Start Menu Not displaying in Windows XP?

Dear All, For some reason my start menu now doesn't load the programs section. If I switch to classic start menu, then go to programs it says empty, but if i right-click and explore I can find everything under the start menu! I need to use the start menu for several reasons.

Windows Software 5498 This topic was started by ,


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672 Posts
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Joined 2001-07-01
Dear All,
 
For some reason my start menu now doesn't load the "programs" section. If I switch to classic start menu, then go to programs it says "empty", but if i right-click and explore I can find everything under the start menu! I need to use the start menu for several reasons.
 
Also note, This issue exists for all users, not just the administrator. I have just logged in under a diffeent user name and the problem still exists!
 
Can anyone help me?

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Responses to this topic


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1457 Posts
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Harry, it has been a distinct privilege to see a true master at work, so I won't count the time in these threads wasted. But, I think these two threads need to come to a close. Love your humor.

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OP
Quote:
Let me make sure what you did. I did not ask yout to Move them back to the Start Menu\Program directory. What I asked you to do was

Right click on the Start Button. Click on Open. You should see the Programs folder. Double click on it. It should be empty. Now, drag the folders in the Windows Explorer window (under Holder folder but not Holder folder itself) into the Programs folder that is empty. You can drag them one at a time or all at once.

There is a difference in the two procedures. If you simply moved them back through Windows Explorer, this does not update the Registry. You would have to reboot to have it do that. If you did the procedure the way it was outlined it should update the registry immediately.

These would be two keys you can look at: Computer\HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVe
rsion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu\Programs\

Computer\HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVe
rsion\Explorer\Shell Folders

There are other keys under HKLM and those that are appropriate to %UserProfile%

Have you been using some Registry cleaner that is deleting keys?


My bad, simple misuderstanding.
As for what I did, I tried to look under the program directory (by right click->open) and it was NOT empty. It had all the files in there to begin with. I had to MOVE them to Holder to make it empty thrn move/copy them back. That did not help. Also I tried using different user names by switching or logging off/logginf on to no avail.

I'm also not using any registry cleaning software of any kind, unless Windows XP messes with its own registry.

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shassouneh - from what you said, you're still not doing it the way they told you to do it. You managed to copy the links, etc to the "holder" folder, which is ok, but then you're copying them back to the same place - this is WRONG!!!
 
1. Open Explorer & browse to the "holder" folder you copied the links to.
2. Highlight all the links/program group folders/etc that need to go on the Start Menu
3. Move mouse cursor over the highlighted area
4. Press right mouse button & keep it pressed
5. Move mouse cursor to Start button & wait for Start Menu to pop up
6. Move cursor to All Programs & wait - it should [from what you've been saying] now display a little tab that says "empty"
7. Move mouse cursor on to this "empty" tab & you should see a black line @ the top of the tab [if you don't, go back to step 2 & try again until you do]
8. Let go of right mouse button
9. a little pop-up menu will appear with Copy Here, Move Here, Create Shortcut Here, & Cancel - click Copy Here
 
If you follow those instructions exactly then it should hopefully solve your Start Menu problem. If it doesn't it may need a reboot so try that, if that doesn't fix it, reinstall Windows. [The experience will do you good ]

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Dear Alien And All. Something Idiotic have done has caused me tolose everything. Please check out THIS thread for details

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Hi guys,
 
A friend of mine is having the same problem that shassouneh was having, regarding nothing showing in the all programs list in the start menu. But the only thing different is that if you right-click on the start menu -> Open, it still has all the shortcut files in there. And if you change the start menu to classic, it just shows empty.
 
Does anyone know a fix for this? Thanks-you very much.
 
BTW, my friend is using Windows XP SP2.