Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets window fails to launch

Nomad of Norad

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
212
Okay, this is a weird one. Today I noticed that one of the desktop gadgets on my machine didn't seem to be launching, or maybe I only thought it didn't, but there's a gap now where my vague memory says there should be one, but I can't remember which if any it was. In any event, I decided to go launch the Add Gadgets to the Desktop window... You know, that nice window that lists all the available, installed gadgets by these big icons you can interact with to turn on or off gadgets, uninstall them, etc. ...so that I could find the relevant gadget and maybe force it to launch from there, or disable and then re-enable it, or something, or at least refresh my memory as to which gadgets I have enabled there.

I right clicked on the desktop, selected Gadgets... and nothing came up.

I went to Control Panel > Programs, and selected Add Gadgets to the Desktop from there... and nothing came up.

I went to the Search Programs and Files field in Start, searched for Gadget, and selected Desktop Gadget Gallery from there.... and nothing happened. I went back there and selected Desktop Gadget... and nothing happened. I selected View List of Running Gadgets, and that DID bring up a window that just lists as text (rather than with icons) the names of the running gadgets, and lets me Remove them from the desktop if I want (but doesn't uninstall), but this wasn't the pane I was looking for.

It looks like all or most of my intended gadgets have launched, but I can't get the big pane that shows all the available gadgets. Any idea what's up with that?

This is on Win7 64bit.
 
Solution
Sounds like some app you recently installed may have bumped your "Sidebar" from normal operation. Try going to the sidebar, right-clicking, and closing the sidebar. Restart your computer and see if it comes back. I mean specifically the "Add Gadget" window. If it doesn't you may have some Windows file corruption. Could also be due to a new Virus--make sure you do full Virus scans with your main Anti-Virus product (Norton, McAfee, Avast, etc.). You have a couple of choices.

#1: Go to an elevated Admin prompt and run "sfc /scannow" and let Windows try to repair the missing or corrupted files that operate that part of the sidebar/gadget app for you. You may need to feed your Windows7 disc that came with your computer into the DVD...
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Sounds like some app you recently installed may have bumped your "Sidebar" from normal operation. Try going to the sidebar, right-clicking, and closing the sidebar. Restart your computer and see if it comes back. I mean specifically the "Add Gadget" window. If it doesn't you may have some Windows file corruption. Could also be due to a new Virus--make sure you do full Virus scans with your main Anti-Virus product (Norton, McAfee, Avast, etc.). You have a couple of choices.

#1: Go to an elevated Admin prompt and run "sfc /scannow" and let Windows try to repair the missing or corrupted files that operate that part of the sidebar/gadget app for you. You may need to feed your Windows7 disc that came with your computer into the DVD drive if it asks you to do so. *MAKE SURE YOU SET A RESTORE POINT AND BACKUP ALL PERSONAL DATA TO AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE, FLASH DRIVE, OR CD/DVD DISCS PRIOR TO RUNNING THIS PROCEDURE OR #2".

#2: If you have Restore Points enabled on you Win7 system, go back to the last Restore Point date just prior to the date when you last remembered your Sidebar/Gadgets app properly working; i.e.: a week ago, a month ago, 6 months ago. Again, this is where it's critical you backup all your data, because you will probably lose some stuff doing a System Restore, that almost always happens, so you need to have an externally saved copy to be able to put things back that "Mysteriously" disappear after you begin using your system after the Restore procedure. [You may have done this before, and therefore you know what I'm speaking of. ]

Finally, if neither Option #1 or #2 does the trick you could be fighting a hardware problem that just recently occurred on your system and you are trying to repair it via using a software solution. That will never fix a hardware problem! If this does occur, and I really hope it doesn't since you are running a Win7 computer, it's at least 2 yrs. old or older and it's not beyond the realm of possibility your are experiencing a faulty or failing hard drive or Motherboard or even RAM. It happens all the time and I see it every day. If you reach this point in the process, I suggest you run full hardware diagnostics on your Computer to eliminate those problems. Even so, that's not 100%, so you may need to either replace items *the hard drive is #1 on my list* or take it to a local Computer Pro and have him run the diagnostics for you (for a small fee).

Post back your Make/Model info. and keep us posted on the results of the above procedures.

Good Luck!

BIGBEARJEDI
 
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Solution
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Something I forgot to say in the initial post is that I rebooted the machine 2 or 3 times, trying to get the particular gadget to return, because on rare occasions a particular one of the other gadgets would sometimes fail to launch, but would return on the next reboot. That wasn't getting that result this occasion, and I was getting tired of rebooting, since it was wasting my time and I had other fish to fry online. It was after I gave up on rebooting again that I found I couldn't get the gadgets pane to come up.

Well, fired up the computer today, and the missing gadget loaded.... on the I've-just-been-enabled-but-not-moved-to-a-place-yet spot on the upper left of my primary monitor (I have all the gadgets on the leftward of two monitors), so I moved it to where it belongs. I then right-clicked on the desktop, selected Gadgets from there... and the Gadgets pane loaded. oO

I guess everything fixed itself at next restart, or something.
 
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Hey, that's Great news! Thanks for posting that it's fixed and letting us know.

Don't forget to set a Windows Restore Point now that it's working again, so that you can do a quick rollback if it suddenly goes hawyire again or you get a random virus or something.

BBJ
 
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