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No icons on bootup



 
 
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  #16  
Old March 12th 13, 04:49 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
David H. Lipman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,185
Default No icons on bootup

From: "Radiorick"

Before I shut down to disconnect the 2nd monitor I closed all applications
and did a restart with both monitors still connected. When I logged into
the problem account I got the background screen with no icons but within a
few minutes all icons appeared and everything was normal. I then shut
down again and disconnected the 2nd monitor and powered up with the same
result (all icons appeared within a few minutes).

Also you asked what happened when I tried to run explorer.exe. After
running it I looked in the processes tab and found two instances of
explorer. Each time I tried again another entry showed up in the
processes tab. When everything is working explorer shows a memory usage
around 168,400k When I have no icons it shows around16k. I don't know it
that means anything or not.

This problem has occurred before and then it seems to magically fix
itself. Each time I do a reboot I hold my breath while waiting to see if
I'll have icons. I've had the dual monitor setup for quite some time and
it has worked very well.


Sorry, I made a mistake and replied via email.

It sounds to me like you have a display problem associated with multiple
monitors. That information and setup is a peruser setup (HKCU) thus you
need to determine what screens are shown on what monitor and what
application will display on a particular monitor.

Explorer.exe is called the OS "Shell". The first time explorer.exe is
executed it will bring up the Desktop. It subsequent execution will bring
up and explorer window where you are either browsing the system or a
particular drive. The ide of you using the Task Manager and executing
explorer.exe was to see if it was a "shell" issue. If it was a Shell issue,
the Desktop would have come up as expected. The fact it shows multiple
instances of explorer.exe (explorer.exe is conncurrent application and not a
re-entrant application) means the Shell is loading but the problem is
associated of where and how the Shell is shown.

Have you ever tried implementing a third monitor or used some knid of
"screen extender" ?



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

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  #17  
Old March 12th 13, 08:55 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Radiorick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 19
Default No icons on bootup

Thanks for the explanation. I've never tried either a third monitor or
screen extender. At least I don't think I've tried a screen extender . . .
not exactly sure what it is.

Do you have any suggestions on how to keep this problem from reoccurring?

"David H. Lipman" wrote in message
...
From: "Radiorick"

Before I shut down to disconnect the 2nd monitor I closed all
applications and did a restart with both monitors still connected. When
I logged into the problem account I got the background screen with no
icons but within a few minutes all icons appeared and everything was
normal. I then shut down again and disconnected the 2nd monitor and
powered up with the same result (all icons appeared within a few
minutes).

Also you asked what happened when I tried to run explorer.exe. After
running it I looked in the processes tab and found two instances of
explorer. Each time I tried again another entry showed up in the
processes tab. When everything is working explorer shows a memory usage
around 168,400k When I have no icons it shows around16k. I don't know
it that means anything or not.

This problem has occurred before and then it seems to magically fix
itself. Each time I do a reboot I hold my breath while waiting to see if
I'll have icons. I've had the dual monitor setup for quite some time and
it has worked very well.


Sorry, I made a mistake and replied via email.

It sounds to me like you have a display problem associated with multiple
monitors. That information and setup is a peruser setup (HKCU) thus you
need to determine what screens are shown on what monitor and what
application will display on a particular monitor.

Explorer.exe is called the OS "Shell". The first time explorer.exe is
executed it will bring up the Desktop. It subsequent execution will bring
up and explorer window where you are either browsing the system or a
particular drive. The ide of you using the Task Manager and executing
explorer.exe was to see if it was a "shell" issue. If it was a Shell
issue,
the Desktop would have come up as expected. The fact it shows multiple
instances of explorer.exe (explorer.exe is conncurrent application and not
a
re-entrant application) means the Shell is loading but the problem is
associated of where and how the Shell is shown.

Have you ever tried implementing a third monitor or used some knid of
"screen extender" ?



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp



  #18  
Old March 12th 13, 10:04 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default No icons on bootup

In message , VanguardLH
writes:
[]
By the way, is Windows even configured to show the desktop icons?
Right-click on a blank area of the desktop to show its context menu.
Look under the "Arrange icons by" submenu. Is the "Show desktop icons"
selection enabled (shows a checkmark next to it)?


I don't have that option. Under (i. e. to the right of) "Arrange Icons
By", I have Name, Size, Type, Modified, then a divider line, then Show
in Groups which is greyed out, Auto Arrange, and Align to Grid (which is
ticked in my case).

Windows XP Home Premium SP3, Modified Theme, if those make any
difference.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

For people who like peace and quiet: a phoneless cord.
  #19  
Old March 12th 13, 10:08 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
David H. Lipman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,185
Default No icons on bootup

From: "Radiorick"

Thanks for the explanation. I've never tried either a third monitor or
screen extender. At least I don't think I've tried a screen extender . .
. not exactly sure what it is.


You have to work out that all is displayed with only one physical monitor
installed and all displays correctly.

Once that is reconnect the second monitor reset the dual monitor
configuration. This could be through a nVidia utility or via the disaply
congtrol panel applet or both. Verify "Monitor 1" and "Monitor 2" are setup
for resolution, etc, and the proper orientation. For example if "Monitor
2" is on the left side of "Monitor 1" or on the right side of "Monitor 1".

Then determine which monitor will be the primary (desktop) monitor and which
is the secondary and what application will be shown on what monitor.


--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

  #20  
Old March 12th 13, 10:54 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Twayne[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,276
Default No icons on bootup

In ,
Radiorick typed:
Yes, I added another user account and when I log into it
I get icons and a task bar. Now what?

"David H. Lipman" wrote in
message
...
From: "Radiorick"

No, I tried that but it didn't work


In Safe Mode can you create a new account go back into
Normal Mode and logon with that account ?


That seems to say if you start with the new account, everything is OK. Then
that's the account to be using. You can delete the old one and rename the
new one if you wish to keep it looking like a change happened.

HTH,

Twayne`


  #21  
Old March 13th 13, 01:53 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default No icons on bootup

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

VanguardLH writes:

By the way, is Windows even configured to show the desktop icons?
Right-click on a blank area of the desktop to show its context menu.
Look under the "Arrange icons by" submenu. Is the "Show desktop
icons" selection enabled (shows a checkmark next to it)?


I don't have that option. Under (i. e. to the right of) "Arrange
Icons By", I have Name, Size, Type, Modified, then a divider line,
then Show in Groups which is greyed out, Auto Arrange, and Align to
Grid (which is ticked in my case).

Windows XP Home Premium SP3, Modified Theme, if those make any
difference.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330170

That lists the Pro (what I have) and Home (what you have) editions as
applicable to that article.

This per-user setting changes the registry item at:
key = HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\Advanced
data item = HideIcons
value = 0 (off), 1 (on)

If you have configured Windows to NOT allow web content on the desktop
(Active Desktop) then you won't see this option. Active Desktop allows
the user to have their desktop display as a web page -- so it's possible
the OP's problem is he has a web page selected to overlay his desktop
that covers all of his desktop.

In the TweakUI powertoy for Windows XP, go to Explorer and see if the
"Allow web content to be added to the desktop" option is enabled or not.
If enabled, you'll get the show/hide desktop icons entry in the desktop
context menu. If disabled, you do not get this context menu item. It
changes the following registry entry:

key = HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer
data item = NoActiveDesktop
value = 0 (off), 1 (on)
Note: Because this is a negatively named data item (it's a *disable*
setting), off on the disable means on for the feature.

Note that this registry entry is for a policy setting. It's listed at
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc957840.aspx. That means
anything that alters policies on a host can change this setting, like a
a tweaker (e.g., TweakUI), policy editor (e.g., secpol.msc, gpedit.msc),
a domain policy pushed onto a workstation, or malware. The Home editions
of Windows don't come with a policy editor.

Another way to check if web content is allowed on the desktop is to
right-click on the desktop, select Properties, go to the Desktop tab,
and click on the Customize button. If the Web tab panel is missing, you
cannot add web content to the desktop which also means you won't get the
show/hide desktop icons context menu entry.

While I have web content enabled for display on my desktop, I have no
web content selected. I'm not interested in displaying web pages that
synchronize at some scheduled or manual interval. If I disable web
content completely then I lose the ancilliary features, like show/hide
desktop icons. The two ways of "disabling" Active Desktop is to go into
the Web tab panel and deselect everything there (but show/hide desktop
icons will still be available) or to use TweakUI or the registry tweak
to completely disable the Active Desktop feature.

Themes can decide whether or not web content (Active Content) is allowed
or not. If you're using a non-Microsoft theme manager then this feature
may not be available (I already suggested to the OP that a theme manager
could be his problem).
  #22  
Old March 13th 13, 02:18 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default No icons on bootup

In message , VanguardLH
writes:
[]
If you have configured Windows to NOT allow web content on the desktop
(Active Desktop) then you won't see this option. Active Desktop allows

Ah, I believe I have.
the user to have their desktop display as a web page -- so it's possible
the OP's problem is he has a web page selected to overlay his desktop
that covers all of his desktop.

[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
- Douglas Adams
 




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