Run, Search and Help&Support Don't Work

[Laguna's Girl]

Ok, I had to re-install Windows XP to get WMP to work again. After getting all the updates, drivers and security set up, I discovered that when I click on Run, Search or Help & Support it says this:

Windows cannot create a shortcut here.
Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?

Now, when I click no, nothing happens and run etc won't start. When I click yes, it puts a shortcut on the desktop and when I click on that shortcut it doesn't work either. It just won't run.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this as I am stumped?

[Laguna]

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?
I am completely stumped.She has since installed quite a few more programs and she wants to take them off start up and can't as she can't use run.
And the programs in question don't have an option to take them off start up.
She can search and use help&support by using the search tab and the help tab that's in every window but she can't use run at all.
And she can't locate the actual .exe's of any of the three to replace them in the start menu.

[Sylvander]

"Any ideas as to what could be causing this as I am stumped?"
My guess...
The registry isn't doing what it should and some program is following incorrect instructions and trying to do the wrong thing.
Attempting to create a shortcut when it should NOT be doing that.
SUGGESTION
1. Close all unnecessary programs running in the background.
2. Run "Regmon.exe" [to monitor registry accesses].
3. Make sure there are no accesses being recorded/displayed.
4. Click on the "Start" button [when I did it this caused accesses 1 - 23].
5. Click on "Run...". [When I did it, it caused acesses 24 - 112].

a. In my case, everything is working as it should.
b. Accesses were either "Success" or "Not Found".
c. I've attached a txt file of the record of my accesses.
d. I notice in my case the following programs [in Win2000Pro] making the accesses:
1 - 3 = Explorer.exe
4 - 23 = CSRSS.exe
24 - 109 = Explorer.exe
110 - 112 = Spoolsv.exe

If you're in luck you might spot something amiss [that you can fix] in your own registry accesses.

[Laguna's Girl]

Where can I find regmon? Do I have to download it or should it be in Windows? Because if it is meant to come with Windows I can't find it.

[Sylvander]

I seems that RegMon seen HERE (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/Regmon.mspx) has been replaced by Process Monitor (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/processmonitor.mspx) for Windows versions 2000 SP4, XP SP2, Server 2003 SP1, Vista.

Looks like Process Monitor does an even better job; I think I'll install it and try it. :)

[Sylvander]

I installed Process Monitor, but when I tried to run it got a blue screen with errors.
I guess my Win2000Pro with SP1, SP4, SP5, KB904706, isn't up-to-date enough for it.

Your Windows XP should work ok with it. :)

[Laguna's Girl]

Well I downloaded RegMon since that's the one that you are familiar with, and ran it. Alot of things were constantly popping up, and I didn't get a chance to see what any of them were because it was constantly moving, but I tried clicking on "Run" anyway, and for some strange reason it worked! So I closed Regmon and tried the other two and they all work now. I don't know when they started working, or how, but they are so I'm not complaining!:)

Thanks anyway

[Sylvander]

"3. Make sure there are no accesses being recorded/displayed."
1. The problem with Regmon.exe [that you encountered as soon as you tried to use it] is that it records ALL registry accesses being made to the registry by ANYTHING.
So as soon as Regmon opens you are liable to see ENORMOUS numbers of accesses scrolling down the screen.
These are going to confuse the issue; you only want to see the accesses that are being made as a result of the actions you are interested in studying.
2. So you must first put a stop to ALL other accesses.
That means you must shut down all programs running in the background that are making accesses.
3. To do that I right-clicked [one at a time] on all the icons in the System tray and clicked "Exit".
I managed to close almost all of them down using that method.
4. Then I used "Process Explorer" to close down all likely looking processes [those not part of the Windows OS, but running under (but not including) Explorer.exe]. See the image of these below.
There were a couple of processes running under Windows that I closed [AVG ant-virus, scanner program].
5. After that I found that no accesses were being recorded/displayed.
6. The access recording only restarted when I clicked on the "Start" button, and some more when I clicked on "Run". I wrote down the range of access numbers that resulted from "Start" [1 - 23] and "Run" [24 - 112].
7. Then I unticked "File->Capture Events" and the recording ceased, and I was able to study the record displayed.
8. Then I used "File->Save As" to save the record to a ".log" file with a name specified by me. The ".log" extension can be changed to a ".txt" extension and uploaded to here if it's 19.5 kB or less.

[Sylvander]

Here are the Windows processes displayed by Process Explorer.

[Sylvander]

"I tried clicking on "Run" anyway, and for some strange reason it worked! So I closed Regmon and tried the other two and they all work now. I don't know when they started working, or how, but they are so I'm not complaining!"
Woa! It didn't register at first exactly what you were saying.
So somehow the problems are gone? :)
I wonder whether Regmon.exe played any part in that?
Quite likely it did, because it may be that it automatically fixes any registry errors it finds, so it can do its job correctly. :D :cool:

[Laguna's Girl]

I wonder whether Regmon.exe played any part in that?
Quite likely it did, because it may be that it automatically fixes any registry errors it finds, so it can do its job correctly.

That's quite possible alright, I was wondering myself if that was why it started working again!

Thanks