WIndows 8 - come to blank screen after login page - nothing else shows - have to use explorer.exe from task manager to get desktop
Boot up laptop, normal login screen comes up, after putting in credentials, comes up to background with no icons or anything else. I can ctrl-alt-delete to bring up task manager and run explorer.exe from there. After that desktop and the rest comes up. I was going to run anti-virus and malware scanners, but wanted to try and correct this first, because with my luck, if I don't, I won't be able to get back to this screen again.
check your registry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
REG_SZ value explorer.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
REG_SZ value explorer.exe
ASKER
that value is correct.
Which reg keys you have checked exactly? explorer.exe should be there as a string value named "Shell" in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Wi
Is this happening when you boot to safe mode also?
Is this happening when you boot to safe mode also?
try a fully qualified name: c:\windows\explorer.exe
The system is corrupt reload is your best option, trying to fix it will only cause you more headache
ASKER
zLeva: yes the entry explorer.exe is under String value share
David: do you mean change the explorer.exe under shell to c:\windows\explorer.exe ?
nattygreg: that is last resort, not my machine, sensitive user so need to try and keep as is instead of reload, would be struggle to put back afterwards.
David: do you mean change the explorer.exe under shell to c:\windows\explorer.exe ?
nattygreg: that is last resort, not my machine, sensitive user so need to try and keep as is instead of reload, would be struggle to put back afterwards.
ASKER
David, can you confirm my question above?
yes c:\windows\explorer.exe is the full path. you might want to check the user and machine path's environment variables
it should start with:
PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C
it should start with:
PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C
ASKER
variables are correct, path has been changed, issue persists.
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ASKER
Not exactly sure which piece that was cleaned was causing the issue, but after Malwarebytes, SpyBot and Kaspersky, I was able to get the problem solved.
ASKER