Ctrl-Alt-Del does NOT bring up Task Manager

Ive had an experience of not being able to access the task manager due a virus/trojan that came from limewire.
If she has that installed it might be a possibility.
You could probably use an antivirus program or spyware removal tool if this is the case.

As I noted in the question, "...As near as I can tell there is no way to get to Task Manager."  I did forget to note that I had tried the taskbar shortcut menu.  Yes, it has a "Task Manager" entry; No, it doesn't do anything.

I too think the task manager is somehow disabled -- but as I described in the question I've tried all of the "known fixes" I know.

...and of course I checked with a variety of tools for viruses, spyware, worms, etc.   If you're aware of a specific trojan that avoids detection and causes this symptom, I'd appreciate specific details -- and a link to the fix.

from what i remember it was worm.mugly.i
heres the link to a fix :http://forums.thetechguys.com/showthread.php?t=19589

Though its detectable through pccillin housecall so it could be something... a variant maybe...in any case good luck with the problem.

I have seen Task Manager not working before and it was because of computer viruses, try launching task manager by:

Start > Run > taskmgr

If it starts then there could be problems with registry, if it doesn't I would suspect this to be caused by virus, in that case, never trust a computer that has been infected, do a fresh install, image the machine and keep that image handy, this will save you a lot of trips to your friend's house.

If it is virus or worm and you're not keen on fresh install, remove them then run registry and system repair tools like Tuneup Utilities 2004 (Update the software first), Registry Medic, or ERD Commander.

1. check BIOs for hotkey assign to other task, like power save
2. check internal keyboard assign for CAD -- HP Kb very bad for this, able to reassign all key combos.
3.  Check TSR in XP make sure nothing hooking CAD
4.  then check virus.
5.  Remove all XP setup and reinstall.  If none of above 4 work, setup totally corrupt.  Blow it off, no good.

The taskmgr.exe file may be corrupted. You can try to copy that file from another computer. I never had that issue, but this may help.

gary, what about shift-crtl-esc?  does it bring up the taskmanager?

I think you are running an application that tries to disable your ctrl+alt+del key... Check your startup from msconfig and don't allow to that application to be runned...

Or it is possible that a spyware software installed on your PC and it tires to kill taskmgr.exe everytime it loads... You can check this by running it manually from system32.

If you don't get anything when you run it yourself from Run it seems you have a program that kills this app when it loads..

Regards

As I noted in the question:   "I'm looking for a specific fix -- not a potpourri of things to try (I'm quite capable of that myself -- and since I don't have ready access to the computer this wouldn't be particularly useful anyway)."

Before even posting the question, I had already tried all of the various ways of invoking task manager.  I had also loaded Sysinternals  Process Explorer -- to see if there was some hidden process "killing" task manager.  NADA    And of course I had already tried both MSConfig (minimal boot items) and Safe Mode -- still NADA

I have, of course, asked my wife's friend (the lady I was helping) to see if she can't gather up the disks for all the programs she's concerned about.  Clearly the best solution is a full reload, as I've told her numerous times.

As I also mentioned, I ran numerous virus and spyware scans -- including Trend's Housecall -- and did not detect anything.  This COULD be some variant of the mugly.i worm noted above, as it has similar symptoms -- but it was not detected.

In any event, this is clearly not a simple issue.  I suspect I'll simply do a full reload and delete this question if nobody has a solution.   But I'd still like to know WHAT is causing this!!   My hope is that someone has encountered this exact issue and can explain what's going on :)  :)  :)

C: Registry key is corrupted.
R: Delete DisableTaskMgr entry in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.

I examined all of the relevant registry keys and tried several known "fixes" -- including this one, as I described in my question.

Is taskmgr.exe in \windows\system32 on this system?  If it's running service pack2, is the file version 5.1.2600.2180, with a file size of 135,680 bytes, and a creation date of October 9, 2003?

I checked for taskmgr.exe's presence -- yes it was there.   It was at a friend's house & as I noted I don't have ready access to it -- but when we see them next week I'll check the version number.  The computer does have all current updates.

There is one possible malware cause that has not been mentioned. Since you are familiar with Sysinternals, I will just suggest checking out the Rootkit Revealer page. I realize this is not the sort of response you are looking for, but if you have a rootkit this will help you.

Well I finally had a chance to look at this system again last night.  There was no sign of any rootkits.  I also re-applied some of the "common" fixes for this issue -- as noted at the top of this thread.

Nothing brought back task manager !!

I had promised my wife's friend I'd have her computer back in pristine shape the next day, so I didn't spend as much time as I'd have like to find the issue.   So I simply saved off all her data; and did a full reload from scratch.   It's now working like a charm & she's tickled -- her boot time is 1/6th what it was, and all her applications are working wonderfully.

I did, just for grins, save an image of the system -- just in case I ever have the system back at home, I'll restore it to a spare hard drive & waste an hour or two to see what the issue actually was :)  :)

In any event, I guess that closes this question -- with no solution, but an interesting unresolved problem.

Moderator -- when you read this, please close the question & refund the points.

GaryCase - Try looking at these :

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21402141.html

This one ( with using the expand command )

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Win2000/Q_21424049.html

There is one more PAQ that I am looking for which I am sure will help you, it had something to do along the lines of renaming the old taskmanager, regedit etc to taskman.old etc and then expanding the new ones off the disc.

@ What you keep stating here :

""I'm looking for a specific fix -- not a potpourri of things to try (I'm quite capable of that myself -- and since I don't have ready access to the computer this wouldn't be particularly useful anyway).""

I am fully aware you know what you are doing because you have helped me out numerous times I just wanted to post a few PAQ's to see if they are of any use to you.

This is a good one to look at :

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/ToolsQuit.htm

If I find that PAQ I will post back with it :)

Other then that I can only think of sfc /purgecache and sfc /scannow and if all else fails a repair install ( I am sure you know how to do all of them so no need to post any links on how to )

Shane,

Thanks for taking the time to look at other possibilities.  I had, in fact, noted all of the EE links you found, and tried virtually everything.   This was definitely NOT a simple issue -- and none of the "usual" fixes worked.   I tend to be a pretty curious guy - if I'd had the system for a couple of days I'd have done some serious registry exploring to figure out what was going on.   But as I noted, I didn't have it available.   I do have a DVD with the image on it, however -- and if I get it back for any reason I'll restore that image to a spare hard drive and "play" to figure out what was going on (obviously this will just be to satisfy my intellectual curiousity).   Whenever that happens I'll post another note to this thread -- so you'll know what it was.

Just for grins, I'm going to close this thread -- and give you the points for spending the time even after it was clear the issue was already resolved :)

Thanks Gary, I cant find the PAQ but basically the guy couldnt open task manager or regedit etc and basically had to rename them to .old or .com and expand the new ones off the xp disc it will either be in my Answer history or in my comments history and with all the stuff that I have done in the last year or so there is a lot to go through as you can imagine so I am basically trawling through all that stuff lol :)

Thanks for the points even though I am not sure If I did solve your issue :)

You clearly did NOT solve the issue -- but some of your links may help someone in the future who is researching a similar problem.   ... and you did a nice job of summarizing the links to similar questions in a nice concise post => so I just decided it was time to close the question (actually I left a note on 11 Oct to do that -- but since it was never done I gave you a few points -- with a "B" since it wasn't really a solution for my specific issue).

As for finding info in your old posts, I understand completely.   Only been doing this for 3 months -- but have made a LOT of posts and it's a pain to find things I know I've already written about.   I did suggest a fix for this -- and it's "in the queue" so I'm told.   See:  http://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/Suggestions/Q_21604823.html

yes I third, fourth and fifth that lol :)

This wasnt the PAQ I was reffering to but if you look at the accepted answer ( obviously ) it has more or less the same steps with regards to renaming the exe's that dont work ( namely the task manager ie taskman.exe, regedit32 or regedit and msconfig and renaming them to something totally different like msgtask.exe, rged.exe , msfig.exe etc and trying to run those ) I am still trawling through and I am determined to find this exact PAQ because it goes through everything step by step of what was done :)

ah crud here is the PAQ I forgot to post above but obviously isnt the one I was reffering to ( As I am still in the process of finding it )

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20713041.html?query=task+manager&clearTAFilter=true

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21539829.html?query=task+manager&clearTAFilter=true

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20966770.html?query=task+manager&clearTAFilter=true

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Q_21140392.html?query=task+manager&clearTAFilter=true

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21402141.html

Unfortantly I cant find it, I will probably find it in about a months time lol :) but from that last PAQ it is basically saying if you rename taskmgr.exe to something else .exe ie tkmgr.exe and then run that there should be a process which is a virus like netman.exe or another process which is making it act this way ( That or get a 3rd party process manager and try and find that process and end it )

Other then that cwshredder and stinger by mcaffee were recomended and on top of that disabling system restore and doing an anti virus scan seems to help.

Other then that it looks like those viruses stick a copy of regedit.com and possibly ( not 100% sure on this ) but possibly also msconfig.com and or taskmgr.com into either the system or system32 folder and those need to be deleted as per  The

Accepted Answer from sramesh2k
Date: 08/25/2005 03:43PM BST
Grade: A

Which is the first PAQ I posted in this comment :)

Unfortunatly I'm having this same exact problem.  A spyware/malware/rootkit program overruled the ctrl-alt-delete. The program that did this in my instance is called Spyware Process Detector.

I've hunted all around the web and I've researched for the better part of a day.  I've tried all the usual fixes and even tried the repair install and sfc.  Nothing.  Its completely gone.  Its as if the registry reference connecting the kill command ctrl-alt-del is missing.  I can't get taskman.exe to launch either, and I can't overwrite it, but I can extract taskman and rename it to taskman1.exe. then it opens. hmmm

Any suggestions?  

Question:  ID: 21569883

I was also having this very same problem.  I initiated a deep scan with Symantec AV and found 12 counts of "Spyware.Ardakey" located in "C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\28463" hidden in filename "BOLJ.003, BOLJ.004, BOLJ.005, BOLJ.006, BOLJ.007 and BOLJ.exe".  After moving the files to the quarantine I was able to copy taskmgr.exe to the system32 folder and now CTRL+ALT+DEL does work properly.  However because after looking at the description of this virus from Symantec's site it looks like it attempts to install a keylogger and even though I did not find any of the traces in registry that are mentioned in the link below I will be wiping my HD and changing everyone of my passwords.

I am running 64 Bit XP, hence the syswow folder not system32...

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2004-052616-5512-99&tabid=1

Don't you just love viruses :(

I have a solution that worked for me...

After being infected with malware called "Windows Protection Suite" and using Malwarebytes' Anti-malware to remove it, I was left with the Task Manager disabled (would not open no matter what method I used).  I was able to open it by renaming the "c:\windows\system32\taskmgr.exe" file and opening that instead but simply moving the file or copying it to a different location on the computer or extracting a fresh copy from the Windows XP Installation CD also failed to open it unless it was renamed.

In order to do some troubleshooting, I downloaded http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/ProcessExplorer.zip to see what was happening.  During this debugging I used an option under the Process Explorer's "Options" menu and enabled "Replace Task Manager".  After disabling this option, Task Manager was able to open.  I don't know how or why this corrected it even though I'd love to know but it definitely did the trick, even after removing Process Explorer and rebooting.

Hope this helps someone!
Jeff

Thanks, Jeff.
Exactly my scenario. I WAS going to run Process Explorer, but decided not to until I saw your post.
Solved my problem.

Thanks again.

Mark

I found a registry key under hklm/software/microsoft/windows NT/current version/Image File Execution Options...with taskmgr.exe and value labled "debugger". When i removed this key task manager would open again from everywhere, without having to rename it. i also found a bunch of anti virus applications listed under this key, with the purpose i'm sure of stopping them from running, too. this wall all the result of an infection from Windows PC Defender.

I also had this problem on one machine after a spyware/malware infection. I had already tried the usual group policy settings, restoring taskman.exe and taskmgr.exe etc.

I checked the registry and the debugger key was listed just as avidmedical posted. (I checked another computer with a fresh XP install and it did not have the taskmgr.exe key at all.) Deleted that key and now task manager finally runs. Thanks avidmedical!!

I had the same situation as misupport and avidmedical.

Thanks avidmedical!

I had the same issue and was able to resolve it with the fix which avidmedical provided.

Thanks avidmedical