Vista - Taskbar, Start Menu, Desktop Icons, & R-Click all Missing

Hi,

Twice now, I've tried to install a game I've used on at least five different
computers (with XP) onto my new Dell XPS 410 with Vista Home Premium only to
reach a point where there is an error in the install and suddenly my Taskbar,
Start Menu, Desktop Icons are all Missing and I cannot right-click anywhere
on the desktop. This is a brand new machine on which I'd done updates, and
then the install. The first time this happened, tried system restore, then
finally re-installed Vista entirely. After reinstalling, I uninstalled a few
things (like AOL & Earthlink related apps), updated, then tried the game
install again with the exact same results.

This is so frustrating that I'm considering just installing XP on this brand
new machine.

And the name of the game is?

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*


"Lynne" <Lynne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:10365D66-E858-4FE1-A7A6-C56A2BABFF13@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Twice now, I've tried to install a game I've used on at least five
> different
> computers (with XP) onto my new Dell XPS 410 with Vista Home Premium only
> to
> reach a point where there is an error in the install and suddenly my
> Taskbar,
> Start Menu, Desktop Icons are all Missing and I cannot right-click
> anywhere
> on the desktop. This is a brand new machine on which I'd done updates,
> and
> then the install. The first time this happened, tried system restore,
> then
> finally re-installed Vista entirely. After reinstalling, I uninstalled a
> few
> things (like AOL & Earthlink related apps), updated, then tried the game
> install again with the exact same results.
>
> This is so frustrating that I'm considering just installing XP on this
> brand
> new machine.

I'm sorry I didn't mention that. It's Anarchy Online.

"Paul Smith" wrote:

> And the name of the game is?
>
> --
> Paul Smith,
> Yeovil, UK.
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
> http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>
> *Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*
>
>
> "Lynne" <Lynne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:10365D66-E858-4FE1-A7A6-C56A2BABFF13@microsoft.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Twice now, I've tried to install a game I've used on at least five
> > different
> > computers (with XP) onto my new Dell XPS 410 with Vista Home Premium only
> > to
> > reach a point where there is an error in the install and suddenly my
> > Taskbar,
> > Start Menu, Desktop Icons are all Missing and I cannot right-click
> > anywhere
> > on the desktop. This is a brand new machine on which I'd done updates,
> > and
> > then the install. The first time this happened, tried system restore,
> > then
> > finally re-installed Vista entirely. After reinstalling, I uninstalled a
> > few
> > things (like AOL & Earthlink related apps), updated, then tried the game
> > install again with the exact same results.
> >
> > This is so frustrating that I'm considering just installing XP on this
> > brand
> > new machine.
>

"Lynne" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Twice now, I've tried to install a game I've used on at least five different
> computers (with XP) onto my new Dell XPS 410 with Vista Home Premium only to
> reach a point where there is an error in the install and suddenly my Taskbar,
> Start Menu, Desktop Icons are all Missing and I cannot right-click anywhere
> on the desktop. This is a brand new machine on which I'd done updates, and
> then the install. The first time this happened, tried system restore, then
> finally re-installed Vista entirely. After reinstalling, I uninstalled a few
> things (like AOL & Earthlink related apps), updated, then tried the game
> install again with the exact same results.
>
> This is so frustrating that I'm considering just installing XP on this brand
> new machine.

Ugh. Sorry about that last post.

Anyway, the only solutions/suggestions I found with AO is to try to install
it in another directory with Administrative Privilages. This has seemed to
work for people up to patch 17.2, where it seems to work/not work depending
on the user. Give that a shot and see what develops.

"Lynne" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Twice now, I've tried to install a game I've used on at least five different
> computers (with XP) onto my new Dell XPS 410 with Vista Home Premium only to
> reach a point where there is an error in the install and suddenly my Taskbar,
> Start Menu, Desktop Icons are all Missing and I cannot right-click anywhere
> on the desktop. This is a brand new machine on which I'd done updates, and
> then the install. The first time this happened, tried system restore, then
> finally re-installed Vista entirely. After reinstalling, I uninstalled a few
> things (like AOL & Earthlink related apps), updated, then tried the game
> install again with the exact same results.
>
> This is so frustrating that I'm considering just installing XP on this brand
> new machine.