Show Desktop does not work

  • Thread starter Thread starter Todd Cary
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Todd Cary

By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my
Win 2K computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The
Microsoft site mentions this problem, however I have followed
their instructions along with other suggestions and there appears
to be something else missing. I even reinstalled IE.

One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32.
I used that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it
does nothing (it's contents agree with other documentation I have
found).

What other process could be missing?

Many thanks....

Todd
 
"Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
news:473b3e02$0$14151$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my Win 2K
> computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The Microsoft site
> mentions this problem, however I have followed their instructions along
> with other suggestions and there appears to be something else missing. I
> even reinstalled IE.
>
> One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32. I used
> that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it does nothing (it's
> contents agree with other documentation I have found).
>
> What other process could be missing?
>
> Many thanks....
>
> Todd

Have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355
 
Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> "Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
> news:473b3e02$0$14151$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>> By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my Win 2K
>> computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The Microsoft site
>> mentions this problem, however I have followed their instructions along
>> with other suggestions and there appears to be something else missing. I
>> even reinstalled IE.
>>
>> One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32. I used
>> that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it does nothing (it's
>> contents agree with other documentation I have found).
>>
>> What other process could be missing?
>>
>> Many thanks....
>>
>> Todd
>
> Have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355
>
>

Yes, that is what I have tried along with the REGSVR32 approach.
That was my first attempt trying both Method 1 & 2.

Todd
 
Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> "Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
> news:473b3e02$0$14151$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>> By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my Win 2K
>> computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The Microsoft site
>> mentions this problem, however I have followed their instructions along
>> with other suggestions and there appears to be something else missing. I
>> even reinstalled IE.
>>
>> One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32. I used
>> that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it does nothing (it's
>> contents agree with other documentation I have found).
>>
>> What other process could be missing?
>>
>> Many thanks....
>>
>> Todd
>
> Have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355
>
>

I forgot to ask what the lines in the scf are actually doing?

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Is there some way those lines can be executed from the command
line to debug why it is not working?

And thank you for your very prompt response. Greatly appreciated.

Todd
 
Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
> "Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
> news:473b3e02$0$14151$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>> By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my Win 2K
>> computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The Microsoft site
>> mentions this problem, however I have followed their instructions along
>> with other suggestions and there appears to be something else missing. I
>> even reinstalled IE.
>>
>> One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32. I used
>> that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it does nothing (it's
>> contents agree with other documentation I have found).
>>
>> What other process could be missing?
>>
>> Many thanks....
>>
>> Todd
>
> Have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355
>
>

Fixed it! In the registry, no value was in there. It needed
SHCmdFile!

Todd
 
"Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
news:473B7F65.5030206@aristesoftware.com...
> Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
>> "Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
>> news:473b3e02$0$14151$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>>> By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my Win 2K
>>> computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The Microsoft site
>>> mentions this problem, however I have followed their instructions along
>>> with other suggestions and there appears to be something else missing.
>>> I even reinstalled IE.
>>>
>>> One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32. I used
>>> that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it does nothing (it's
>>> contents agree with other documentation I have found).
>>>
>>> What other process could be missing?
>>>
>>> Many thanks....
>>>
>>> Todd
>>
>> Have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355
>
> Fixed it! In the registry, no value was in there. It needed SHCmdFile!
>
> Todd

Thanks for the feedback. I think there is more here than meets the
eye. How come the registry entry for .scf files was deleted? And
how did you know that it needed to be restored?
 
Todd Cary wrote:
> Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
>> "Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
>> news:473b3e02$0$14151$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>>> By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my Win
>>> 2K computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The Microsoft
>>> site mentions this problem, however I have followed their
>>> instructions along with other suggestions and there appears to be
>>> something else missing. I even reinstalled IE.
>>>
>>> One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32. I
>>> used that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it does
>>> nothing (it's contents agree with other documentation I have found).
>>>
>>> What other process could be missing?
>>>
>>> Many thanks....
>>>
>>> Todd
>>
>> Have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355
>>
>
> Fixed it! In the registry, no value was in there. It needed SHCmdFile!
>
> Todd

When a friend's child came to my home, I tried installing Sim
Town only to find it would not work on my Win 2K computer. Then
I read the box (after the fact -) ) and found it was a really
old version (Win3.1, Win95) and the desktop icon no longer worked
- it had references to Sim Town in it (as the Microsoft doc said
- which I came across much later). I uninstalled Sim Town and
removed the Desktop icon. Then I found the docs I reference
above and every time I created the Desktop icon, it came up with
Sim Town references on it - even though I put in the suggested
values Microsoft gave. Frustrated, I searched the Registry for
SimTown and there were several. These I deleted which probably
included the ".scf" one.

Finally yesterday I figured that clicking on a "shortcut" expects
the registry to hold a value for the extension (on my XP and
Vista computers, the .scf is not listed in the Options). I
checked the XP Registry for the value for a ".scf" and found
SHCmdFile. Voila!

Todd
 
"Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
news:473c858e$0$14101$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Todd Cary wrote:
>> Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
>>> "Todd Cary" <todd@aristesoftware.com> wrote in message
>>> news:473b3e02$0$14151$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>>>> By mistake I tried to install an older version of Sim Town on my Win 2K
>>>> computer and the "Show Desktop" no longer works. The Microsoft site
>>>> mentions this problem, however I have followed their instructions along
>>>> with other suggestions and there appears to be something else missing.
>>>> I even reinstalled IE.
>>>>
>>>> One suggestion was to use this command: REGSRV32 /n /i:U shell32. I
>>>> used that and it did produce the icon, but clicking on it does nothing
>>>> (it's contents agree with other documentation I have found).
>>>>
>>>> What other process could be missing?
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks....
>>>>
>>>> Todd
>>>
>>> Have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355
>>>
>>
>> Fixed it! In the registry, no value was in there. It needed SHCmdFile!
>>
>> Todd
>
> When a friend's child came to my home, I tried installing Sim Town only to
> find it would not work on my Win 2K computer. Then I read the box (after
> the fact -) ) and found it was a really old version (Win3.1, Win95) and
> the desktop icon no longer worked - it had references to Sim Town in it
> (as the Microsoft doc said - which I came across much later). I
> uninstalled Sim Town and removed the Desktop icon. Then I found the docs
> I reference above and every time I created the Desktop icon, it came up
> with Sim Town references on it - even though I put in the suggested values
> Microsoft gave. Frustrated, I searched the Registry for SimTown and there
> were several. These I deleted which probably included the ".scf" one.
>
> Finally yesterday I figured that clicking on a "shortcut" expects the
> registry to hold a value for the extension (on my XP and Vista computers,
> the .scf is not listed in the Options). I checked the XP Registry for the
> value for a ".scf" and found SHCmdFile. Voila!
>
> Todd

I see - thanks for the feedback.
 
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