The Computer icon not functioning properly in Windows 7

Question

When I left-click on the Computer icon on the desktop or in the Start menu (or right-click on the icon and then select Open), I'm immediately returned to the desktop. Speaking with MSDN tech support they tell me that my operating system is definitely hosed. And that I should do an "in-place upgrade" to re-establish a full operating system. So I tried.

It took about 10 hours but at the end asked me to reboot. I did so. And discovered that the operating system was gone. Fortunately I had made multiple backups on a secondary hard disk close onto external USB disks. I was quite fortunate. Not only was the operating system hosed but the entire partition table was gone as well.

I use Acronis for my backups and it asked where to restore my backups. There was no C: drive. I ended up having to reinstall the operating system Windows 7 Ultimate on a machine that was initially running XP Professional and had been upgraded to Vista Ultimate and then to Windows 7 Ultimate. So I did a fresh install onto the un-allocated space that had been my C: drive. It took a long time but it successfully restored my missing drive.

So the question still exists: what is causing my Computer icon to not function?

Solution

what is causing my "computer" icon to not function?

I) Possible reasons:

• A) file associations for .lnk was broken or changed by an application or by a user manipulation
• B) some registry keys are changed, deleted
• C) Some files including the registry hives was located on a Hard Disk Bad sector

II) Here some fixes for the future if you have the same problem:

a) Rebuilding the Icon Cache Database

1. Close all folder windows currently open.
2. Launch Task Manager
3. In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process.
4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.
5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task
6. Type CMD.EXE, and click OK

7. In the Command Prompt window, type these commands:

   CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local

   DEL IconCache.db /a

   EXIT

8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

b) File Association Fixes for Windows 7

http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/file-asso-fixes-for-windows-7/

Check for LNK hyperlink to download a zip file a .reg to merge (write) in the W7 registry

c) Fix broken desktop shortcuts and common system maintenance tasks

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/system_maintenance_for_windows/en-us

III) Comments:

a)

Speaking with MSDN tech support they tell me that my operating system is definitely hosed. And that I should do an "in-place upgrade" to reestablish a full operating system.

All this for a broken desktop icon? I'm little bit astonished by the advice you received to say the less...

b) Running a CHKDSK is sometimes the best way to recover from strange behaviour in Windows I suggest you to check the S.M.A.R.T. values of the hard disk before running this command. If the s.m.a.r.t. are not in «Good» state, chkdsk may kill a near to fail HD.

Hope this help. Let us know. :)

EDIT: the solution founded to solved this problem: «I created a new admin account, added some desktop icons and changed some minor stuff in folder options (single click, show all in folder, etc.) and the "Computer"is working like a champ! »

Comments

[greenber]

I got the.zip file and extracted the .reg file successfully. However it will not run/merge – claiming that some key is in use. So I try going to command mode from safe mode, and got the same message. Finally I tried booting on the installation disk and went into repair mode and then tried locating the file (I keep it on my desktop) and could not locate it. Any suggestions?

[greenber]

unfortunately the desktop icon "computer" is still not functioning at all. I click on it, I get a momentary rotating orb and then I am return to the desktop. What now?

[climenole]

Do you have the same problem with another user account? Check also in safe mode.

[climenole]

Also: Windows 7 Group Policy - Gpedit.msc: check if there's a parameter there was changed... may be...

[greenber]

I created a new admin account, added some desktop icons and changed some minor stuff in folder options (single click, show all in folder, etc.) and the "Computer"is working like a champ! Now what is the best way of bringing the contents of the "old" user across to the "new" user without bringing my problem child across as well? I would also like to bring the desktop across as well. It feels nice to know that it is a user/profile problem and not an operating system problem! Now just to work the kinks out… :-) Many many thanks – I will be sleeping much better this evening!

[climenole]

Hurray! You fix the problem like a champion! To transfer old user files to the new account may I suggest you to keep it as simple as possible? Just copy Documents, Images, Videos and so on to the equivalent folders in the new account... Thank you for the fedd-bacl. Have a great day! :-)

[greenber]

Okay now explain this to me: after creating a new "admin" user I was able (through the folder icon in the taskbar) to navigate to /users/oldbroken acct. Once there I did a copy of all files except for the ntuser files and then navigated to the new admin account and did a paste. It copied – slowly – about 53 GB. It did not transfer my Live Mail message store. So I went back to my old account so I could get the location of the mail repository and just for of the heck of it I thought I would try the problem that got me here in the first place. And every thing worked as it was supposed to!

[climenole]

Windows Live Mail? Sorry I don't have an answer to this. May I suggest you to ask a new question to this specific problem? :)

[greenber]

as you had said earlier: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" – and the old profile is now working properly! :-) I don't know what fixed it but it does appear to be fixed. Now once I am backed up thoroughly I'm going to get rid of the new admin user and junk all of its files. Hopefully doing so will not cause it to break. Hence the backups! :-) I want to thank you for both your time and expertise and your patience. Thank you!!

[climenole]

Your welcome Sir. Also, I found somethings to backup and restore profiles: (but not yet tested) : DataGrab: sites.google.com/a/obxcompguy.com/foolish-it/vb6-projects/… :)

[Simon Sheehan]

Do not add tags like solved, the poster will mark your answer as solved if he thinks it solved the problem.

[climenole]

Oh yes! You're absolutly right! I take note of this. Thank you for your help Simon. :)