no desktop!!

HOW TO: Restore the Operating System to a Previous State in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306084

Log on to Windows as Administrator.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Restore. System Restore starts.
On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Restore my computer to an earlier time (if it is not already selected), and then click Next.
On the Select a Restore Point page, click the most recent system checkpoint in the On this list, click a restore point list, and then click Next. A System Restore message may appear that lists configuration changes that System Restore will make. Click OK.
On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page, click Next. System Restore restores the previous Windows XP configuration, and then restarts the computer.
Log on to the computer as Administrator. The System Restore Restoration Complete page appears.
Click OK.

Try logging in as safe mode and check if it would show the icons

Also I assume you need to wait for some more time before everything loads

May be some configuration has changed. So when you restart your machine , press F8 and choose
"Last known good configuration" and check if that would solve the issue

Sunray

Try this though.

From the task manager run msconfig and select the Startup tab and then click the Disable All button. then reboot. If the problem goes away then one of those programs is the cause.

check these links:

http://miataru.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/85882.html
http://forums.devshed.com/t67028/s39045704a590926fb4d1fd3604cf9b00.html
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1070128792

needwin98help,

I am just curious to know whether you had to repair windows xp to solve this ??

Thanks,
Sunray

If you can get to the task manager, you can do a new_task and start explorer.exe. This will load your desktop.  It doesn't solve the problem however.  You will at least be able to trouble shoot it more effectively.

I have a machine that is currently behaving this way. (130 miles away)  When I get to it, and figure out what happened, I will repost.

Not many people seem to know that explorer handles the desktop.  If you accidentally end-process explorer in the processes-tab of task manager, your desktop will go away.  I have also seen explorer go down (usually due to poorly written programs that hook into explorer) In either case,  you can get it back the same way. I would recommend shutting down and restarting when that happens though.


David

Try this!
Had the same problem. Logged in as Administrator to the computer and checked the default user desktop. No shortcuts were present. Added a shortcut to the default user Desktop folder and logged off then back on as a user and problem was cured.