Windows 7 boots up to background only

Rexain

Reputable
Oct 8, 2014
75
0
4,630
Just took my computer apart to clean it and put it back together again, but when I start it up it does the usual until it gets to the normal background with the taskbar and my icons, I have the background image but that is all no taskbar or anything. I cannot use Ctrl alt del as I get displayed a black screen, it starts up normally in safe mode but I can say there are no viruses
 
Solution
Ok, sounds like explorer.exe isn't loading on startup - try CTRL + Shift + Esc to open task manager and hit "File > New Task" and type "explorer.exe" and see if that brings it back to functional.

If so, then there's a registry element you can check - detailed here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-explorerexe-not-starting-when-i-boot-my/0e69419b-d900-4df9-a02a-f05eab15dc9b?auth=1

If you're uncomfortable changing registry values, you can always create bootable media to repair your install (or perform a clean OS install if you'd prefer).

I have no idea why this happened if you've had no viruses & all you were doing was cleaning out your components.

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
Ok, sounds like explorer.exe isn't loading on startup - try CTRL + Shift + Esc to open task manager and hit "File > New Task" and type "explorer.exe" and see if that brings it back to functional.

If so, then there's a registry element you can check - detailed here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-explorerexe-not-starting-when-i-boot-my/0e69419b-d900-4df9-a02a-f05eab15dc9b?auth=1

If you're uncomfortable changing registry values, you can always create bootable media to repair your install (or perform a clean OS install if you'd prefer).

I have no idea why this happened if you've had no viruses & all you were doing was cleaning out your components.
 
Solution