Windows 7 missing icons and taskbar

1

We are running Windows 7 on a notebook. After logging in with one account (it has Admin rights), empty desktop appears, with no icons and no taskbar.

I can change desktop properties (e.g. Themes), I can also run applications through the Task Manager, but when I try to click on "Taskbar and Start Menu" in Control Panel, nothing happens. The desktop does not respond to a right-click of the mouse either (nothing happens).

I tried logging in as a different user (no Admin priviledges) and all seems to work fine - both icons and taskbar appear. It's a corporate laptop, so I cannot run in safe mode (but can run msconfig, and I already tried disabilng all non-Microsoft services and all StartUp items in msconfig, and still the same thing happens.

Also tried restarting :) and restoring the hard drive, still seeing the same effect.

I really appreciate your help. Thank you very much.

gt6989b

Posted 2013-01-03T19:09:22.130

Reputation: 543

What have you done when "restoring the hard drive"? Used an older windows system backup? Jumped back to a normal restore point? Or something else? – nixda – 2013-01-03T19:23:39.153

@nixda Jumped back to an earlier restore point. – gt6989b – 2013-01-03T19:24:22.070

I guess it was your oldest available restore point, right? – nixda – 2013-01-03T19:26:06.730

@nixda yes. It was also before the point when this problem started occurring. – gt6989b – 2013-01-03T19:27:02.563

Answers

2

Sounds like a corrupted profile. Making a new one and copying all the data over is your best course of action. Make certain to show hidden files and folders when copying.

Scandalist

Posted 2013-01-03T19:09:22.130

Reputation: 2 767

How do I do that? – gt6989b – 2013-01-03T19:25:14.173

2http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/fix-a-corrupted-user-profile – Scandalist – 2013-01-03T19:25:58.223

Asked: 2013-01-03T19:09:22.130

Viewed: 443 times

Active: 2013-01-03T19:24:47.997