hi folks, i have a problem with my windows xp os. my explorer.exe wont automatically load or run. i need to run it manually in order my desktop and toolbars will appears. any ideas? thanks ! hakunamatata

Open up c:\windows\system.ini with Notepad. find a line under the {Boot} group) that says: Shell= It should say: Shell=explorer.exe If it isn't there, add it. I'm kinda curious as to how you started Explorer.exe without a desktop.

I hope the above works with winXP. It does with Win9X.

ham30: there's no line like Shell= in my system.ini file. do i need to insert it? heres my system.ini look like: ; for 16-bit app support [drivers] wave=mmdrv.dll timer=timer.drv [mci] [boot] [driver32] [386enh] woafont=dosapp.FON EGA80WOA.FON=EGA80WOA.FON EGA40WOA.FON=EGA40WOA.FON CGA80WOA.FON=CGA80WOA.FON CGA40WOA.FON=CGA40WOA.FON to run explorer: ctrl+alt+del > File > New task>type:explorer. thanks, hakunamatata

hakunamatata, Go to the link below and scroll down to line 195(right column) and download the "Restore Desktop Icons and Taskbar" .vbs file. Save it to your hard drive (you may want to right click and use Save Target As). Double click the vbs file. You will be prompted when the script is done. "NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled. These scripts are not malicious, but they do make changes to the System Registry". Restore Desktop Icons and Taskbar Fix It's worth a try. Tufenuf

hakunamatata, follow Tufenuf's advice. It looks like my suggestion is not applicable to WinXP.

Tufenuf: problem still exist. everytime i will restart my pc it will display my desktop/toolbars and after few seconds only it will suddenly disappeared including toolbars.all i can see is only my Background. I do right click , ctrl+alt+del to to logoff. evenif i will press the windows logo key it wont show my toolbars. what is my remedy on this is that i did ctrl+alt+del >File>New>explorer ..to run explorer.exe. now, how could i avoid this thing to do everyday.? any ideas? thanks, hakuna matata