My Taskbar is missing and I have no Start button - what do I do?

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Taskbar Repair Tool.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm
home to a bunch of excellent scripts I have used on more than one occasion to get me out of a tight jam....These are vb or wsh scripts so no installation, and you can check out the source just incase you're worried. For the majority of you, I would recommend the top script - 'Taskbar is Missing', or if your apps are missing on the taskbar, the 3rd option 'minimized programs missing'...And don't spend ages trying to click on the drop downs - it's a screenshot of the full app - the links are underneath to some of the scripts contained within the full application, which is only $5 and well worth it.

hope this helps

TASK BAR MISSING FIXED

i tried this
1. go to START BAR
2. right click and go to PROPERTIES
3. click the CLASSIC START MENU--- click apply
you have classic start menu now... the start bar shoul be ok now.

then do steps 1 and 2 but this time select START MENU and apply to revert back to your xp start bar menu.

hope this helps.

SYMPTOMS
When you start Windows XP, you may experience one or more of the following behaviors: • When you log on normally, the taskbar does not appear.
• If you press CTRL+ESC, the Start menu does not appear.
• If you log on to Windows in Safe mode, the taskbar does appear.

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CAUSE
This behavior can occur if the Windows settings for a particular user account are corrupted.
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RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods.
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Method 1: Troubleshoot by Starting Windows with a Minimal Set of Drivers
Try to determine whether a damaged or incompatible driver is the cause of this behavior. To do this, start Windows XP in Safe mode, and then use the clean boot troubleshooting method to determine whether a specific driver or file is causing this issue.

For additional information about how to perform clean-boot troubleshooting, click the article number%2 below to view the article%2 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
310353 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/EN-US/) How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
If you determine that a driver file that is loaded by a specific program is causing this issue, remove that program, and then restart Windows normally.
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Method 2: Create a New User Account
Log on to the computer as Administrator, and then create a new user account. To do this, follow these steps: 1. Restart the computer. When the Power On Self Test (POST) completes, press F8.
2. On the Windows Advanced Options Menu, use the ARROW keys to select Safe Mode, and then press ENTER.
3. When you are prompted to select which operating system to start, select Microsoft Windows XP edition (where edition is the edition of Windows XP that is installed), and then press ENTER.
4. On the To begin, click your user name screen, click Administrator.
5. Type the administrator password, and then click the arrow button.

NOTE: In some cases, the Administrator password may be set to a blank password. In this case, do not enter a password before you click the arrow button.
6. Click Yes to close the message that states that Windows is running in Safe mode.
7. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage on the shortcut menu that appears.
8. In the Computer Management (Local) list, expand Local Users and Groups.
9. Right-click the Users folder, and then click New User on the shortcut menu that appears.
10. Type the user name and password in the appropriate boxes, and then retype the password in the Confirm password box.

NOTE: If you do not want to assign a password to the user account, do not type a password in the Password or Confirm password boxes.
11. Click to clear the User must change password at next logon check box.
12. Click to select the Password never expires check box if you do not want the password to expire.
13. Click Create, click Close, and then quit the Computer Management snap-in.
14. Restart Windows normally, and then log on as the new user that you created.
15. If the issue is resolved, reinstall the programs that you want, and then copy the documents that you want from the My Documents folder of the old user account. To copy the contents of the My Documents folder of the old user account, follow these steps:a. Log off Windows.
b. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE twice.

The Log On to Windows dialog box appears.
c. In the User name box, type Administrator. In the Password box, type the administrator password, and then click OK.
d. Right-click Start, and then click Explore on the shortcut menu that appears.
e. In the Folders tree, expand the old user account under Documents and Settings.
f. Click user name's Documents (where user name is the name of the old user account with which you experience this issue).
g. On the Edit menu, click Select All, and then click Copy on the Edit menu.
h. Under Documents and Settings, expand the new user account folder.
i. Click new user's Documents (where new user is the name of the new user account that you created).
j. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
k. If you are prompted to replace files or folders, click Yes to All to confirm the replacement.
l. On the File menu, click Close.
m. Log off Windows.

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Method 3: Repair Windows XP
Perform an in-place repair of Windows XP. Start the installation of Windows XP, but select the option to repair the existing installation. This will replace all of the Windows files, while leaving the installed programs and data intact.

For additional information about how to perform an in-place repair of Windows XP, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
315341 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/EN-US/) How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
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MORE INFORMATION
For additional information about how to restore your address book and mail folders, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
188854 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/188854/EN-US/) OLEXP: How to Back Up the Outlook Express Address Book and Mail Folders

Last week for some reason my task bar, start menu and icons all disappeared, all that was on my screen when I signed on was my desktop wallpaper. I tried to do a right click and nothing came up, the only way I was able to go online was through the task manager. As you can imagine, it took me a lot longer to get to programs through the task manager. I ran my anti-virus scan and there were no viruses detected. I tried to bring up the explorer.exe but it was gone. I searched for several days online for ideas and tried everything that was suggested but nothing worked. I was scared to do a Windows XP repair with my CD because I was afraid all my files on my computer would be gone. After about a week of trying to find something that worked, I finally just did the Windows XP repair with my Windows XP CD. After the repair was done I logged back on and EVERYTHING WAS REPAIRED AND EVEN ALL OF MY FILES WERE STILL THERE! I had to update Windows XP all over again. Now my computer is finally working and I didn't have to send my computer some where and pay $$$$ to fix it. I would suggest doing the Windows XP repair with your Windows XP CD, it's worth it! But use the Windows XP CD repair only if you have tried everything else that was suggested. GOOD LUCK!

i recently had this problem after purchasing a graphics card, your graphics card can be set as having two monitors, so go into your graphics or display and make sure its set to one monitor.

What worked for me was running control.exe (control panel) then clicking on Taskbar and Start Menu.
What I found is Lock the taskbar was checked.
When I unchecked it, I could see the very edge of the taskbar at the botton of the screen.
I could then find and drag the resize arrow to make the taskbar bigger and presto, the full taskbar is back.

We just had the same problem as Jon, our new graphics card was set to 2 monitors. We had to go into the display (right click on the desktop, properties and settings). You may have a 1 2 and 3 showing up, this is for each monitor, 1 should look normal, with any other numbers greyed out. If 2 is not greyed out this could be your problem. Click on 2 and make sure that extend my windows desktop to this monitor is not checked. Voila.

as i logged into my user the only thing i could see was my wallpaper and NO ICONS OR TASKBAR, now i have to use the task manager which takes a long time to open programs and i cantopen certain programmes...
TRY TO SEARCH EXPLORER.EXE..IF YOU FOUND ONE DOUBLE CLICK ON IT AND EVERYTHING SHOWS UP...

Thanks to all...

For anyone who needs step by step instructions on how to fix your missing taskbar.

1. Press ctl alt delete and task manager comes up
2. Click onto applications and click > New task
3. Type regedit and press ok
4. Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
CLick SOFTWARE
Click Microsoft
Click Windows NT
Click CurrentVersion
CLick Winlogon
5. Now look for the entry SHELL
6. If it is not there you will need to create it, to do this right click on winlogon and click "new" > Key
7. Type the name SHELL and press enter
8. Now on the right hand side double click on the (default) this brings up a box where you can type the words explorer.exe
8. Press ok and then exit regedit
9. Restart your computer.
10. Now your back in business!

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell

Explorer.exe

Taskbar and Desktop missing (not interactive):
As stated try to run 'explorer' or 'explorer.exe' with the taskmanager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) -> File > New Task (Run...).
Sometimes the explorer.exe is not fully crashed. Then just another file explorer will show up but the taskbar will still be missing.
In that case you may have to kill the process 'explorer.exe' in the 'Processes'-tab of the taskmanager first and then run it again as described above.

The problem described here is just a crashed explorer. This solution will not help when experiencing permanent desktop problems (e.g. just set invisible or serious problems). It is a quick fix to access all running programs (especially programs iconified to the tray), saving all the data and then doing a proper reboot.

Greets

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