The desktop is gone: shortcuts and the taskbar with the Start menu do not appear.
What to do if shortcuts and the taskbar with the \"START"\ menu disappeared from the desktop?
The article is applicable for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.
Requirements.
To perform the steps in this article, you must have local administrator rights on the computer. Article applicable to Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.
Information.
If the desktop did not appear when the computer was booted, i.e. instead of the usual shortcuts and the taskbar, only the background image is displayed on the screen, then most likely your computer has been attacked by viruses (unless, of course, you yourself have broken something).
Desktop recovery.
Attention!
Before you follow the steps in this article, check your computer for viruses. Otherwise, you will correct errors, and after a reboot, the viruses will again do everything they need.
Method number 1.
Let's start with the simplest. You need to check the option that disables the display of icons on the desktop:
Windows 2000.
2. In the menu that opens, select the item \"Active Desktop"\;
Windows XP.
1. Click right click mice on the desktop;
2. In the menu that opens, select the item \"Arrange icons"\;
3. In the expanded submenu, next to the item \"Display desktop icons"\ there should be a check mark. If there is no checkmark, then click on this item.
Windows Vista.
1. Right click on the desktop;
2. In the menu that opens, select the item \"View"\;
3. In the expanded submenu, next to the item \"Display desktop icons"\ there should be a check mark. If there is no checkmark, then click on this item.
Note. The result will not appear immediately, but with a delay of 3 - 10 seconds, it all depends on the performance of the computer and its "clutter"\.
Method number 2.
If method number 1 did not help, then we try to start the explorer.exe process manually. One of its tasks is to display the desktop:
1. On the keyboard, press and hold the \”Ctrl” \and \”Alt”\ buttons, and then press the \”Delete\” button;
2. In the window \”Dispatcher Windows tasks\”, go to the tab \”Applications\”;
3. On this tab, click the \” button New task”\;
4. In the window \”Create a new task”\ in the field \”Open”\, type the command explorer.exe and press the button \”OK”\;
5. Restart your computer;
Method number 3 - For Windows XP/Vista only.
If in method No. 2 an error occurs that the explorer.exe file is not found or the problem remains after the reboot, then you should try to do a system restore:
1. In the menu\”Start”\ open sequentially:
\”Programs”\ » \”Standard”\ » \”Utilities”\
2. In the menu \"Service"\ click on the item \"System Restore"\;
Note. If there is no such item, then follow these steps:
- In the menu \”Start”\ select \”Run”\;
- In the open field, type the command %SystemRoot%\\system32\\restore\\rstrui.exe
- press the button \"OK"\;
3. In the \"System Restore"\ window, in the right part of the window, select \"Restore an earlier computer state"\ and press the button \"Further"\;
4. In the calendar, select the day in which there is a control point, such days are highlighted in bold;
Note. Choose a day on which your computer worked normally, i.e. if you remember that three days ago the computer started normally, then choose a point three days ago. If there are no checkpoints, then most likely you have disabled the option to create checkpoints and you will have to go to method #4.
At the same time, read the article \"Enabling and disabling system recovery in Windows XP"\.
Method number 4.
If system restore did not help, then you will have to climb into the system registry:
1. On the keyboard, press and hold the buttons \”Ctrl”\ and \"Alt"\, and then click the button \"Delete"\;
2. In the \"Windows Task Manager\" window, go to the tab \”Applications”\;
3. On this tab, click the button \”New task…”\;
4. In the window \”Create a new task\” in the field \”Open”\, type the command regedit and press the button \"OK"\;
5. In the \”Registry Editor\” window in its left part, expand the registry keys one by one up to the section \”Image File Execution Options”\:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/Image File Execution Options/
6. Expand the section \"Image File Execution Options\" and look for the subsections \"explorer.exe"\ and \"iexplorer.exe"\;
If any of the subsections is found, then it must be deleted.
7. We click on the subsection with the right mouse button and in the menu that opens, select the item \"Delete"\;
8. When asked to confirm the deletion, press the button \"Yes"\;
9. Now let's check the launch options explorer.exe, for this we expand the registry keys to the section \”Winlogon”\:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon/
10. Left-click on the partition \”Winlogon”\ and in the right part of the registry editor window we find the parameter \"Shell"\;
11. Right-click on this parameter and select the menu item \"Change"\;
12. In the window \”Change string parameter”\ in the value field should be written explorer.exe and nothing else, if it's not, then fix it;
13. Press the button \"OK"\, close all windows and restart your computer;
The article is taken from open sources: http://www.pc-problems.ru/index.php?s=4&idk=17&idpk=23&ida=128
You turn on the computer, watch how Windows 7 starts loading slowly, the desktop should appear just about now, but instead of it, your eyes have opened ... "Malevich's black square". No wallpaper, no icons on the desktop - just a cursor in the form of a white arrow, and even then not always. What causes a black screen on boot in Windows 7? How to solve a problem?
Causes of black screens of death when loading Windows 7
- Failure to install system updates, drivers and programs - because of this, pirated copies of Windows often suffer.
- Viral infection - most likely malware tried to replace system files, but for some reason could not and instead broke the download.
- Corruption of critical startup files or registry keys responsible for this.
- Video subsystem problems, including video driver failure.
- Other hardware malfunctions (rare).
Damage or removal Windows files may occur due to failures in the computer's power supply system (the lights were turned off at the wrong time), user actions (removed by hand), surface defects hard drive and even such exotic reasons as the treatment of the system with one well-known antivirus.
Ways to solve the problem
In the most simple cases if the cause was a minor glitch, reverting the system to the Last Known Good Configuration will help. Last Known Good Configuration is Windows state, fixed at the time of the previous successful launch. To return to this state, launch the menu additional options downloads. To do this, quickly press the F8 key several times before starting the system.
You will see a list like this:
Select the indicated item from it and press Enter (enter). If the computer starts normally, the problem is solved.
Launching File Explorer Manually
It happens that a failure of the graphical shell leads to a problem, when the file itself responsible for this is not damaged, but only its launch is broken. This is where Task Manager can help you resolve the issue. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Alt+Ctrl+Shift to call it. In the Manager window, go to the Applications tab and click the New Task button.
In the "Create a new task" box, type "explorer" and click OK. If you see the desktop, the problem was exactly what we thought it was.
Now you need to fix the Explorer.exe launch key in the registry - the Windows shell, which creates the user environment familiar to us - the desktop, folders, and so on.
Run the registry editor - Regedit.exe. (it is located in the C:\Windows folder). Open section. In the right half of the window, find the "Shell" parameter and see what value it has. Normally it should be "Explorer.exe", but you probably have something extraneous there.
Right-click "Shell" and select "Edit".
In the "Change string parameter" box, enter the new value. What - you already know.
Next, open exactly the same section (Winlogon) in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch - settings for the current user are stored here. If there is a "Shell" parameter among them and you didn't create it, delete it.
Now it remains to find and delete the file that was registered instead of Explorer, since this is an obvious malware. You can do it by hand or with antivirus programs. The second option is preferable as it may not be the only malicious file on your machine.
Restoring the system from safe mode
If neither one nor the second method helped, most likely a more serious failure occurred. You can try to deal with it from safe mode. To load it, also press F8 several times before starting Windows, but now select "Safe Mode" from the menu.
Here we have the opportunity to return the state of Windows to the date before the problem. And the application "System Restore" will help in this. Expand "Start" - "Programs" - "Accessories" - "Utilities". Select System Restore.
To confirm your selection, click "Finish" and wait for the restore process to complete.
It will not be superfluous to additionally check system files for integrity using the console Windows utilities- sfc.exe To do this, open "Start", enter "cmd" in the search box and run the command prompt as administrator.
Type "sfc /scannow" into the console window, press Enter and wait for the scan to complete. Sometimes the system asks for a disk with a distribution kit to restore files, but more often everything you need is restored from storage on your hard drive.
To find out if the video card or video driver is causing the problem, run the setup utility system msconfig(just like you ran cmd through the search box in Start).
Reboot to normal mode. If Windows can start, the problem is with the video subsystem. First, update the video card driver, check for overheating GPU and, if possible, test the operation of the computer with another, obviously working video card.
Using the recovery environment
If a previous version did not help or in safe mode you also see a black screen, there is still a chance to fix the failure through the recovery environment. It also has the ability to run a system rollback and check files for integrity, but there are also special options: boot recovery and Windows recovery from the saved image.
To get into the recovery environment, select from the F8 menu (the key you pressed before starting the boot) "Troubleshoot your computer."
Following the instructions, go to the recovery options window. Select the top item - "Startup Repair". The program will automatically check the data responsible for this - boot files and registry keys, and restore it in case of violation.
The second item from the top is the launch of the System Restore application, which we met at the stage of solving the problem from safe mode. It is useful in cases where safe mode fails to find any checkpoint. It happens that points exist and are created, but the system does not notice them. And here, in the recovery environment, there are no obstacles for this.
The function works exactly the same as in safe or normal modes, so we will not consider it.
The next item is restoring Windows to a working state from an archived copy. If you saved such copies to external media (disks), insert the disk into the drive and specify the path to it.
Most users find it unnecessary to spend time creating backup images, so if you don't have such a disk, move on. We have one more tool - the command line. With its help, we can open the explorer and manually restore the system registry.
Once every 10 days, Windows 7 saves copies of the registry files in a separate folder. We can take them and move them to where the current, used registry lies. If the failure is related to its damage, the problem will be solved.
Open a command prompt and launch notepad (for those who don't know, this is done with the "notepad" command). Click "File" and then "Open". Navigate through Explorer to the "Computer" folder. Please note that here, in the recovery environment, the drive letters may be different.
Open the \\Windows\System32\config\regback directory. To see the contents of the folders, in the "Type of files" field, select "All files". Copy all 5 files one by one and put them in the \\Windows\System32\config folder. This is the registry.
Files of the same name in \\Windows\System32\configfig must be renamed beforehand. For example, add the .OLD extension to them.
Close File Explorer. That's all. Restart your computer and try to boot Windows 7 normally. Let's hope you can do it.
Sometimes when Windows startup XP users are faced with an unpleasant situation - the desktop with all the folders, program shortcuts and the Start menu is gone, and to return it with an update through context menu does not work. But do not panic: you can restore the Windows graphical shell, the main thing is to know what changes need to be made to the system configuration.
Only the labels are gone
If the taskbar with the Start menu remains, but the shortcuts from the desktop have disappeared, then you can restore them through the context menu.
The shortcuts should return to the Windows XP table unless they are forcibly deleted by someone.
Disappeared desktop items
If after turning on Windows XP you see empty table(no shortcuts or Start button), then restart your computer first. Then perform a system restore to a previous state when there were no problems displaying the desktop.
If the problem reappears after system restore, then check if the graphical shell is running.
This executable file is responsible for the Windows XP graphical shell, so when it is launched, a table with pinned elements will appear. If a message appears that the file is not found, then you need to copy it from the Windows XP distribution to restore the desktop.
If the table appears, check Windows for viruses with a utility like Dr. Web CureIT. If the reason for the missing table was viral infection, then removing malicious code should help troubleshoot.
Registry editing
If running the graphical shell file returned the desktop to its place, but the problem reappeared on the next boot, then check a few options system registry Windows XP. Sometimes, as a result of the action of viruses, the desktop startup settings change their value, and in order to return the system to a normal state, you need to restore the previous settings.
If "Shell" is set to another value, double-click the left button and write the correct data. Return to the “Current Version” section on the same registry branch and expand the “Image File Execution Options” subsection. You will see the item “explorer” or “iexplorer” inside - delete it, this is the section created by the virus. 
After making changes to Windows registry XP restart your computer. When restarted, the table should display correctly. If the "Start", the notification bar and icons are in place, then the recovery through the registry editor went well.
Shell file is corrupted
Consider a more difficult situation in which the Windows XP graphical shell file is not detected by the system or is corrupted. To restore the graphical shell, you need to transfer to Windows directory» normally working explorer.exe file.
Note: This method may require the use of a second computer.
The recovery of explorer.exe is complete - there should be no more problems with displaying the workspace.
Faced the problem that the desktop freezes or does not start at all. What it looks like: the mouse cursor turns into a watch and nothing can be launched from the desktop. The problem exists in Windows 7 and Windows XP, no difference. Let's figure out how to solve this issue without resorting to heavy artillery.
One-time solution to the problem
The desktop can be closed like any program. Only now there is no such application in the task manager. But the “explorer.exe” process is responsible for it. We just need to restart this process. For this:
- using the hot keys "Ctrl + Shift + Esc" or "Ctrl + Alt + Delete" and select "Start Task Manager"
- In the task manager window, go to the "Processes" tab and find the "explorer.exe" process there. If there is a lot of things, then just press the letter "e" until you get to it.
- Right-click on the process and select End Process.
After this action, the desktop will completely disappear along with the taskbar. Only background picture and a task manager window. If it didn't happen after a few seconds automatic restart desktop, you need to start it manually. Let's go to the menu "File -> New Task"
In the input field we write: explorer
And press "Enter". With such simple actions, you can return the operating room Windows system back to life without resorting to a restart. The whole process is shown in the video below the article. This method is also suitable for Windows 10, but if it does not help, then you need to close the "Desktop Window Manager".
If the desktop freezes too often
This usually happens after installing some new program. Remember after what actions it started and try to delete the last installed programs. If it doesn't help, then roll back to . It may well be the culprit. In this case, let's try to cure the desktop, and for this you need:
- Download the AVZ program. I talked about this program
- Go to "File -> System Restore”, check the boxes No. “5. Desktop recovery”, “16. Restoring the Explorer launch key" and "9. Removing system process debuggers"
- Click the "Perform the marked operations" button and reboot.
If the desktop does not start
In cases where the desktop does not load at all and even the Start button does not appear, you need to do what is described above, and if it doesn’t help, then something else. Try launching the desktop through the task manager as described above. If the AVZ program is not at hand, then you have to climb into the registry. But I simplified the task for you and prepared a ready-made solution.
Recovery explorer.exe
If, when trying to run “explorer.exe”, a message appears that such a file was not found, then you will have to restore it. This can be done in three ways.
First way: enter the command in the "New task" window of the task manager:
Sfc /scannow
Most likely the program will ask you to insert a Windows installation disc. If not, then the second method may suit you. The program restores damaged and replaced files to original ones. Reboot at the end of the program. By the way, this method can help if the desktop freezes, and the previous tips did not help.
Second way: overwrite the file "C:\Windows\explorer.exe" from a working machine with the same operating system, or download and extract my versions:
To put the correct files in the Windows folder without Explorer, enter the command in the "New Task" window:
copy C:\Downloads\explorer.exe c:\windows
where C:\Downloads is the file path and C:\Windows is the OS installation path.
Before that, you may have to "explorer.exe" as described above.
Third way also requires an installation disk, just get it from there desired file let's do it manually. If the drive has the letter "E:" and the folder operating system"C:\Windows", then the procedure is as follows:
- Installing the disc in the tray
- In the already known input field we write:
E:\i386\explorer.exe E:\i386\explorer.ex_ C:\windows\explorer.exe
Reboot!
Another way is to use Kerish Doctor.
After solving the problem, you can.
In the video you can see how to restart the desktop. True, it is not visible there how I launch the task manager using “Ctrl + Alt + Delete”, because Windows blocks video recording in this mode, but I think everything is clear.
Some "glitches" of Windows can plunge the user into a complete stupor and despondency. Imagine: you turn on your computer, and instead of the usual desktop, littered with shortcuts, and the start button in the lower left corner of the screen, you see only a background with a picture or nothing at all.
A monotonous one-color field without any signs of life, if the background was initially absent. This produces the effect of an exploding bomb. The feeling of this is comparable only to the one that would arise if you returned home and found there bare walls with peeling wallpaper. Who robbed Windows? Where did the native desktop go on Windows XP? What to do in such a situation?
Let's talk right away this problem is specific mainly for the “piggy”, in other systems, if it occurs, it occurs much less frequently. Therefore, the subject of our further discussion is XP. And although this OS has officially left the stage and is no longer supported by its manufacturer, it is by no means a rarity on the PC of domestic users. The main reason for this behavior of the system is its defeat by a virus.
Some of these "animals" delete or rename some system files. For example, "Explorer", which is not only a folder browser file system, but is also the basis of the GUI (graphic user interface) of all Windows.
By deleting some exe- and dll-files, the virus prevents normal work with the desktop and its display on the screen. Consider in order our actions to bring it back to normal.
Where did the Explorer go?
Perhaps nowhere. In this case, there are two alternatives:
- The explorer.exe file (the File Explorer file) was indeed deleted, moved, or renamed.
- The virus has corrupted the registry keys necessary for it to run normally.
To find out what exactly happened, the following trick will help us:
- Use the keyboard shortcut "Ctrl" + "Alt" + "Del" to launch the task manager.
- In the main menu of the dispatcher, select the item "File" \u003d\u003e "New task".
- In the window that appears, enter the name of the command: explorer (the .exe extension can be omitted, it is assumed by default).
- Press "Enter" or the "Ok" button.
If the program starts and no error message is displayed, restart the computer. It may very well be that after the reboot you will see a normal picture on the monitor.
If an error is given, it means that the file was deleted, renamed or moved from Windows folders where it is usually stored.
It is possible that instead of the "Explorer" itself, a malicious application is launched. By calling the program manually, we prevented it from running.
Another way to do the same is to enter the command %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe. Then the table will be restored without rebooting. True, in some cases this method does not work, even if explorer is right there. If it is not there, and an error has popped up, then the XP-native file of this program must be found somewhere else and returned to its place. Let's try some more options:
Safe mode help
Alternatively, try rebooting and "starting" Windows in one of the safe modes(network support is not essential in this case). As a rule, the desktop in this mode is displayed normally. Next, we do this: we call the system recovery interface from the control panel and roll back to the previous save point.
If the table is not displayed, then enter, as before, rstrui.exe. The command called rstrui.exe is the console version of the system recovery interface.
It makes sense to do all this if normal mode nothing succeeded.
And you can do it differently. From the boot menu, go directly to the supported mode command line and run the same commands in the console. To call the explorer, enter the following line in the invitation:
To call the recovery toolkit - this:
We edit the registry
Sometimes none of the above helps. Then you need to pay attention to the contents of some particularly important registry keys. But first you need to start the registry itself. This is done in the same way as we launched the "Explorer".
In the task manager menu, select the “File” => “New Task” item, and instead of the above commands, enter the regedit command in the field - this is the name of the registry program. A window like this will appear:
On the left side we see the partition tree, on the right - the contents of the keys. On the left, we look for the branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon, and on the right we look for a key called "shell".
Then go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer section and look for the “NoDesktop” key there. Its value should be equal to 0, if it is not, correct it.
And the final touch: we clear the value of the “shell” key from the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ branch. It must be empty. After the work done, restart the computer.
That, in fact, is all that can be done with the desktop if it is wrong download.