Windows: Desktop Fails to Load at Startup
Contributed by ju_c 
November 17, 2008 
Tagged: Windows
This tech-recipe provides solutions for four of the most probable causes for the Desktop icons and Taskbar not appearing after startup.
This problem may be fixed by using one of these 4 repairs:
(1) RESTORE A MISSING “USERINIT” REGISTRY VALUE
1. Copy below and paste into Notepad:
———-copy inside only———-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
“Userinit”=”C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\userinit.exe,”
———-copy inside only———-
2. If your Windows is not on drive C: replace C: with your Windows drive letter and Save-As Userinit.reg (or any name + .reg).
3. Double-click or right-click and merge into the registry.
4. Restart.
(2) DELETE AN INCORRECT “EXPLORER.EXE” ENTRY IN THE REGISTRY
1. Open the Run box and enter: regedit
2. Go to this key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options]
3. If you see “explorer.exe” as a subkey below, delete it.
4. Restart.
(3) RESTORE A MISSING “EXPLORER.EXE” ENTRY IN THE REGISTRY
1. Copy below and paste into Notepad:
———-copy inside only———-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
“Shell”=”explorer.exe”
———-copy inside only———-
2. Save-As WinLogon.reg (or any name + .reg).
3. Double-click or right-click and merge into the registry.
4. Restart.
(4) EXLORER.EXE IS MISSING
If explorer.exe is not in C:\WINDOWS\ then insert your Windows CD and, using the ‘Task Manager’ (File -> New Task), run the ‘System File Checker’ utility with this command:
sfc /scannow
If the ‘System File Checker’ didn’t replace it, boot to the Recovery Console with the Windows CD and copy explorer.exe manually:
1. Insert the Windows CD and restart.
2. When setup begins, choose the “Repair or Recover” option by pressing “R”.
3. Once at the command prompt, enter:
expand D:\i386 /F:EXPLORER.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /y
(D: is the CD drive letter, C: is the Windows partition, change if neccessary)
4. To exit the Recovery Console, type: exit.
If the desktop still does not load then, from within the Task Manager, run a new task to open the Registry Editor:
regedit.exe
and check the registry data from above, adding as neccessary, if it is missing or incorrect.