Desktop Problem

[simonrex22]

In windows XP i have about 4 users that can log in. I went into mine today and it seems as though the desktop was reset to its original form. All the icons are gone and all the settings are back to default. My dad said all the files are in their folder, but he couldnt get them back on the desktop. Please help me. I also need to know how to put my bookmarks back up.

[WillyPete]

If you have admin rights, then right-click on 'my computer', select Properties, then Advanced.

Click on the settings button for User profiles.
See if there isn't 2 profiles with your user name in the window.
If you have one with <domain or computername>\<yourname>.temp then you are using a temp account.

If it's the case, then you can log out, log in as another admin account and delete the temp acount profile.

Try logging back in after that as yourself.

Failing that, you can look in C:\Documents and Settings\<youraccountname> for the account settings.
If you still can't log into your old account after doing that, then use the File and Settings Migration wizard whilst in another admin account to migrate your settings to a newly created account.

Sorry if it sounds confusing, but there's so many things that could have caused this.

It sounds suspiciously like someone who has admin rights decided to play with the system restore tool and rolled the pc back to a configuration that was saved shortly after OS installation, hence you can see all the folders but not do anything with them.

[vinaur]

If there are no icons on the desktop, then someone could have unchecked "show icons" option. You can check it again by right-clicking on the desktop going to "Arrange icons by" and selecting the option. I ran into this once. Another familly member, who wasn't so computer literate was sort of randomly clicking stuff and when I got on the computer there was nothing on the desktop. I seriously freaked out.