Lost Desktop including TaskBar

I have an Win2000 Pro user who went through the steps from the sheet I provided him detailing how to rid his desktop from all sorts of malware. The sheet came from the MajorGeeks standard step by step. I believe he had erased something himself in the system32 folder that now, when he rebooted, has no desktop or taskbar. Also, he emptied his recycling bin, so I can't even help to understand what file he deleted. I had him start in the safe mode but nothing and had him start in the last known good config but with the same results. Can anyone help here? Thanks

 

Hey tim, I'm at his office now, thank goodness he at least has his W2KPro disk but he doesn't even have a Start button on his desktop.

 

That won't work if explorer isn't running Tim. The hotkey WIN _ R is regeistered with explorer I think.

Press Ctrl - Alt - Delete to get the task manager up. In Taskmanager select File --> New Task (run) and type in explorer.exe and hit enter.

This should bring up the explorer shell and temporarily restore your desktop so you can run the command Tim mentioned.

If it doesn't then instead of typing in explorer.exe type in sfc /scannow and hit enter.

 

lol Done.

 

heh post in there too. (and lets stop hi-jacking this thread now lol )

 

Tried but nothing. The only thing I can get is the Task Manager. I know you can run programs but can I run what you suggested from there?

 

yes

You can run sfc /scannow from there

Nothing happens if you run explorer from there?

 

@Tim: I don't think explorer is actually running.

@craig: can you confirm whether explorer.exe is in your list of processes from taskmanager ?

 

Didn't see the other threads. I am amused by your banter though. I did run the explorer.exe and it worked. It brought up the entire desktop. I am now running the sfc /scannow. Thanks again.

 

heh

probably lost the startuplink to explorer.exe

 

heh I don't think the problem was being to late tim we were just both too fast lol

 

Hey speedys, you two are a riot. Well, I ran the sfc /scannow and then rebooted and he still has no desktop. I ran taskmanager and say that explorer.exe is not listed. What to do?

 

Try this, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q256194

Steve

 

ahh well, some times the easy way is the best

 

Steve, thanks for the help and you too Tim and Matt. Went to msft and it looks like the solution needed. The only problem is that the os can not find that shdocvw.dll. I tried to cd\ nearly every directory including winnt\system but can not find the directory for %systemroot%. Can anyone help me locate where this may be?

 

Oh boy, I am not familiar with Win2000 at all. Just afew things you might look for or try. Also, do they have a camera or anything plugged into a USB? If so, unplug it and see if that does it. Try the steps below in any order you choose.


1. Ctrl+Alt+Delete > File > New Task (Run...)

2. Type: ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/shellfix.reg

3. Click Ok and it will prompt to download shellfix.reg file

4. Click "Run" file. Do not save it on your desktop, or anywhere on the computer.

5. After it runs, reboot your computer.

OR

See if Win2000 has a i386 file. Maybe try looking under c:/winnt/servicePackFiles/i386/ and look for a Browseui.dll and Shdocvw.dll file. If you find them copy and paste them into c:/winnt/system32/ folder and reboot.

OR

Right click on Desktop, Properties, Desktop page, click Customize and on
the Web page make sure 'Lock Desktop' is not checked.
Right click again, Arrange Icons, make sure 'Show Desktop Icons' is checked.

OR

From the task manager > file new task (run) run command > type

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

then you could restore the computer to one day or few days before this started..........if available with Win2000.

Steve

 

Sorry Steve,

Was not at his office until today to try the suggestions and they didn't work. It seems that none found or any of the four that you mentioned. Maybe it was relates only to XP and not to 2000 Pro?

Is there anything else I could try to get his desktop up? Running explorer.exe gets the desktop up fine but loses it upon reboot.

Thanks for taking the time.
Craig

 

That is running explorer.exe through Task Manager.

 

Were they getting any error messages?

Just to check another possibilty, see if this entry is present in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RPCKDM

Steve

 

Ran regedit and went through the root you described but could not find the RPCKDM. Got to RemoteRegistry and then RpcLocator. Is that a bad sign?

 

No, it's good.

What about this, http://support.microsoft.com/?id=836417

Steve

 

Tried it but there was no mIRC in the add/remove listing.

 

Well went to the client's office and before I could run through your last suggestion, I found another problem. Seems he ran a Windows Repair and now when I try to login and hit enter I get the login screen back. I tried using all of the choices in safe start and am getting the same repetitive login. I checked and rechecked that the login was correct but now im in this loop. This is just an avalanche of one thing after another. What else can I do? I backed up everything but his .pst file which is 1GB in size which is sorely needed for his business. Anyone have any thoughts on what I can do for him?

 

Thanks again Tim. They have Win 2000Pro though. The link didn't work anyway. Is there one for Win2000 Pro? This scratching my head over this is really thinning my hair.

 

Went through the complete repair but still having the same problem. Is there something in the console that I could go through?

 

I change the directory which read c:\winnt\system32 but when I tried to copy userinit.exe wsaupdater.exe it said "the systme cannot find the file specified".

 

Your tell me this is no fun. Just to be sure. When I typed this command it read

"This computer apprears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record.

FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed.

This could cause all the partitions on the current hard drive to become inaccessible.

If you are not having problems accessing you drive do not continue.

Are you sure you want to write a new MBR?"

Is this message what you expected Tim and should I proceed with this command?

 

I proceeded and rebooted and am still in the loop from hell. lol

 

The eight steps is back up? My brain must be melting, lol. What do you mean Tim?

 

Went through the steps but after del boot.ini which worked, I then tried to do the BOOTCFG /REBUILD I got the "The command is not recognized. Type help for a list of supported command". I did and "REBUILD" is not listed. What to do?

 

That didn't work either. Remember Tim, this is a Windows 2000Pro?