Vista Help: explorer.exe doesn't laod at logon

[kirtik]

I installed vista ultimate clean the oher day... after installing all the software I needed, the next time I restarted, after I logged on, there was just a black screen, with the documents folder sitting there, open. I figured out that explorer.exe doesn't load at logon, and I have to manually start it via task manager... after I do that, everything's fine.

It is a bit annoying though. I've seen suggestions that include reinstalling fresh, system restoring (tried, didn't work), and hacking around in the registry/system settings.

I'd rather not do any of the above unless I knew it'd work. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[intertec]

Try googling it!

[kkenny]

sorry, not as experienced with windows vista as i would like to be.
like the guy above me said go google it. it's the practical solution to everything.
if you need help getting explorer.exe, then just go task manager -> new task then enter in explorer.exe and then run task.

hopefully your problem gets fixed!

[galaxyAbstractor]

*moved*

[Smith6612]

Did you try running Startup Repair? It's an option found on your Vista DVD when you boot into it. Also this is one thing you should do. Don't worry, the registry is not scary. I've gone into it loads of times without breaking Windows, and not once have I killed Windows.

In the Windows Registry (open 'regedit')
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\winlogon\

Set 'Shell' variable = 'Explorer.exe'

If both of these don't work, I'd say you have a software conflict and it's probably best to reinstall, patch, and then install your apps.

[kirtik]

I have googled it, it came up with the suggestions that I put in the first post. Thanks to smith, I'm trying that now =D

[xtreemgreen]

Also try going to www.computing.net if nothing else works.

[kirtik]

Smith's solution worked. I set it to run explorer.exe, rather than services.exe. Thanks :D

[themcman1]

I got this problem after Vista crashed while updating. Although, in my case, explorer loaded, just not the desktop. Task Manager sorted it out temp, but when I updated it again, it was fixed.