Windows 7 Lost Start Menu And Taskbar Win7

[marc64]

Please can you help restore my START menu and TASK-BAR, in win 7, googled and spent half a night trying many things but have been unable to get them back, they disappeared after a re boot from running 2 scans in both AVAST and another scan (of which i can not remember the name of the programme, has a red umbrella if that helps) due to my basic skills in these issues i have admitted defeat and joined your forum in the hope some kind person can help?, going back to the scans, i remember one of the scans picked up on one problem of which i am sure may be the problem, i have tried and tried to revert back and find the deleted file that was removed but i can not find it, ime sure its to do with this file that the start and task bar vanished, could be wrong but i think it was after i deleted and re opened the pc both start menu and task bar dissapeared, i even tried running a back up disk but just haven't the experience to know what to do!, after 10 minutes a small window appeared and clicked on it resulting in 3 files appearing with a 4th saying something to do with a 4th desktop file needed adding (if that helps narrow things down) also tried removing and adding win. exe or exploerer.exe (i think) in start, but didn't help. apologies for going on and on , thanks for any help,

 

[Harsh]

May your explorer is not working properly
try this
alt+clt+del select task manager
find explorer.exe, press right click and click on " end process tree"
Again press alt+clt+del select task manager
find new task option , click on it , small windows will come up, type explorer.exe and hit enter

 

[Drew]

Ok, here's my educated guess. I know the red umbrella thing... Avira, I think but, doesn't really matter, @ least not to my point... more than 1 security, AV, can never be used in the same machine @ the same time... they will conflict & & often w/ catastrophic results. Never install more than one, let alone use more than one @ the same time. When we get thing fixed remove one of them... If you are not going to use MSE, I would stick w/ Avast not, the other. Now, the 1st thing to try is a System Restore to a date before this happened. Also, run Malwarebytes. Also, Check Disc may fix things.... in cmd, Run as Admin & type, chkdsk /r/f

If, none of this fixes things run Repair from the OS disc. Hopefully a re-install of the OS will not be necessary.

Regards,
Drew

 

[marc64]

Many thanks Harsh, i tried your method earlier and just re-tried it once more but to no avail, thanks anyway,

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I'm surprised that restarting Explorer.exe didn't make is show up at least temporarily.
This was a not uncommon problem a few years ago but I haven't see it lately.

Do you have your Start Button and Task Bar when you login in safe mode?

If it does, log in in Safe Mode and try running Malwarebytes and make sure this isn't caused by Malware.

Another thing that might work, log in in Safe Mode if you can see your start button there and run System Restore.
Try and restore to a date before the problem started.

Mike

 

[marc64]

Ok, here's my educated guess. I know the red umbrella thing... Avira, I think but, doesn't really matter, @ least not to my point... more than 1 security, AV, can never be used in the same machine @ the same time... they will conflict & & often w/ catastrophic results. Never install more than one, let alone use more than one @ the same time. When we get thing fixed remove one of them... If you are not going to use MSE, I would stick w/ Avast not, the other. Now, the 1st thing to try is a System Restore to a date before this happened. Also, run Malwarebytes. Also, Check Disc may fix things.... in cmd, Run as Admin & type, chkdsk /r/f

If, none of this fixes things run Repair from the OS disc. Hopefully a re-install of the OS will not be necessary.

Regards,
Drew

Yes Avira you are right and will delete it when i get things back to normal, re Malwarebytes, did the complete scan but zero, found nothing, as i have no start menu i can not perform your suggested CMD ideas unles you know of a shortcut to CMD prompt without Start menu?, i can not find my OS win7 disc so unsure what i can do if i have to do a re-install, i did a back up SYSTEM REPAIR DISC Last year but have no idea how to use it, please be aware i am not an expert in relation to fixing PC issues so please try and explain things in laymans/idiot terms if poss lol, thankyou.

One thing i just noticed of which might be of help in finding what the problem is, in the menu List ''START MENU AND TASKBAR'', anything of the 7 or 8 items in the menu nothing works when you click on them, the list has lock and unlock taskbar and (something like) restore missing taskbar and hide taskbar etc etc, ??

 

[marc64]

Thanks Mike, i will attempt to do your ideas, please bear with me i am not very apt re PC'S and getting around the system, but ime learning fast, let you know how and what,

 

[Drew]

This is a Taskbar Repair Tool. You may as well give it a whirl... |MG| Taskbar Repair Tool Plus! Download Regards, Drew

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Try clicking "Shift" plus the "Widows Key".
That should open you programs menu and let you get to most applications and the run menu.

If you open Windows Explorer you can open the Command Prompt by "Shift" right clicking in the background of the Right Pane of any drive.

You can enter Safe Mode when you first boot your computer by clicking the f8 key repeatedly when the splash screen comes up.
This should let you access a menu that will let you chose to boot into Safe Mode.
Safe Mode starts the computer with a very basic set of functions loaded getting around many problems.

Mike

 

[Saltgrass]

I would think if you lost such basic items it would be something that had broken or overridden the Windows 7 settings.

You may be able to open an administrative command by using the Winkey and type cmd. Then CTRL+SHIFT+Enter.

You can also hold Shift and right click then select Open Command Window Here. Then type explorer to open it and go to the Windows\System32 folder and right click cmd.exe and select Run as Admin.

Once you have that open, I would run a System File Check by typing sfc /scannow to check your core files.

There have been times when some utility, like an anti-virus, has messed up some dialog windows, by hiding certain entries.

It seems I remember seeing an attachment of someone who had lost the start menu and task bar entries. But if you want to try that, type snippingtool in the command window and take a picture and attach using the paperclip.

Edit: I don't suppose you have removed any Fonts?

 

[marc64]

I would think if you lost such basic items it would be something that had broken or overridden the Windows 7 settings.

You may be able to open an administrative command by using the Winkey and type cmd. Then CTRL+SHIFT+Enter.

You can also hold Shift and right click then select Open Command Window Here. Then type explorer to open it and go to the Windows\System32 folder and right click cmd.exe and select Run as Admin.

Once you have that open, I would run a System File Check by typing sfc /scannow to check your core files.

There have been times when some utility, like an anti-virus, has messed up some dialog windows, by hiding certain entries.

It seems I remember seeing an attachment of someone who had lost the start menu and task bar entries. But if you want to try that, type snippingtool in the command window and take a picture and attach using the paperclip.

Edit: I don't suppose you have removed any Fonts?

ok, thanks Saltgrass, but after another evening trying every available suggestion ime getting to the point of giving up!!!, the only way i could get to CMD was to use a system recovery disc i made last year and use that to gain access as an administrator and use CMD, after putting in the sfc/scannow i get a message saying ''there is a system repair pending which requires a re boot to complete, restart and run SFC again,'' Ii did the re-boot SFC 5 times only to get the same godforsaken answer in CMD, why is it that the pc runs fine but i can not seem to fix this dam problem of a missing start menu/Task bar ??????? please help before liquor becomes involved lol, thanks
almost sure now with my minimal experiance that a file maybe has been deleted in a virus scan as i remembetr about the time i deleted a file instead of moving to the virus vault,
ohh and as far as i am aware no fonts are involved except my gf had a screen saver type background in desk top with pictures of stuff and notice the background in desktop is win7 own colourful images, i asked her and she said she changed it, so really not sure about fonts and all that,

 

[Drew]

Tough w/out being hands-on sometimes but, if, the breakage, missing or corrupt is deep enough you cannot retrieve things expect by rebuilding the OS... have read all you've said & described & is leaving me feeling like rebuild is the remedy to having all you've lost, again.

 

[Saltgrass]

I can't remember right now about what might be required when you run SFC from a Recovery CD or an Install DVD. But there is an offline way to run it if you are not actually in Windows 7. It may give you the same message, but you could try. Just make sure which partition you use to run it, since the Windows partition is not always C: when running offline.

If you need any help, post back.

Link Removed - Invalid URL

 

[marc64]

really a bit confused, i remember 'C' was in the list after windows scaned when i ran the repair disc, if that helps when i tried SFC in CMD, odd that this repair pending re-boot message appears? in CMD

 

[Saltgrass]

I do not understand your reply. Have you tried the offline solution?

When you boot to the Repair CD, you are probably in X: so if you switch to C: (cd C: ) and do a dir command, you will see the normal Windows 7 folders. Because some installs have the small System partition, in the WinRE, that might be C: and the Windows partition D: , so just make sure you are looking the Windows partition.

 

[marc64]

I do not understand your reply. Have you tried the offline solution?

When you boot to the Repair CD, you are probably in X: so if you switch to C: (cd C: ) and do a dir command, you will see the normal Windows 7 folders. Because some installs have the small System partition, in the WinRE, that might be C: and the Windows partition D: , so just make sure you are looking the Windows partition.

hi saltgrass, re your instructions you have lost me i am afraid, not sure what X is? re system folders i just wouldnt know what i am doing so unless i am folowing step by step instructions i am not experianced enough. could you run me through your suggestions a bit more idiot proof, thankyou,

 

[marc64]

yes i understand, there must be more to this problem than meets the eye then, the sfc/scannow in the Amin mode will not scan, (says there is a pending windows repair and to re-boot to repair first then re-boot then start a SFC scan but says the same over and over again after each re-boot) The programme ''Tweaking.com'' which has an SFC/scannow option from CMD attempts to run but when it says click any key to continue just disappears so that doesn't seem to work, is it possible to link up remotely and try finding the problem?, i have found my win7 OS disc now if that's any help? i even tried contacting windows/microsoft support but need the start menu to contact them via the link they want you to use, very frustrating,

 

[Saltgrass]

These types of repairs are difficult for folks that are familiar with the way partitions are done. So maybe what Drew suggests would be the best thing. If you had a backup image, you could just reimage the drive, but since you don't, looks like a reinstall will be required.

But X: is the Ramdisk in memory where the Windows recovery environment loads the files it needs to run. The same partitions are still on your hard drive, but from an off line condition, they may be lettered differently. All you need to confirm is to type c: and enter, which will take you to the c: partition. Then do a dir command and see if the Windows folder is there. If it isn't, try d: and check again.

Use the drive letter where you found the Windows folder for the Offline directory in the command. Then go back to x: and run the command. But this procedure may still give you the same type of message, I do not remember for sure.

 

[marc64]

SOLVED,
After trying many suggestions i was going to give up and take the PC to a shop when my GF moved the monitor over to one side of the desk to clean behind it when weirdly both Task-bar / Start button re-appeared but! all the other icons and gadgets vasnished!, my first thought was a cable had come adrift, tried tightening the cable sockets and everything reverted back to missing Start and Task-bar missing but the icons and gadgets were back, so i thought well if the Start/Task-bar work i must still have them somewhere as i just see them, cutting this short as i tried everything i could try ended up at "screen resolution" clicked "multiple layers" and clicked "show desk-top on 2" Task-bar and Start button appeared, how i nearly ended up reformatting and a big bill, i had tried this i am certain but it did not work before, something must of reset itself maybe?, anyway happy its back, thankyou to all for your time and help, great Windows help/info site!,

 

[Drew]

Good news!