Explorer.exe not running on boot

[kpxkrappy1]

i've read and searched around for a bit and have seen my situtation. and mine is similar... cept with a difference. im on windows xp and i have not recently downloaded or installed hardware or software. and i am on another computer at the moment if you were wondering.

i was messin around with the csconfig thing and had turned off some programs on boot to make my computer boot faster... the next time i turned it on explorer.exe did not run and i had to run it manually. yes that worked for the first time. then instead of reverting the change i went on with my regular work and completely forgot about it. i turned off my computer at the end of the day. yes and this morining when i tried to turn on my computer these things happened:

i got into the log-in screen and typed in my password onto the admin account.
the log-in screen passed and a black screen and the cursor appeared.
the black screen would not go away but i could move my cursor.
i pressed ctrl+alt+del and the black screen changed to the desktop image and the mouse
i didn't see anything else. (explorer.exe not running?)
i pressed ctrl+alt+del again and i get that menu with: ChangePassword, LogOut, TurnOffComputer, TaskManager, etc...
i go to task manager but nothing appears. it just reverts back to the wallpaper and the cursor.
i turned off my computer and restarted it.
the second time i got into f8 and started it in safe mode.
this time i could not get past the black screen.
my safe mode does not work

okay i read around and i saw "reinstall windows and like... reformat it" and such
for one i don't have a windows xp cd, i don't know where i left it.
and i have very important information and such on there, a ton of music and in composed music and such. that i have not gotten a chance to back up yet. as you see i am very lazy.
but i can't afford to lose data... its my life.

i want to see if i can get into system restore and revert what i did in the csconfig but i don't think i can get there without actually getting logged in....

anyways i could take any help i can get...
thanks in advance

[JohnthePilot]

Hi and welcome to TSF.
Without your installation disc this could be difficult. The first thing is to safeguard your data. Can you put your hard drive into the machine you are using now as a slave? that way you should be able to copy your data to the main drive or CDs/DVDs.

[kpxkrappy1]

uhh its a del laptop and i've never taken it apart b4 so...

[kpxkrappy1]

so i got a question, why can't i just go to the task manager and run explorer.exe like i did yesterday?

what is it that keeps me from seeing the window? when i press taskmanager, it says its loading then nothing happens and the cursor returns to normal. is there anyway i wan run explorer.exe without the taskmanager?

[JohnthePilot]

It's possible you may have some corrupted files and to restore these you would need your installation disc. To slave the drive to a laptop you would need a USB enclosure. Have you any friends with a desktop that would let you do this?

[kpxkrappy1]

i could ask my friends but i know for sure that i don't have the USB for it.
also if i could find my instalation cd, and i reinstalled windows, would that make my files dissapear? because i need to somehow retrieve it. i was thinking about just ordering another cd

[JohnthePilot]

It's worth having an installation disc anyway and the price has come down now that Vista is out. Files don't normally get lost during a reinstallation, but it's always wise to be on the safe side. Furthermore, I was considering your urgency.

EDIT: My mistake, it was another member who needed to recover his data urgently.

[pcfreak]

You could also check out and verify the following registry key:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDesktop

It should be not present or if present the value should be 0

[kpxkrappy1]

how exactly do i look up the registry keys? like..
all i can see is the background and the cursor, when i press ctrl+alt+del a menu comes up an thats it, even the task manager doesn't come up like it used to

[kpxkrappy1]

so i did find one of those chords and hooked it up to my friends laptop to backup some of these files. then his computer was infected, and had the same problem as i did. which tells me this is a virus?

also i used his installation CD to install Windows XP Home. while i have a Windows XP Media edition.
i didn't write over it. i just downloaded it into a new folder

instead of /WINDOWS to /NEWB.
pretty shure the name doesn't matter.

i have some importatnt files i'd like to back up before i reformat my computer.

the original: Media Edition still doesn't load up as before.
the new: Home Edition works fine and does load. but when i try to go back into /WINDOWS and try to pull those files into a flash drive, it says its write protected. so i uncheck the Read-Only and then try it again, but it still says its write protected. then when i go to the file's properties again, the read-only is checked up again.

is there a way to back up these files? i have a flash drive, i could burn it onto a CD...

[Ghostie3599]

The fix for this is very simple.

Open regedit and navigate to: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon

Look down the list in the right window pane for the word Shell
The data in that line should read Explorer.exe - Remove anything else in that line and reboot and you are all fixed.

[noellhommedieu]

or you could try using msconfig and see if its unchecked for startup processes.

[JohnthePilot]

This thread is over a year old and the OP has not been back.