Explorer.exe wont load

[tempesta2007]

the other night i was doing some automatic updates on my computer..i have win xp pro service pack 2, and after the updates had finished i restarted my computer like normal and when it booted back up and i logged in my background loaded up but no desktop icons or explorer.exe. I can open up task manager, but i cant manually open up any programs at all except for regedit. I'm not sure what is going on and could really use some help...i dont know if i can copy the explorer.exe file from a friends computer and put it on my computer to see if that fixes the problem or not...someone please help me asap!!

[oddjob]

The answer could be malware "Trojan.StartPage.O" loading before the boot sequence is complete.This is a Trojan horse that modifies settings in Internet Explorer.

I've seen this before (and suffered it myself). Solutions offered are many and various. Some seem to work, others don't.

One of the more sucessful remedies for this seems to be a registry fix.

You must be careful here. One wrong move and you could end up with only one option .... a fresh reinstall.

There are 2 registry keys in the registry that may be causing the problem. It affects explorer.exe and iexplorer.exe files.

Try this ...........

1. CTRL-Alt-Del to bring up Task Manager.

2. Click File | New Task(run).

3. Type "regedit" (without the quote marks) in the Run box and click OK.

4. Browse to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution.options

5. Under this key there will be subkeys named explorer.exe and iexplorer.exe.

These keys are pointing to files that have been removed (virus/spyware); explorer32dbg.exe and iexplore_dbg.exe.

Delete the explorer and iexplorer keys entirely. They should not be listed under the Image File Execution.Options key.

6. Close the Registry Editor.

7. Restart the computer.


If I'm right all should be well. Please post back an let us know how you get on.


OJ

[tempesta2007]

I tried that and nothing new happened it just stayed the same...but as we speak i am just doing a repair installation as i'm typing...i'm hoping that this works for me and it never happens again...thanks for you help i greatly appreciate it...i will let you know how this repair works out

[oddjob]

Sorry to hear the bad news.

I hope the repair works but, if not, can you boot to "safe mode" (tap the F8 key during boot up & choose "safe mode" from the menu)?


OJ