Usually caused by mismatched or damaged Internet Explorer files. Try this:
Blank desktop or illegal operations error message after you install
Internet Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=249191
Note that if you need to get as far as the #6 item and if IE6 was
installed you have to change the command accordingly (IE5Maintenance to
IE6Maintenance). Also, the command is case sensitive.
John
mr_hops wrote:
hello,
I have a friend that messed up his machine. it has registry registered
software
that cannot be re-registered. (company went out of business)
I don't know exactly what he did but here is what I need to fix.
after boot up there is nothing on the screen except for the background.
no taskbar, no start button, no systray
after a ctrl-alt-del task manager shows nothing running
booted to dos (f8) and changed the shell= line in system.ini to command.com
next boot brought up a dos box that allowed me to type "explorer" and the
file explorer started
I can run any programs I want from there, but I need the desktop back
I can run regedit etc.
where do I go from here ?
btw already tried a re-install, and all backup versions of the registry .