No Taskbar or icons

[pr323ise]

Hello everyone,
Got a real problem with a PC running XP home

When the PC has booted there are no icons and no taskbar. Exactly the same under safe mode as well.
You can press CTRL ALT DEL and run programs from there, but I've tried explorer.exe and it appears in the process list and dissapears straight away.
I've updated McAfee, Spybot and Adaware and run full scans......they found a few minor spyware but nothing serious......made no difference anyway.
I found a "No desktop" registry fix elswhere on the forum and tried that also........no change. I want to try and create another user profile but i can't figure out how to open user manager. I can't use lusrmgr.msc with XP home and control.exe does not work if i run it from task manager.
I've also installed SP2......no difference.
I don't have an XP home CD but i do have an XP pro CD....... anyone know if i can do a repair using this?

Please help.......it's driving me mad!
Thanks
Phil

 

[jcambece]

Right click on the desktop and go to arrange icons by... then make sure you have show desktop icons checked. As for the taskbar have you check your montior display size, your taskbar may be off the screen, or maybe someone collapsed it, go to the bottom of the screen and see if it gives you a two headed arrow, if it does hold and drag up

 

[Osiris]

the least trouble will be to repair it. I'm not sure if the pro cd will work with home but its worth a shot. if not, lets try and trouble shoot this

 

[pr323ise]

Thanks for the replies.
Can't right click on the desktop to arrange the icons or view the properties. I'm nervous about trying the repair in case i lose some data......it's not my PC
I've also tried to start up system restore but it appears in the process list in task manager and does nothing.

 

[Osiris]

a repair wont make you lose data, a full install will.

 

[pr323ise]

Hi,
Just tried the repair using the XP pro disk i have and it looks like the setup does not recognise the existing XP install.....I don't get the option to repair..... .just a case of pick your partition etc

 

[Osiris]

you got to pick the partition to repair first

 

[pr323ise]

I picked the partition and and it just asked if i wanted to format it using NTFS or FAT32.......i cancelled it at that point.

The owner of the PC doesn't have the disk for XP home so i've told her to take the PC back to the supplier to attempt a repair.

Thanks very much for your help and suggestions anyway