Windows won't load

I'm not sure what I did, but after I push my icon to go into windows I just get a screen with my background in windows and that's it. There is no start button, icons, taskbar or anything. Was it erased? How do I get it back? I can't retrieve anything or go on the internet. I need help please.

Try System Restore to a data and time before the problem started happening.

The easiest way to do this is to boot to Safe Mode, login as Administrator then run System Restore, as follows:

To boot to Safe Mode, reboot your computer (Start, Turn Off, Restart). Watch the screen and as soon as you see the manufacturers logo, start pressing the F8 key every second or so until you get to the Microsoft Advanced Options Menu (often called the Safe Mode screen). Select Safe Mode at the top.

When you get the login screen, select Administrator, there should be no password. If you have not used the Administrator account before, it will take a minute or two to set it up.

Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore.

See here: Windows XP System Restore Is Easy to Use. Scroll down to Use System Restore and follow directions.

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Rich

It's a damn small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. - Andrew Jackson

Thanks so much for the reply. I did exactly as you said and I clicked administrator. It then said loading and after 2 minutes just gave me a black screen with safe mode written on the bottom. What am I doing wrong?

Wait 10 or 15 minutes. If you still don't get a Desktop, try booting to Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

When you get to the Command Prompt, enter chkdsk c: /r and press Enter.

This will do a thorough scan of your hard drive and correct any File System errors it finds. This often corrects the kind of problem you are seeing. Be patient and let it complete undisturbed. It can take an hour or more depending on the size of your hard drive.

Info on chkdsk available here: How to perform disk error checking

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Rich

It's a damn small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. - Andrew Jackson

Well, thanks for the info but I did what you said and it still comes up blank. Is there anything else I could do? I sure hope so. I appreciate it.

Boot normally. When you get the the blank desktop (no icons or taskbar), press Ctrl+Alt+Del. This should bring up the Task Manager.

Click on File then New Task (Run).
Type explorer and press Enter.

See if that brings back your normal desktop. If it does, do a normal shutdown (not a Restart), then power up and see what happens.

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Rich

It's a damn small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. - Andrew Jackson

I tried explorer and it just said something about that I can't access the file etc. It's strange though because I could access the web by typing a website by "run". I still can't get anything on my desktop though. Is there any other way to do that system restore thing? Why doesn't it work with administrator? It just gives me that safe mode screen. Thanks for all your time.

Explorer (explorer.exe) is in the C:\Windows directory. Try entering C:\Windows\explorer from New Task (Run), see if that works.

This thread has a lot of good information on what commands can be run from the Run box and Command Prompt and what controls them: Start, Run vs. Command Prompt

Sounds to me like the PATH environment variable is messed up and/or the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\App Paths registry is messed up.

From a Command Prompt, enter path to see what it is set to (or echo %path%). It should start with C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32 \Wbem;

To see what entries are in the App Paths registry entry, from a Command Prompt, enter:
reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\App Paths"

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Rich

It's a damn small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. - Andrew Jackson

Hi. I'm unfortunately still desktopless. I tried the first thing you said and it didn't work either. I also put in path and it came up with what you said it should. Then I put in that long command and it game me a long list of things. I don't know though what I'm looking at. Do I have any other options? Sorry to bother you so much.

No bother, it's why I spend time her, trying to help others. (It's what I do for fun )

What did happen when you entered C:\Windows\explorer from New Task (Run)?

Please don't tell me it said something about ... tell me exactly what happens, exact wording please.

Also, let's try one more thing. From New Task (Run), enter cmd and press Enter.

In the Command Prompt window (title will be C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe), type explorer and press Enter. Do you get the same error message you get when you enter this in New Task (Run)? If yes, do the following:

Type cd \windows (press Enter)
Type dir explorer* (press Enter)

You should see something like this:

Directory of C:\WINDOWS

04/14/2008 05:42 AM 1,033,728 explorer.exe
08/23/2001 08:00 AM 80 explorer.scf
2 File(s) 1,033,808 bytes
0 Dir(s) 6,519,173,120 bytes free

If explorer.exe is there, enter explorer and press Enter. What happens?

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Rich

It's a damn small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. - Andrew Jackson