The case of the vanished desktop icons

kkieselkkiesel Fairlawn, OH
edited February 2006 in Hardware
Hello, I'm working on cleaning up a particularly nasty infection on my boss' laptop. I'm hampered at the moment by the fact that my desktop has completely disappeared and won't come back. This system uses Win XP.

How it happened: I right-clicked on the desktop, and unticked "Show desktop icons". The icons promptly vanished as expected, but when I tried to right-click again, no menu came up. I restarted the computer several times over, but the only way I have found to reach the desktop is by doing a search for some file or other, and then opening the desktop window from the lefthand pane in the search results window. Any ideas how can I get my desktop back?


Kristie

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    kkiesel, I've moved your thread to where our SVT Team will find it. You're in good hands here. :)
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited February 2006
    Prof, I asked kkiesel to post in the Emergency Forum because of their desktop problem. They already have a thread in the SVT forum that can be found here. :)

    http://short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42104
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    Oops... :hiding:

    Moved you back. If I see anything I can help with I will do my best. :)
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited February 2006
    Prof, is there anyway to unhide the desktop icons apart from right-clicking on the desktop? A registry "hack" you may know of? :D

    kkiesel said that the desktops appears in Safe Mode, if that helps any.

    :thumbsup:
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited February 2006
    if you go to my computer->documents and settings->your profile->desktop are your icon/links in there?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    Great suggestion Armo. :D

    Another thing, have you tried logging on as another user or as Administrator? (Sorry if that info's already in there, but I'm still working my way through your other thread.)
  • kkieselkkiesel Fairlawn, OH
    edited February 2006
    The icons are in one of the desktop files, they're just stuck in hiding. When I try to swtich users, there's only one way to log on, and that's as the owner. I am able to log on as the administrator in safe mode.
  • DonutDonut Maine New
    edited February 2006
    Check this, control panel>display>desktop>customize desktop, untick run desktop cleanup wizard. (I'm on my way now to check your other thread, in case you've already tried this) If they're in a folder on your desktop you "should" be able to right click and be able to restore desktop icons.
  • kkieselkkiesel Fairlawn, OH
    edited February 2006
    Tried it. The icons are all in a folder called "Desktop" but that folder does not appear on the desktop. The only way I can reach it at all is by doing a search and then clicking on "desktop" from the results page afterwards. Any other ideas?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    Try creating a new user and see if you get a normal desktop for that person. Make sure you give the user Adminstrator priveleges.

    If that works, I'll follow this post up with the next step. At the very least it will give us a temporary workaround and bring us closer to a permanent solution.

    Hang in there. :)
  • kkieselkkiesel Fairlawn, OH
    edited February 2006
    Hooray! I have icons again!
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    Hold tight for now. I'm keeping an eye on your other thread. The fact that your desktop is normal for the new user you just added is encouraging. If you reach a total dead end with the old user account we can take steps to get all the old documents, etc, setup for the new user account.
Sign In or Register to comment.