Member Avatar for rajikaur14

I Am In Desperate Need Of Help. I Bought This Computer From A Friend Of Mine. It's Windows Xp Professional. I Don't Have Any Boot Disk Or A Operating Cd. It Was Running Slow So I Downloaded Something Called Windows Advanced Personal Care. I Did A Restore Point And Somehow I Deleted Everything From The Startup. Now When I Turn On The Computer The Screen Is Blank. It Shows My Wallpaper Nothing Else. I Do Ctrl+alt+del And Run Explorer.exe It Comes On For A Second And Goes Away. If I Keep On Doing That It Eventually Comes Back But Not When The Computer Starts Again Then There Is Nothing. Is There A Way I Can Do Something To Get This Back. I Tried Restoring It Doesn't Work I Tried In Safe Mode It Still Doesn't Work Please Tell Me What To Do Thanks.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by vigneshvh

Dani AI

Generated

Symptom summary (from ): wallpaper appears but taskbar/desktop shell does not stay; manually launching Explorer briefly shows the shell then it dies. That pattern most often points to broken Winlogon startup values, a corrupted or missing Explorer/UserInit binary, or a shell-extension/startup item that crashes Explorer shortly after it starts.

Checklist to try before a full reinstall (back up data first)

  • Verify the Winlogon values (both machine and per-user). In the registry the important keys are under:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Shell    = explorer.exe
Userinit = C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
(remove or reset any custom Shell value that overrides the default)

    Always Export the Winlogon key (File → Export) before making changes.

  • Confirm the files exist: C:\Windows\explorer.exe and C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe. If one is missing or immediately crashes, that explains the behaviour.

Deeper diagnostics (safe, non-destructive)

  • Use the Event Viewer to look for Application/System errors referencing explorer.exe or userinit.exe; the error messages point to DLLs or services that fail.
  • Run Autoruns/Process Explorer (from a clean machine on removable media) to temporarily disable non-Microsoft shell extensions and startup items that can kill Explorer.
  • Test whether the problem is profile-specific by creating a new local administrator account (Safe Mode or recovery console) and logging in to see if the shell stays up.

Notes and fallback

  • Some third-party “cleanup” utilities remove required startup entries or shell extensions; restoring the Winlogon values above often fixes that without reinstalling. If registry edits and disabling shell extensions do not help, use a rescue boot media to back up user data and the system registry hives before considering an OS repair or rebuild.

Recommended Answers

All 13 Replies

Member Avatar for just_a_nobody

Try this, click on alt-ctrl-del and then in the task manager that pops up, hit file - New Task

In the box type exporer.exe and hit enter.

Member Avatar for rajikaur14

I did the desktop and taskbar comes on for like 5 seconds then goes away again.

Member Avatar for just_a_nobody

Try the download from this site:

Member Avatar for rajikaur14

Try the download from this site:

Tried that doesn't work. Somehow the registry keys are messed up I think. RunDLL32 doesn't load either.

Member Avatar for just_a_nobody

Try doing another restore.

Member Avatar for rajikaur14

Try doing another restore.

Tried that still nothing. I ran explorer.exe and it came on and flashed couple of times then went back again. I don't know what to do I don't have anything to reinstall. Somehow I think the registry keys are messed up. That Advanced Care Deleted them from Start up

Member Avatar for just_a_nobody

Is there any way your friend from whom you bought this computer from could loan you the XP disk? With the disk you could at least run system file checker, or do a repair install.

Member Avatar for rajikaur14

Thanks I am just going to buy another xp operating software and start over hopefully that will help.

Member Avatar for aZn69zbo1

I have the same problem and everytime I turn on my computer the system restore thing pops up =\ what do i do?

Member Avatar for rajikaur14

I tried everything it didn't work. I bought a new xp cd for like $64 and installed it and now it works perfectly.

Member Avatar for aZn69zbo1

Oh I fixed it now. I just downloaded the install taskbar plus or something and my taskbar and desktop came right back up (:

Member Avatar for vigneshvh

hai
from your scrap i can only understand that your computer had some problems bur i can't understand what all problems you are trying to say of your computer so please specify each perfomance of your computer from you start your computer,
example while system stats a short beep sound then taking long time to get into desktop etc...
so please specify so that i can help you to svae your computer
tankyou

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