Lost active desktop - how to restore

  • Thread starter Thread starter John L
  • Start date Start date
J

John L

Win XP Home SP3
Compaq Presario laptop

My monther-in-law was cleaning up her desktop and highligthed an icon and
used "send to". Now all I have is the wallpaper and mouse pointer. She does
not remember which icon nor where "send-to".

I can fully boot in both regular and safe mode but have no keys nor desktop
to work with, only mouse pointer. Alt-Ctrl-Del and Alt-Shft-Esc do not bring
up any panel.

How can I restore the desktop?

Help - I do not want to rebuild her system

Thx
 
Perhaps she meant that she right-clicked on the desktop and selected
Arrange Icons By > Show Desktop Icons. Simply replace the checkmark.
 
I cannot see anything of the desktop. All I have is the background wall
paper and the mouse pointer. No keys work or "right-click" on screen (even
in safe mode). How do I find the location to restore the desktop?

Thx
 
John said:
I cannot see anything of the desktop. All I have is the background
wall paper and the mouse pointer. No keys work or "right-click" on
screen (even in safe mode). How do I find the location to restore the
desktop?

Thx
Click to expand...
Do you get anything when you right click on the blank desktop?
How about where the taskbar is normally?
 
John said:
I cannot see anything of the desktop. All I have is the background
wall paper and the mouse pointer. No keys work or "right-click" on
screen (even in safe mode). How do I find the location to restore the
desktop?

Thx
Click to expand...
Doesn't XP have a way to restore itself (restore point) before it boots
into Windows?
I'm sure you can find out by using Google or just wait until someone here
puts you on the proper procedure.
Is you keyboard USB wireless? If so, check the batteries.
If not, check the cable connections from the keyboard to the computer.
 
Thx,

I tried F8 - last good configuration but same result. This is a laptop so I
am using the built-in keyboard & mouse.

No taskbar & Alt-Ctrl-Del & Alt-Shft-Esc keys do not open a window.

Any thoughts on how to get active desktop back?
 
John said:
Thx,

I tried F8 - last good configuration but same result. This is a
laptop so I am using the built-in keyboard & mouse.

No taskbar & Alt-Ctrl-Del & Alt-Shft-Esc keys do not open a window.

Any thoughts on how to get active desktop back?
Click to expand...
Sorry, I don't. Hopefully someone else will chime in.
 
John said:
Thx,

I tried F8 - last good configuration but same result. This is a
laptop so I am using the built-in keyboard & mouse.

No taskbar & Alt-Ctrl-Del & Alt-Shft-Esc keys do not open a window.

Any thoughts on how to get active desktop back?
Click to expand...

Have you tried rt clicking on the blank desktop and does a box come up?
How about when you rt clk on where the taskbar and Start button would
normally be?
Do you have a choice when you log in as to be Admin or other?
 
well, if safe mode is not
functional as well, there
is nothing you can do via
windows environment.

what might be helpful is
to boot up with any windows
setup/install cd and log into
the repair/recovery console.

there are two things you
might want to try via
the disk prompt.

first simply try running
a couple of commands and
hope that windows will
resume normally again.

the commands to try are

chkdsk
fixboot
fixmbr

then exit, remove cd and
cross your fingers and attempt
both normal mode and the
safe too.

if the above doesn't prove
helpful, then

secondly, try to restore
the registry.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

the above is a two step
procedure, whereas you
will utilize a basic registry
to boot a basic windows up.

the next step would be to
use the desktop to find
a more current registry to
reboot windows with.

-----------------

there is another thought that
comes to mind which is if you
are utilizing a functional pc at
this time,

then you might want to build
a slipstream cd with sp3.

then with the cd above, you
can perform a repair installation.

----------------

other than the above, such
issues are difficult to resolve
because they can be caused
attributed to a great deal of
unknowns and

we do not have any idea what
all has actually been installed
on the system or what actually
occurred to it.

rebuilding is usually the best
course of action.

but the above methods may
prove valuable and fun for you.

let us know what you discover.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

"share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Repaired:

I got it working 99%

1. Used Ghost recovery disk to get to C drive and did a disk check
Many system files had bad clauster; lsass, etc (did not have a ghost
image of this system)
2. Rebooted and got to desktop but still had corrupted system files so would
come completly up
3. Reload XP Hme SP2 disk and did a repair of exisitng OS
4. System came back up as SP2 with all documents and drivers intact
5. One program had a problem but I re-installed it via the CD
6. Only issue is now control panel -> add/remove programs comes up with a
blank list


So, last to resolve is how to re-popultae the list

Any thoughts or should I post a new thread?
 
John said:
Repaired:

I got it working 99%

1. Used Ghost recovery disk to get to C drive and did a disk check
Many system files had bad clauster; lsass, etc (did not have a
ghost image of this system)
2. Rebooted and got to desktop but still had corrupted system files
so would come completly up
3. Reload XP Hme SP2 disk and did a repair of exisitng OS
4. System came back up as SP2 with all documents and drivers intact
5. One program had a problem but I re-installed it via the CD
6. Only issue is now control panel -> add/remove programs comes up
with a blank list


So, last to resolve is how to re-popultae the list

Any thoughts or should I post a new thread?
Click to expand...
Sounds like you did great, overall. Backups are very important, but I still
slack off on mine.
Your posts is going to get me to image everything on my USB external drive
shortly.
It would be interesting to see what the cause of the problem actually was.
I would sure recommend running an up to date Virus scan and also dl'ing
installing, updating and running the two free anti-malware programs:
1) MalwareByte's Anti-Malware (also known as MBAM)
2)SuperAntiSpyware (also known as SAS)

Hopefully you will get answers from some knowledgeable person (s)here.
If not, try VirtualDr.com as that is an excellent and free group.I
think it is one of the best out there.
 
Back
Top