Windows 7 Gadgets disappeared

[Jekyll]

Hello, all. My gadgets disappeared. They do not look like black boxes or anything, they just do not show up at all. The right-click gadgets menu is simply empty, there's no gadgets there at all, not even the default ones.

Just to be clear, I already have done the following things:

- checked if UAC is on -- no effect (though it mattered in beta only, but anyway);
- tried deleting custom gadgets from c:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets and same\Shared Gadgets -- no effect;
- tried turning off the Gadgets Platform, rebooting and then turning it on again -- no effect;
- tried using all possible registry tweaks (the ones that allow using gadgets with UAC turned off, the ones that remove administrator access issue, the one that removes always-offline mode in IE and others) -- no effect;
- tried checking if IE was running in offline mode (it wasn't) -- no effect;
- removed the Windows sidebar settings from C:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\ -- no effect;
- tried deleting the key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\ -- no effect.

So, nothing that I've googled up so far worked. Help, please!

 

[kaos]

try this

Open regedit.exe.
Export (backup) the below key and then delete the registry key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\

Reboot your pc
Restatr sidebar

 

[Jekyll]

Do you mean that I should delete the whole Zones folder? Because I've found an instruction that said that I should try deleting the folders within Zones which have non-numerical names, but I only have four folders inside, named 0, 1, 2 and 3.

 

[kaos]

back that registry folder up first,

then delete everything inside the zones folder

 

[Jekyll]

Ok, I just tried that and rebooted after that, but without effect. The key reappeared in the registry.

 

[kaos]

Ok delete entire folder ( i wasnt sure if it wasw contents or folder as well )

after restart

go to control panel and reselect your gadgets from there

 

[Jekyll]

Well, still no effect. Also, the folders I have within Zones (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) are apparently default ones, because whenever I reboot, they simply reappear if I deleted them.

 

[kaos]

ok

moment of truth ( i hope this works so much )

open command promt again , but when you type CMD right click it, run as administrator

enter each one of these manually please
taskkill /im sidebar.exe /f
regsvr32 msxml3.dll
regsvr32 scrrun.dll
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 atl.dll
Regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll"
Regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll
reg delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones" /f

go to start
my computer
c:
program files
windows side bar
sidebar.exe ( click this )
reboot your pc


sorry for long reply, had to type it all out lol

 

[Jekyll]

Actually, I've already tried that among those registry tweaks I mentioned, but just to be sure I tried that again the way you suggested, yet still no effect. No gadgets on the desctop, right-click Gadgets menu is still completely empty.

And BTW, the process sidebar.exe hasn't been running at all since the moment the gadgets disappered. If I try to run it from Program Files\Windows Sidebar manually, nothing happens. Or, to be precise, the process sidebar.exe does appear, but nothing happens after that, and if I open Gadgets menu it's still empty. When I close it, sidebar.exe stops as well.

 

[kaos]

ok so do you have any gadgets at all ? when u right click, gadgets are there anything in the box?

 

[Jekyll]

No, that's the problem! But in fact of course I do have gadgets, I've been using them for several months. But now the box is empty as if there are no gadgets. But I know they are there (and of course I can find them in C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\). I even tried downloading and installing extra gadgets, but that doesn't work too, they simply don't appear (neither on the desktop, nor in the Gadgets menu).