Desktop and Taskbar disappearing act

Make sure that explorer.exe is running under processes in the Task Manager

No it is not. what do I need to do to get this running?

Under the Applications Tab... Click New Task and then type explorer.exe. Click ok and they should appear.

ok, I've typed in exeplorer.exe. I have my desktop back for less than a minute. Everything disappears. I go back to task manager, under processes I can see exeplorer.exe disappearing than reappearing. When it disapears so does the desktop.

Yes the desktop will disappear when explorer.exe is removed, same with the taskbar.

Sounds like something is trying stop you running the process. I suspect it could be something dodgy/bad.

Before we submit a log, we will try 1 last thing.

If you have a copy of your XP CD around, put it in your CD drive and then go to:

Start > Run type sfc /scannow which will check your system files for corrupt or missing files.

Let me know the results.

So far no luck what ever bug it is, I cant get the cd to run. I have a bootable anti virus scan that won't run either. I have the same symptoms in safemode.

Did you try the scan with the disc in the drive....you dont need to run the disc.

Managed to get the scan to run. I will update when the scan is finished.

No luck, half way through the scan I'm told that it is the wrong cd. The system when bought came pre loaded with windows xp media. There were no disks with the system.

I canceled the search for the DLL no errors popped up and the scan is continuing

After the scan completed nothing happend no logs, changes.
I'm backing up my photos remotely to another computer through a file transferre. Preping for a bad case situation.

Yes, thats probably a good idea. Hopefully it wont come to that tho.

Have you tried running virus scans etc?

scanned with mcafee, spybot, ccleaner, F-Prot antivirus. Nothing found that stops the disappear re-appear cycle.


Something new, When I type explorer.exe and the taskbar with the desk to and icons pop back up for 15 sec, you can see the "active desktop recovey" option. Hitting the button does nothing. I've noticed that in the processes explorer.exe, imapi.exe, and verclsid.exe all do the disappear re-appear act.

erm i had the same problem, and i found out what it was, i think it might be the same thing, its happened because "Explorer.exe" may have gotten affected, or the original path has been changed?, once your computer has booted up, and your my documents has loaded, Hold Ctrl + Alt and press Delete, then the Windows Task Manager loads up, Goto, File>New Task (Run...) then a dialog should open up Type "Regedit" then search through:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Then look for a string called "Shell" double click then another dialog should open, in the field "Value Data" type "Explorer.exe", close regedit at the top of the "windows task manager" click shut down then choose Restart, after restarting see if that works, i hope it works it did for me! =] good luck let me know if it works or not, thanks!

Thanks for the tip. Hate to report it did not help.

latest update: I scanned my system with norton 2006, found some spyware low - med threat. Did the sfc /scannow with 2 different XP Pro SP2 disks the scan still will not complete. At this point I'm ready to format and reload windows, unless someone has any other options.

Have you tried replacing explorer.exe with another copy in the system folders?

I thought about that. Not to sure how to do that safely, or even where find or to put it.

Hey is this thread still active, if so i might be able to help, ill check back soon!

sorry Kooldude i gave up nothing worked so i formated my cpu and started over, but thanks for the help.