XP can't move icons, taskbar locked, read-only...?

[greensweater]

The story goes, one day, all these weird things started happening with my buddy's XP Home system (a decent Dell, 512MB-120GB-2.2GHz) I couldn't tell what it was, just listening over the phone, so I went over there. The problems are crazy!

- Desktop icons can't be dragged. (desktop not locked or any typical settings)
- Taskbar is stuck on "My Documents" toolbar mode.
- New windows and applications won't go to the taskbar like good little doggies... rather, they minimize to the bottom of the desktop, just above the taskbar. Tasks don't appear in the taskbar at all.
- EVERYTHING on the system was set to read-only.
- Printer doesn't show up.
- Explorer frequently crashes, then takes 1-2 minutes to reload.
- Same symptoms in Safe Mode, with Administrator user.
- No users in user manager (I'm not sure if this is a XP Home vs. XP Pro issue)
- Some settings can be changed, but nothing 'sticks' on reload.

This system is set to Auto-Update Windows... could it be problems with a security patch or something? (System Restore failed in safe mode as well) There was a registry entry that was missing (see

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=692319&page=1)

but this didn't help. Mouse works fine. That's an old thread too... any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bcastner]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;315341

 

[greensweater]

Rescue install failed with BSOD device errors. Broke Windows so no Safe Mode boot.

Solution:
- Boot from Knoppix CD (Reads NTFS)
- Back up files to external HD
- Reinstall Windows
- Replace backups

The standard solution