Start Menu folder on desktop?

[MichaelD]

Hi this is Windows Vista Home Premium using from last 2 months. Today when i booted up i found that there is a Start Menu folder on my desktop. It wasn't there until yesterday night when i turned off the computer. Now when i right click this folder to delete, here the only options i get:

• Open
• Explore
• Search
• Paste
• Create Shortcut

If i select the folder and tap on delete button on keyboard, nothing happens, if i try dragging the folder to Recycle Bin icon, nothing happens yet. Can anyone please tell me how can i delete this folder from desktop?

[quixote23]

Hey, I'm having the same problem - a "Start Menu" folder appeared on my desktop after I changed the order of some programs in my start menu, and I can't figure out how it got there or how to get rid of it. Did you ever figure out a solution to your problem?

[Hayes II]

You are not alone with that problem friend, count me in too. I started getting this problem just about 3 days ago. In my case i am able to delete the folder but it re-appears every time i start the computer. It's not in the Windows Defender list to disable and I have no idea what it's called in Task Manager "Processes" to end it so am at a loss. I wish someone can provide a permanent solution for this annoying problem. Thanks for all the helps in advance.

[elvishmaniac]

If anyone else has this problem, I found a solution to it that is much simpler than going into safe mode.

Right click the desktop, click 'Personalize' at the bottom of the menu, click 'Change desktop icons' on the left side, in the window that pops up click 'Restore default', press 'OK' and it should be gone.

I don't know if this will get rid of ALL icons, I only have Computer and Recycle on my desktop. So users with many icons can maybe try toggling the checkmarks a bit to see if that gets rid of it.

Anyways, this is what worked for me, and I thought I would post just so someone searching on Google might find this.

[Anointed]

yes that fixed it . nice trick thank you so much. how that happened i dont no but it scared me . and on top of it i almost deleated the folder lol sigh . thanks for the help.

[cnote]

I had the same problem and the solution above worked. This is one way to re-create the problem in case anyone is interested in de-bugging Vista SP2. It is obviously a M$ problem.

Open Control Panel (in Classic View) and right click on either Windows Update or Windows Firewall, then select Create Shortcut. This places a shortcut on your desktop. You can now close the Control Panel window. (it may work with any of the programs in the control panel, I only tested these two)

Right click on Start button and select Explore. Make that window smaller than your desktop.

Now drag the newly created control panel program shortcut off your desktop into the Start Menu folder. If your window is small enough and out of the way you will see the Start Folder just appear on the desktop as soon as you drop the shortcut into the folder.

I was doing that to have quick access to Windows Update from my start menu. Oh, and I should mention that I use Classic Start Menu under the Start Menu properties dialog box. You can do that by right clicking on the start button and selecting Properties, then select Start Menu tab and select Classic Start Menu. I like that menu better, it gives me that XP feel. I haven't tested this using the normal Vista start menu.

Then, to get rid of the Start Menu folder from the desktop, just use the "Change Desktop Icons" solution in the previous post with a few exceptions that I found. 1) I had to make some change and click Apply to make the folder disappear. I then changed it back to the original setting and clicked OK. 2) you then need to repeat the fix each time you add or delete "any" shortcuts to the Start Menu folder using the method above.

The weird thing is that once you reboot, and follow this process again. It won't add the Start Menu folder to the desktop by adding(drag/drop) and removing shortcuts until you add a shortcut that was created from the control panel.

Is this a bug that happens on ALL Vista machines???

[McFly47]

Ok here is what I did in Windows XP and it disappeared.
Go to START
In thr RUN Box type CMD

Under "c:\Documents and settings:" type dir
Then cd (change Directory) to "owner" or name of User and type dir again.
You will see a directory called "shortcut"
TYPE: rd shortcut /q /s
That will delete it.
Well anyway...It worked for meand you get to keep all your icons.