No Icons at Startup

When I started up my XP machine today things went as usual until the
wallpaper appeared on the screen, but no icons were on it.

I used another computer to search for suggestions to this problem (there
was a huge number of them) and found this one which "helped":

********

Open Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete).

Click "Processes" tab then "Image Name" tab to sort the list alphabetically.

Select all listings of "explorer.exe", then click "End Process" tab for
each one. (I only found one.)

On the "Applications" tab click "New Task"

Type "explorer.exe" (without quotes), then click OK.

********


Those steps restore a normal screen with icons on it, and everything I
run works fine until the next time I restart the computer and once again
the icons aren't there.

Obviously I'm not comfortable with having to run that "fix" every time I
power up the computer.

What to do next folks?

Thanks,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

When I started up my XP machine today things went as usual until the
wallpaper appeared on the screen, but no icons were on it. I used
another computer to search for suggestions to this problem (there was
a huge number of them) and found this one which "helped":

- Open Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete).
- Click "Processes" tab then "Image Name" tab to sort the list
alphabetically.
- Select all listings of "explorer.exe", then click "End Process" tab
for each one. (I only found one.)
- On the "Applications" tab click "New Task"
- Type "explorer.exe" (without quotes), then click OK.

Those steps restore a normal screen with icons on it, and everything I
run works fine until the next time I restart the computer and once
again the icons aren't there. Obviously I'm not comfortable with
having to run that "fix" every time I power up the computer.

explorer.exe is both Windows Explorer (file manager) and the desktop
manager. Looks like you installed something that causes problems in
explorer.exe.

See what happens when you boot into Windows' safe mode which prevents
unnecessary services and startup programs from loading. If that works,
check if a subsequent boot into normal mode works okay. If the problem
is gone in safe mode but [re]appears in normal mode then you are loading
something on Windows startup and account login that causes the problem.

If safe mode doesn't work then digging into the extensions added to
explorer.exe might be required (we'll get into that only if safe mode
doesn't work).

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...

When I started up my XP machine today things went as usual until the
wallpaper appeared on the screen, but no icons were on it.

I used another computer to search for suggestions to this problem
(there was a huge number of them) and found this one which "helped":

********

Open Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete).

Click "Processes" tab then "Image Name" tab to sort the list
alphabetically.

Select all listings of "explorer.exe", then click "End Process" tab
for each one. (I only found one.)

On the "Applications" tab click "New Task"

Type "explorer.exe" (without quotes), then click OK.

********


Those steps restore a normal screen with icons on it, and everything
I run works fine until the next time I restart the computer and once
again the icons aren't there.

Obviously I'm not comfortable with having to run that "fix" every
time I power up the computer.

What to do next folks?

Thanks,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

Have you tried this:

Right-click on the empty desktop Arrange Icons By make sure Show
Desktop Icons is checked.

Hope this helps,

George