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The case of the missing desktop........


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#1
Foxman318

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For one reason or another, I had to reinstall windows.

Having deleted the partition/created new partition and reformatted the hard drive, I reinstalled Windows XP Home Edition SP2.
Nothing untoward during installation. I created my account and finished the reinstall process.

Now the interesting part (well for me anyway).
When I boot up my system the desktop is completely empty except for the desktop picture. Not even a task tray.........zilch, nada.

The only way to get my desktop back is to to bring up the task manager (ctrl/alt/delete), select logout from my account and then select login back into my account and hey presto, there is my desktop back again.......

My other problem, which might be related is that if I leave my system to idle and it goes to the account login screen, I can't log back in. It wont let me. I have to reboot my system.

Its a mystery to me, I hope it isn't to one of the fine guru's that frequent this site.........

FoXX.........

Edited by Foxman318, 25 August 2008 - 05:33 PM.

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#2
Old Geezer

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Have you tried this?

Start up the Windows XP Task Manager and select the Applications tab.

Now select the New Task button at the bottom of the window. A new smaller window will appear. In it simply type:

explorer.exe

explorer.exe is the Windows Program Manager (or Windows Explorer.) It manages the Windows Graphical Shell including the Start menu, taskbar, desktop, and File Manager. By restarting this process the graphical interface for Windows will reappear.
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#3
Foxman318

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Thanks for that Old Geezer....much appreciated

I assume your solution is carried out everytime I boot up, in which case I am still looking for a long term solution..........and also why this is happening in the first place.

What would cause explorer exe to not execute properly??

FoXX...

Edited by Foxman318, 26 August 2008 - 05:28 AM.

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#4
Foxman318

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Typing explorer.exe into task manager tends to be a bit "hit or miss".......sometimes it works, sometimes nothing seems to happen, so I have reverted to logging out again.

I have also decided to do a complete reinstall again as my system has become very slow and unresponsive...

Question...
As I backup all my information (documents/game patches/videos/music etc) on a seperate external USB Hard Drive, is it possible that something I previously downloaded from the internet is sitting on my USB Drive and when I reconnect the drive having reinstalled Windows XP corrupts certain OS files??
I have also noticed that certain game patches or exe files on my external drive no longer work even though I downloaded them from the internet only a day or two ago.

Only way to confirm is run windows xp for a day or two without reconnecting the USB Hard Drive and see if the iniatial explorer.exe problem re-materialises.

FoXX

Edited by Foxman318, 27 August 2008 - 04:23 AM.

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