helps


On Monday, November 14, 2005 at 7:13 pm, peter warren wrote:
>I have just got this problem and I do not have Norton Anti Virus - I use Zone Alarm.
>My problem came after I'd been messing about in the registry and then had to restore
>from the backup registry. I'll post an answer here if I can find one.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

i have the problem of not being able to see the task bar as well, however i am able 
to use my desktop icons and if i hit the windows key, the start menu will appear... 
but NOT the bar itself... again, just like most of you if i open the task manager 
and run explorer.exe from there, it appears then disappears just as fast.  i even 
tried using a tool that is meant to make it reappear again and no luck there...


as for those two processes... i dont have either of those processes running at all... 
 not currently running or in msconfig.... no where... any ideas?








On Monday, November 14, 2005 at 7:47 pm, peter warren wrote:

>This appears to have cleared the problem. I got task mgr up then started to end 
the 

>non system processes one by one, after ending each process I tried to run Explorer.exe 

>from the task manager.

>I was able to start explorer successfully after ending the IPMON32 and IPCLIENT 
processes. 

>I then ran msconfig and removed those two processes from the start tab.

>Incidentally I had previously used msconfig to remove these two after getting a 
warning 

>from Zone Alarm that ipmon32 was trying to monitor keystrokes. These programs are 

>apparently used by DSL service providers to monitor connection quality and according 

>to another search I did on them they can safely be disabled.

>Anyway after removing these processes from the start up my desktop icons stay put. 

>Hope this helps

>

>

> 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I've tried the run explorer.exe trick but it brings up a windows explorer window, not the taskbar. I also don't run either of the two previously mentioned processes. I'll give an update if I find a solution, Daniel. Normally mine works but it seems that when the pc comes back up from standby it has the problem. Perhaps check bios settings for "standby" power modes?


On Saturday, December 10, 2005 at 7:14 am, Daniel wrote:
>i have the problem of not being able to see the task bar as well, however i am able
>to use my desktop icons and if i hit the windows key, the start menu will appear...
>but NOT the bar itself... again, just like most of you if i open the task manager
>and run explorer.exe from there, it appears then disappears just as fast. i even
>tried using a tool that is meant to make it reappear again and no luck there...
>
>
>as for those two processes... i dont have either of those processes running at all...
> not currently running or in msconfig.... no where... any ideas?
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Ok well here's your solution... Hit Alt+Control+Delete for task manager. If you can't open task manager, then boot your computer in safe-mode... Look it up. Click "File", then "New Task(Run...)". In the box, type in "msconfig". A window will open up. Click the "startup" tab. Click "disable all", or manually uncheck all the boxes, depends on your operating system. If you have norton Anti-Virus, check "ccapp", and "cfgwiz" if you have them. You should also check "ctfmon". Now click "ok". Now click restart. When your computer turns on, everything should be working fine. There should be an alert message that pops up talking about the system configuration utility, check "Do not show this message again" or whatever it sais... msconfig may open as well, you can close it.


On Saturday, March 4, 2006 at 10:51 am, Mandy wrote:
>I've tried the run explorer.exe trick but it brings up a windows explorer window,
>not the taskbar. I also don't run either of the two previously mentioned processes.
> I'll give an update if I find a solution, Daniel. Normally mine works but it seems
>that when the pc comes back up from standby it has the problem. Perhaps check bios
>settings for "standby" power modes?
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I had the same problem, and I did what you suggested. My icons are still there on the desktop, but the taskbar are still missing from the bottom of the screen. Is there another way? Thanks


On Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 4:28 pm, Xisle wrote:
>Ok well here's your solution...
>
>
>Hit Alt+Control+Delete for task manager. If you can't open task manager, then boot
>your computer in safe-mode... Look it up. Click "File", then "New Task(Run...)".
>In the box, type in "msconfig". A window will open up. Click the "startup" tab. Click
>"disable all", or manually uncheck all the boxes, depends on your operating system.
>If you have norton Anti-Virus, check "ccapp", and "cfgwiz" if you have them. You
>should also check "ctfmon". Now click "ok". Now click restart.
>
>When your computer turns on, everything should be working fine. There should be an
>alert message that pops up talking about the system configuration utility, check
>"Do not show this message again" or whatever it sais... msconfig may open as well,
>you can close it.
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I am getting the same problem. I have Windows XP. When i run explorer.exe from Task Manager, i am able to see the icons and Taskbar. But it just for a second like a flash. I couldn't figureout what's the problem is? If anybody knows the solution to this problem, please let me know. Really Appreciate your help... Thanks....


On Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 5:56 pm, Grey Allen wrote:
>We've had XP home for a couple of years now, and this problem is the first of its
>kind we've dealt with. With ours, everything works, the hard drive, everything. But
>here's our issue, we can't get the task bar or the desktop to appear, at all.
>Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

September, 2007 My boyfriend's computer is having the same problem--one day after deleting unused programs the desktop icons, taskbar etc. all disappeared leaving only the desktop image behind. We fixed it once using something downloaded from a website called "shellfix.zip" but after he turned the computer off and then on again later the problem reoccurred, but worse! Now, the icons, etc. flash on and off. To do anything (like try to copy files to a USB drive to save them) you have to hope it doesn't take more than 15 seconds. The Task Manager is accessible using Ctrl+Alt+Delete. He ran msconfig with no results Antivirus/spyware show nothing System Restore was turned off for some reason, so no luck there. Advanced Window Cleaner also did nothing. Safe Mode has the same problem, as do any other user accounts on this computer Running explorer.exe brings the desktop back for a flash, but then it disappears again Seems like a lot of people are having this problem, but I"ve yet to come across something that fixes it for us! Is there anything we haven't thought of yet? (Windows Repair Install turned out to be too advanced for our computer skills, so we decided not to run it) Thanks in advance for any suggestions Beth


On Friday, June 8, 2007 at 9:42 am, Praveena wrote:
>
>I am getting the same problem. I have Windows XP. When i run explorer.exe from Task
>Manager, i am able to see the icons and Taskbar. But it just for a second like a
>flash. I couldn't figureout what's the problem is? If anybody knows the solution
>to this problem, please let me know. Really Appreciate your help...
>
>Thanks....
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Task Bar Disappears and CTRL-ESC will not bring up the start menu. The following worked for me. At boot up hit F-8 to bring up the boot menu select Enable VGA mode When XP re-boots the task bar should be there. This appears to be a graphic card problem and occurs when you have an onboard graphic and an added graphic card in a PCI slot.


On Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 5:56 pm, Grey Allen wrote:
>We've had XP home for a couple of years now, and this problem is the first of its
>kind we've dealt with. With ours, everything works, the hard drive, everything. But
>here's our issue, we can't get the task bar or the desktop to appear, at all.
>Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
>

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