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I have a windows xp media center addition. its a couple years old. 6800 graphics card. i think i have all the most recent drivers.
Alright. Well I just recently had a problem with a "missing or currupt" system file on my computer. so after following these instructions that i found on a forum (http://forums.driverguide.com/showthread.php?t=3788) that basically told me to delete a file then restore it. After that had happend i had some problems that were pretty minor and i fixed a majority of them. but there are still some things that i just cant figure out no matter how many hours i put into searching. The problems aree:

1. When i right click on my desktop and go into properties, there are no tabs for the display properties window. It just comes up with the "theme" window but doesnt show any tabs. when i select a different theme then i can see all the tabs, but i dont know why they dont jsut show up the whole time. (i've tried getting these registry fixes but they dont seem to work.)

2. all of my buttons on system windows (such as display properties and the toolbar properties window) show up as classic, instead of my old windows xp kind i used to have. i dont really know how to get that back to normal

3. after i got my computer working again after the whole missing file thing, i only had the administrative account but all my files from my old account were still there.(i got teh instructions here: ) so i copied them over to a new account and now some of the programs i had installed arent in teh registry but they are on my computer. an example of this is that i had battlefield 2142 installed on my computer, then i brought it over to the program files on my new account and it is in there and i can run it, but when i get into the game it says i dont have a cd key put in. then i check the registry and it isnt even in there. how can i get all of my installed programs to be in the registry. (i dont really want to have to reinstall alll of them)
thank you for your help and time (if you actually read anyyy of this.)

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The thread from shows three related symptoms: the Display Properties dialog only shows the Theme pane (tabs appear only after switching themes, then the window layout is “scrunched”); most system windows render with the classic look; and several installed programs exist on disk but have no registry entries (Battlefield 2142 runs but asks for a CD key). The steps below focus on safe diagnosis and recovery options that address broken system files, visual-style settings, and missing registry entries without repeating the specific forum links already tried.

First, treat the visual/Display Properties problems as a system-theme / visual-styles issue or a corrupted system file. Verify the Windows Themes service is running (services.msc) and set to Automatic. Ensure visual styles are enabled via System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance Options -> Visual Effects -> “Use visual styles on windows and buttons.” Open the control panel applet directly with desk.cpl to test. Run the system file checker to repair damaged system files:

sfc /scannow

(Windows XP requires original media for SFC.) Booting into Safe Mode can help determine whether a third-party theme manager or shell extension is causing the broken dialog layout.

For programs present on disk but missing registry data, recover per-user settings from the old profile hive rather than reinstalling. Steps (backup the registry and create a restore point first):

  1. Confirm the old profile folder contains NTUSER.DAT (C:\Documents and Settings\OldUser\NTUSER.DAT).
  2. Log in as an administrator and run regedit.
  3. Select HKEY_USERS, use File -> Load Hive, open the old NTUSER.DAT and give it a temporary name (e.g., OldUser).
  4. Export the relevant branches under HKEY_USERS\OldUser\Software (or vendor-specific keys) to a .reg file.
  5. Edit the .reg in Notepad to replace HKEY_USERS\OldUser with HKEY_CURRENT_USER (if importing to the current user), then merge.
  6. Unload the hive (File -> Unload Hive).

Note that system-wide installer entries (HKLM) are normally created by the original installer; if those keys are missing a repair or reinstall is often the least risky option. Many games store CD keys either in the registry or in per-user config files under Documents and Settings\Application Data or My Documents\My Games; inspect those locations before reinstalling.

Always back up the registry and any exported .reg files, and prefer a repair install or registry export/import over hand-editing unknown keys. If uncertainty remains after these steps, a targeted repair install of the affected programs will recreate required HKLM entries and resolve most CD-key and integration problems.

Member Avatar for xVennomx

This is what happens after i change the theme so the tabs show up, its a scrunched window: [IMG][/IMG]

This is what the no tabs look like:
[IMG][/IMG]

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