No windows taskbar

Discussion in 'Software' started by Shogin, Sep 23, 2006.

  1. Shogin

    Shogin Private E-2

    My PC locked up last night, and I had to reboot it. When the machine came back around to the desktop, I had no windows task bar.

    crtl+esc has done nothing.

    windows file protection needs a cd I do not have.

    The "restore windows toolbar" file didnt help with help either from http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm. I got an error "cannont import C:/documents:Error opening file. There may be a disk or file system error."


    I was running Limewire, Winamp, Firefox, and Windows picture/fax viewer at the time of the lockup/reboot. For all I know i got hit with something nasty but avast and avg didnt detect anything. I did nothice my downloads were scattered in my folder I have set to get files from limewire like it was fragmented, but Im not sure if that has anything to do with this.

    Could use some help.
     
    Shogin, Sep 23, 2006
    #1
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Here are one or two things to check:
    Verify Auto hide is not activated by following the below steps.

    Press CTRL + ESC or your Windows key to make Start menu appear.
    Click Settings and choose Taskbar & Start menu
    Verify that Auto Hide is not checked.
    If Auto Hide is not enabled move the task bar up by following the below steps.

    Press CTRL + ESC or your Windows key to make Start menu appear.
    Try to notice where the Start menu appeared; generally, it should be the bottom left corner.
    Press ESC. You should now notice a small gray line at the location of where the start was.
    Move the mouse over that gray line, when in the appropriate position your mouse cursor should change. Once the mouse cursor changes, click and hold the mouse button and move the bar up.

    HKLM>Software>Microsoft>WindowsNT>CurrentVersion>Winlogon>Shell

    Edit the contents of the Shell tag to Explorer.exe

    Reboot, windows should start normally...

    I discovered the solution. Go to regedit. Then delete these >keys :

    >1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\iexplorer.exe and

    >2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe

    >3. Reboot.

    OR:
    Hit the Windows key (i.e. the key between the Ctrl and Alt keys on the left side of the keyboard) and R together. A dialog box should pop up, when it does type "explorer" and hit enter. If that doesn't work, let me know and we will look a little deeper.


    Goto:

    HKLM>Software>Microsoft>WindowsNT>CurrentVersion>Winlogon>Shell

    Edit the contents of the Shell tag to Explorer.exe

    Reboot, windows should start normally...

    OR:
    Go to regedit. Then delete these >keys :

    >1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\iexplorer.exe and

    >2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe

    >3. Reboot. Enjoy!

    OR:
    http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

    OR:
    To find the required Registry key, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
    Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects
    Right-click on the yellow folder named StuckRects (StuckRects2 in later Windows) > Delete. When you restart Windows, the deleted key will be regenerated and, with luck, will bring back a healthy Taskbar with it.
     
    TimW, Sep 23, 2006
    #2
  3. Shogin

    Shogin Private E-2


    Lost me here. Where do I go to find this stuff? I normally can do the advanced stuff but Ive never had to work with..what ever this thing is and have no clue.
     
    Shogin, Sep 23, 2006
    #3
  4. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    start / run / type "regedit" without qoutes ...then expand to that key.
     
    TimW, Sep 23, 2006
    #4
  5. Shogin

    Shogin Private E-2

    Thats part of the problem, no start menu, no taskbar, nothing. Is there another way? I typed regedit into the crtl alt delete's new task but it popped up and closed out like it normally does if i dont run it through the command promt in the start-progarms-accesories-command promt...something I cant get to.
     
    Shogin, Sep 23, 2006
    #5
  6. Toni_1947

    Toni_1947 Command Sergeant Major

    HI!
    Try this: applies to Win XP SP2 and maybe other environments as well.

    Press CTL-ALT-DEL- in Task Manager, Click on File and select New Task (Run...). Type in explorer This loads up the shell interface for Windows.
     
    Toni_1947, Sep 23, 2006
    #6
  7. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    hit the windows key (0ne with the flag) + R the run box will come up ...type "explorer" again without qoutes.
     
    TimW, Sep 23, 2006
    #7
  8. Shogin

    Shogin Private E-2

    Run box came up but wont show on screen (I can see it in alt tab, but not on my screen). Is there a short cut to maximize it?

    I went and ran "command" in the new task thing on alt ctrl del but it kicked me back some odd characters when I put in regedit. Was hoping that would have worked.

    Ive also typed in explorer in the alt ctrl del but it just took me to "my documents". Good if I want to jam out to music...not so good for fixing this :/
     
    Shogin, Sep 24, 2006
    #8
  9. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Can you boot into safe mode ?
    Could try this:
    1. Logon as User 1
    2. CTR-ALT-DEL to get to the task manager
    3. On the menus above, Shutdown>Switch User
    I got the message that Explorer.exe needed to close and had to eventually chose to End Now.

    4. Logon as User 2
    5. again CTR-ALT-DEL to get to the task manager
    6. again on above menus but this time Shutdown>Logoff (User 2)

    ......my screen went completely black for what seemed like an eternity, but I waited and the screen to choose a user came up again.

    7. Then I chose the user that was still running again (User 1)
    and voilla, the task bar features all worked again.
     
    TimW, Sep 24, 2006
    #9
  10. Toni_1947

    Toni_1947 Command Sergeant Major

    Toni_1947, Sep 24, 2006
    #10
  11. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Maybe ....he did try something from kellys ....but unclear what.

    PS....hehe ....nice suggestion though, dudette!!
     
    TimW, Sep 24, 2006
    #11
  12. Shogin

    Shogin Private E-2

    Horray! Haha It worked. Going to go reboot to see if it stays fixed.
     
    Shogin, Sep 24, 2006
    #12
  13. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    WHAT WORKED!!??!!:mad: :mad:
     
    TimW, Sep 24, 2006
    #13
  14. Shogin

    Shogin Private E-2

    taskbar plus

    Thanks for both your help. It stayed fixed.

    <3
     
    Shogin, Sep 24, 2006
    #14
  15. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Kudo's to the dudette!!
     
    TimW, Sep 24, 2006
    #15

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