Administrative Tools...gone!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Matt Robinson
  • Start date Start date
M

Matt Robinson

The admin tools in control panel and in the start menu have disappeared for
some reason. They were there at one point as I remember using them a few
weeks back. Any idea what would have caused them to be deleted, and how to
get them back? Thanks in advance.
 
Thanks. I believe that just shows/hides them though...what I'm saying is
they are actually gone. They don't even show up on the Control Panel :( Is
it possible I deleted them by accident? Although I have no idea how.
 
Go to a command line and type Eventvwr [enter]. If you get the event viewer,
you did not delete it.

-Frank
 
I have the link in the control panel. Unfortunately, when I was organizing
the start menu, Vista decided to delete the Administrative Tools links. (I
didn't delete them). Now, when trying to access it via the control panel, it
says that the link in the start menu is gone and it can't run Admin Tools.
(Like the control panel icon is only a link to a start menu item). Can
anyone tell me how to fix this or what dll to link in the start menu to
regain functionality of the control panel Admin Tools item?
 
Hi Matt,

Explore the "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools" folder and see if the shortcuts to Administrative Tools are present. If missing, you can download the set of shorcuts from here:

http://www.winhelponline.com/fixes/vista_ultimate_admintools.zip

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Thanks. I believe that just shows/hides them though...what I'm saying is
they are actually gone. They don't even show up on the Control Panel :( Is
it possible I deleted them by accident? Although I have no idea how.
 
Hi TKO,

Looks like your problem is different than the OP. Can you post the exact error message you get, when you acesss the "Administrative tools" folder?

Also, make sure if the shortcuts are present in the following folder:

"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools"

If the shortcuts are missing, you can download the set of shorcuts from here:

http://www.winhelponline.com/fixes/vista_ultimate_admintools.zip

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I have the link in the control panel. Unfortunately, when I was organizing
the start menu, Vista decided to delete the Administrative Tools links. (I
didn't delete them). Now, when trying to access it via the control panel, it
says that the link in the start menu is gone and it can't run Admin Tools.
(Like the control panel icon is only a link to a start menu item). Can
anyone tell me how to fix this or what dll to link in the start menu to
regain functionality of the control panel Admin Tools item?
 
Thanks so much, Ramesh! Worked like a charm. I didn't even know there was a
ProgramData folder on the root of the C drive. (Didn't find the new way to
view hidden files in Vista yet). I created the folders with the shortcuts
and merged them with the hidden one on the root of the C: and it worked
perfectly.

Thanks again!
 
You're welcome, TKO. Thanks for the feedback!

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Thanks so much, Ramesh! Worked like a charm. I didn't even know there was a
ProgramData folder on the root of the C drive. (Didn't find the new way to
view hidden files in Vista yet). I created the folders with the shortcuts
and merged them with the hidden one on the root of the C: and it worked
perfectly.

Thanks again!
 
There's something here that I discovered that does not seem to be
mentioned in the discussion. I had the same problem, but in my case it
turned out the Administrative Tools folder did exist in the correct
location but was marked as read-only, and thus, apparently preventing it
from appearing in my Start Menu. Clearing the read-only status of that
folder fixed the problem and the item now appears as desired.
Click to expand...

Here's something to consider:

1) Right-click on the Windows Orb (the start button)
2) Choose "Properties"
3) Make sure the "Start Menu" tab is selected and showing
4) Click on "Customize" button beside "Start Menu" radio button
5) Scroll to bottom of list
6) Click on radio button you desire for "Administrative Tools". There
are three choices:
a) Display Administrator Options only on "All Programs" Menu
b) Display Administrator Options on both "Start Menu" and "Alll
Programs" Menu
c) Don't display at all
7) Click on "Ok".

You can also find the Run command on this list of options. Put a
check-mark beside it if you want to have it shown on the Start Menu.


This is much easier than messing with file permissions or registry
entries.

And much safer, too.

Donald L McDaniel
 
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