Task Manager will not open

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I have a couple of user who can not open thier "Task Manger".
Here is the problem: when you hit Control + Alt + Delete it pops up the
normal window with the options for changing your password, log off, shutdown,
task manager, and so forth; however, when you click on task manager it will
not open.
I have also tried opening the task manager from the taskbar by right
clicking in the taskbar and selecting the task manager, but nothing happens.
I receive no errors when this occurs. Thank you in advance for your help.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I did try running from the run menu. Actually on further testing I noticed
that the task manager will work before the logon script finishes executing
but once it finishes then task manager will no longer run. Side note I had
the task manager running before the logon script could finish and I left the
task manager window open and running when the logon script finished it closed
the task manager, and would not allow me to open it back up.

I went into the C:\I386 folder and found the taskmgr.exe and clicked on it
and it will not run under the user stored profile; however, if I right click
and say run as and have the user put in the logon and password taskmanager
will open and run.

"AllenM" wrote:

> Did you try from the Run menu (taskmgr)
>
> "Christine" <Christine@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B6EB2764-5F66-4F0D-85AA-3C3A7E17F809@microsoft.com...
> >I have a couple of user who can not open thier "Task Manger".
> > Here is the problem: when you hit Control + Alt + Delete it pops up the
> > normal window with the options for changing your password, log off,
> > shutdown,
> > task manager, and so forth; however, when you click on task manager it
> > will
> > not open.
> > I have also tried opening the task manager from the taskbar by right
> > clicking in the taskbar and selecting the task manager, but nothing
> > happens.
> > I receive no errors when this occurs. Thank you in advance for your help.
>
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Actually it is not it is in the C:\I386 folder

"AllenM" wrote:

> Just curious. Is taskmgr.exe in the c:\windows\system32 directory?
>
> "Christine" <Christine@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:2B1EE220-07FC-42F4-99D8-6F6014C6C204@microsoft.com...
> >I did try running from the run menu. Actually on further testing I noticed
> > that the task manager will work before the logon script finishes executing
> > but once it finishes then task manager will no longer run. Side note I had
> > the task manager running before the logon script could finish and I left
> > the
> > task manager window open and running when the logon script finished it
> > closed
> > the task manager, and would not allow me to open it back up.
> >
> > I went into the C:\I386 folder and found the taskmgr.exe and clicked on it
> > and it will not run under the user stored profile; however, if I right
> > click
> > and say run as and have the user put in the logon and password taskmanager
> > will open and run.
> >
> > "AllenM" wrote:
> >
> >> Did you try from the Run menu (taskmgr)
> >>
> >> "Christine" <Christine@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:B6EB2764-5F66-4F0D-85AA-3C3A7E17F809@microsoft.com...
> >> >I have a couple of user who can not open thier "Task Manger".
> >> > Here is the problem: when you hit Control + Alt + Delete it pops up the
> >> > normal window with the options for changing your password, log off,
> >> > shutdown,
> >> > task manager, and so forth; however, when you click on task manager it
> >> > will
> >> > not open.
> >> > I have also tried opening the task manager from the taskbar by right
> >> > clicking in the taskbar and selecting the task manager, but nothing
> >> > happens.
> >> > I receive no errors when this occurs. Thank you in advance for your
> >> > help.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

I ran into this issue and I was able to resolve it after quite a while. The problem is with a single registry key entry. I am not 100% on the cause of the problem but there is a good chance it is spyware related. Starting a full scan with malwarebytes antispyware is always recommended but you will still remaine with this problem. Remove the following registry key and it will restore normal functionality to the taskmgr.exe

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\

Delete Key File: taskmgr.exe


other notes: Renaming the file c:\winnt\system32\taskmgr.exe to c:\winnt\system32\taskmgr2.exe causes windows to copy a backup of the file as this file is protected. The taskmgr2.exe will launch task manager but taskmgr.exe will still fail to launch. This means there is no problem with the file or the system files in general. The problem is the reg key file is adding some kind of extra file execution attribute or parameter that is causing it to fail. Having the taskmgr out of commission with no error and no trail was most likely the desired effect of whoever coded the spyware that caused this in the first place.

-Ken Marks
darkcode_0101 at hot mail dot com

I'm glad I was able to help. You're very welcome!