Desktop Icons gone in Windows Vista

[Domi.nick]

I cannot see any of my applications icons on Windows Vista. Only the side bar is seen. When I started my computer it take quiet a bit long time. It was stucked on login screen. But as the desktop appeared, my wallpaper was visible. There were no icons. And after sometime the sidebar showed up. Does anyone is aware about this issue. I want some help here.

[Hawkin's]

It looks that your explorer is corrupted. This is a common issue with Vista. It happens if you install number of third party themes or if there is a virus infection. Explorer.exe if corrupted can be restored by running system restore. For that you have to boot your system in safe mode. If still no desktop available press Ctrl + Alt + Del. Go File > New Task > type explorer.exe and click on OK. Your desktop would be visible now.

[Domi.nick]

I tried the same nothing worked out. In Task Manager > File > New Task I had entered explorer.exe and it did not gave any respond. The icons are not at all visible. While the sidebar is working. I also right click on the desktop but the menu is completely blank. I do not know what suddenly happened to this system. I had installed some themes and a transformation pack recently. I thought this was stable. The start menu seems to be working. Because only the icons are not visible. I had tried the same in thin in Safe Mode, the issue still exist in Safe mode also. There is option while you right click. You can hide desktop icons through that. But the menu is not showing up anything because of which I cannot do any changes.

[Oshea]

As you said the start menu is working. You can go in Control Panel > Display and set your theme to basic. That would help much I think. Also in Task Manager check that explorer.exe is visible under Processes. If yes then click on it and then click on End Process. Now your side bar and task bar below both will be gone. Again go in File > New Task and type explorer.exe. Hit enter. Your deskop will be visible now. It looks due to some corrupt theme the issue appears. Try to check for virus infection also. Explorer.exe is mostly affected in this case. But your sidebar and taskbar is working so it seems a issue with theming.

[Illeana]

That happens to me also when I was playing a game. When I turned it of my desktop was blank. There were no icons on it. I restarted the pc and right clicked on desktop. In that you can see a option Personalize. The same is located in control panel also. There on the left side you can see Change Desktop icons. Tick the icons from the same and click on OK. This works mostly for number of issues, but somehow it looks a kind of theming bug. I am sure you would be able to see the icons under safe mode. Because in safe mode minimum services are working. Try to access system restore. Just type system restore in Start > Search box below and run it. Restore your systems settings to an older time. That will help you much.

[Domi.nick]

Did all what you said. But nothing worked out. First when right click on the desktop I cannot see anything there. I also tried to make that changes via Task Manager. I ended the first process first and then tried to start one more again. But that did not helped much. The screen is still totally blank. I am hoping to find certain better output on the same. There is no direct utility that can do this. I am going to restore my system and if this does not work I will surely format and get back to Windows XP. That would be a better option for me.

[Fajardo]

Looks like some kind of system file corruption issue. My explorer.exe was corrupted due to virus. There were no icons nor I can see the task bar. But I can run files through cmd. Like in cmd I type notepad.exe and hit enter the notepad appears. The system looks to be working well. Yet there is no tool available on web that can fix explorer.exe. You have to re-install windows back again or else it will keep on giving you trouble. Run CMD and follow my steps. It might fix the issue. In cmd type sfc /scanfile=c:\windows\explorer.exe. hit enter. sfc /scannow verifies the file integrity and fix those system files which are not proper.