THE TALE OF THE LOST ICONS

~ ~ A Mysterious Tale of the Unexpected ..

from WinCustomize Forums

Just a quickie ... hopefully ...  for starters .. FF... XP SP3 Object Desktop all up to date

Being a user of Desktop Sidebar I have all my quick launch icons in a panel on DS  and usually they are a mirror of what normally are my desktop icons    ~  all working perfectly ... no problems at all ..

In the last few days , though I have had to a lot of admin / office work so I usually , for ease , right click , arrange icons by ... then select SHOW DESKTOP ICONS .. .Which usually come in right away and I can click and run other stuff from those as well as DS  ....

Until Now .. 

When I right click and arrange icons by , the second drop down window ..Name, size, type Show in groups , auto arrange, show in grid etc , is greyed out so clicking there does nothing .. so I cannot get my normal icons onto the desktop ....

For a quick fix , to see if it worked , I opened up Icon X and THERE were all the normal icons ... Just as if I had done it normally ...  except that , when I unload IconX normally from the task bar  the icons WOULD re-appear normally without the Icon x effects ..

But they don't ....  I just get a blank desktop with all my Quick launch icons in DS working normally .. but NO onscreen icons !!!

Weird ..... If anybody has any suggestions please feel free to add them here, as I am totally flummoxed to the nth with this one ..

FYI :  Most recent install was the Impulse Update , and the FENCES beta .. which I uninstalled to see if that was causing the problem ...

And finally -

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.2 (build 61 x86)

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6200 

Wblind.dll      2008/07/22 10:10:20
Wbsrv.dll      2008/07/22 10:11:10
Wbconfig.exe      2008/07/22 10:10:32
Wbload.exe      2008/02/14 12:05:14
Wbhelp.dll      2007/08/27 11:54:07
Wbui.dll      2007/12/01 17:43:05
Tray.dll           2007/09/12 17:58:21
Screen.exe      2008/06/13 11:24:09

 

 

 

125,232 views 35 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If you go to your taskbar and right click, select toolbars, then Desktop do they show there in a menu? If you also enable your quick launch toolbar and choose show desktop does that help?

You might also try firing up DesktopX Builder(Configuration Panel) and toggling the show/hide desktop icons there to see if that will make them visible again.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Did you reboot after you uninstalled Fences?
TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Just a guess mike but when you right click on the desktop do you have a check mark by Show Desktop Icons? From what you describe it isn't checked. In other words Windows is hiding you desktop icons.  ;) 
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
lol I think you nailed it Philly! That sounds just like what he's describing. :LOL: 
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks for the quick replies folks ..

OK ..

BigDogBigFeet :
First suggestion .. Nope Right click taskbar toolbars no show ..
& Quick launch /toolbar did not work

Second Suggestion .. Tried Desktop X builder ( I have never used DX builder )

Third suggestion .. Force of habit makes me reboot/restart after an uninstall

Philly .. When I right click ..arrange icons by .. and click on that , the second window is greyed out ..


Chaps .. Its 5 am here UK ...please don't think me rude , I have to be driving in a couple of hours .. I just gotta hit the sack ... Please continue to post your suggestions here, I will get them next time I log in ..

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Philly .. When I right click ..arrange icons by .. and click on that , the second window is greyed out


If that window is totalled greyed out then I would say that you may have something very wrong going on. Minimum you should have the trash bin/can unless you some how deleted it.

I had Fences beta loaded also and uninstalled it, only because there is no close button. It didn't seem to cause any problems.

Just though of something else, in the Windows Task Bar right click in an open space. If there are greyed out items in the menu that comes up click Show Open Windows. If that's not it then you might need to think about any changes you made in the last few days. You will probably wake up in the morning and the answer will come to you. Good luck.  ;) 
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Mike : Have the same problem after uninstalling fences.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Even dropping new icons on the desktop makes it disappear. Forgot : Vista 32bit here.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
UPDATE : Re-Installing fences brings up the icons again.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I had the same thing happen when i uninstalled IconPackager, every icon on my quick-launch and desktop was BLANK. The only way i could get them back was to re-install Icon-packager.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What else do you have installed that hides the Desktop? Tweakui? Does Desktop Sidebar have the ability to hide the Desktop? Object Dock Plus?

I'm also beginning to think you may have to try re-installing Fences. I've uninstalled mine now and don't remember the tab, I think it was called Tools. But, it took images of the desktop including the first one being without Fences. The uninstaller asks if you want this stuff removed with Fences. In any case maybe something there will get your icons back? ;p Maybe JPB will see this.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

on uninstall of the fences beta, if you're having problems with icons showing, try rebooting, and then unchecking, then re-checking "show desktop icons" for the desktop. the option may get stuck so you may need to do it once or twice. any luck?

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok here is what I did - first I removed the icons from my fences to the desktop as they would regularly be. Then for each fence I right clicked the open area where the icons where at and choose to delete the fence. After all the fences where deleted I unistalled fences and restarted the computer. During the install it asked if I wanted to restore my settings for my desktop icons - which I did. It also asked if I wanted to save the fences data for what I had setup - I said no and finished the uninstall and restarted the computer. Upon login all my icons where on the desktop where I left them from uninstalling fences. With fences I did not have iconx running; but re-enabled it after the system was restarted and my desktop was back to normal again. Thus no problems and show desktop is functioning properly here.
You may need to re-install fences and remove the icons from the fences before uninstalling. Try that and see...
GT :HOT: 
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ah, that's why Fences didn't cause a problem for me, no desktop icons.  :d 
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
GT : Thanks for the tips, which I tried and retired thoroughly but I still did not have any success ..

FYI .. I never got as far as even selecting an icon to deag into the fence , so to speak ...

Philly .. Usually when I am using DS there are no icons on screen at all , when I need them , I would bring them up as everyone else does .. but they don't ...wierd for sure ..

Big Dog :

Does Desktop Sidebar have the ability to hide the Desktop? Object Dock Plus?


No to both .. as for Object dock , I am ashamed to admit that I haven't used it at all since I discovered Rocket Dock ...

The fences installer did indeed take a snapshot but on exit unistall no luck there either ...
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Do you have more than one User Account? If so what's up with any other User Account?
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
BigDog : Nope Just me ... No other users
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
How about adding one to see is the Desktop icons (default ones) show up there. If not your OS is likely hosed. If they do show up there then you can try unloading all your modding software and rebooting to see if that clears up your main account.

Do you use restore points if so you can also try rolling back to earlier this month.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hi BigDog & good day to all !

Right , ~ I tried a restore all the way back to 21 August .. No change , unfortuneately ...
also , after a fair bit of fiddling about , I uninstalled all modding software ( windows classic sux!), ... No icons ..then reinstalled .. no icons ...

Shelby .. I got your PM thanks ... Just tried adding a new admin account .. guess what .. No change ..

The more I think about it , I believe it is definitely a registry setting that has somehow turned itself off .. but which one ? !

FYI .. I recently installed FF 3.1 On August 20th , would that be the cause of the problem ?
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
FYI .. I recently installed FF 3.1 On August 20th , would that be the cause of the problem ?


You wouldn't think so, but in the process of elimating all possible causes I would uninstall, see what happens. You can always reinstall.  ;) 
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hi Philly .. I just uninstalled FF and now I am back on IE ...

No change unfortuneately .. :NOTSURE: 

Thank heavens that I have DS running with my quick launch icons in there !!

( BTW DS can have your Desktop Icons and run them just as they would if they are on the Desktop ! )
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You have probably done this but how about checking Microsoft forums for an answer?  :NOTSURE: 
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer

Mike is there anything at any of these registry locations that says anything like this here
Name: NoDesktop
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1
or
Name: HideIcons
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

Also in that program we used there is a registry editor with a very good search feature. Use it and do a search for the names here "NoDesktop" and "HideIcons" to see what comes up for that.
Please do not change anything in regs till I test it here with a backup. Just in case something goes wrong. Would not want to mess things up. OK

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Shelby : Search for the FIRST ITEM :

When I got to to Windows - Desktop It showed this ...

ab(Default value ).... (value not set) size 0

><><><><><><><><><><><><

Search for 2nd ITEM SAME AS ABOVE ..

><><><><><><><>

Search for 3rd ITEM :



<><><><><>

SEARCH FOR 4TH ITEM :



<><><><><><><


As for the next bits .. this is what appeared when I re-clicked On Explorer BUT not Desktop ( THE FIRST SEARCH ..) ~ ~

"DesktopProcess"=dword:00000001
"IconUnderline"=hex(0):03,00,00,00
"Max Cached Icons"="8192"


I hope that all makes sense Shelby