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Upgraded to xp from me and all was well until it booted and as soon as my desktop should have loaded and appeared I got the "an error has occured in windows explorer" window and when I select "don't send report" I am left with an XP desktop theme with absolutely nothing on it. No icons no nothing but a pretty country scene. do I try to run the upgrade again or try something else?

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As described, an "an error has occured in Windows Explorer" message with only the wallpaper visible usually means the shell process (explorer.exe) failed to start or crashed immediately after logon. pointed to related threads; the steps below focus on quick, non-destructive triage you can do before considering a reinstall.

Boot and quick checks

  • If Task Manager is available (Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc) try File -> New Task (Run...) -> type explorer.exe. If the taskbar and icons return, the cause is likely a startup item or shell extension.
  • Boot Safe Mode (F8 at boot). If Safe Mode shows the desktop normally, use msconfig to disable non-Microsoft Startup items and Services, then reboot to isolate the offender. Create a new user to rule out a corrupt profile.

Logs and system repairs

  • Check Event Viewer (run eventvwr.msc) -> Application logs for explorer.exe or faulting module names to identify a bad DLL or third-party shell extension.
  • From a Command Prompt run sfc /scannow (XP CD may be required) to repair missing/corrupt system files.

Registry and file checks (careful when editing the registry)

  • Verify Winlogon keys; they should be:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Shell    = explorer.exe
Userinit = C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,
  • Confirm C:\WINDOWS\system32\explorer.exe exists and is not blocked by security software. Scan for malware and uninstall any legacy shell-replacement utilities, custom themes, or drivers that came from Windows 9x-era tools.

If the above does not recover a usable desktop, a clean install is the reliable last resort. Before attempting upgrades in mixed 9x-to-NT scenarios, back up data, remove old shell customizers and drivers, and try to minimize third-party startup items to avoid incompatibilities during the upgrade.

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Member Avatar for missinglink

all is well....... I could not get anything to happen so I changed the boot sequence from setup, booted from CD and completed a fresh install. was not sure if that upgrade version of XP would accomplish this but it did. Had a little problem with activation of the software as I had already used this disc and key code on another of my pc's but after a couple phone calls everything now appears to be running good...... Thanks

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