File Structure Not displayed & Individual File Settings Not Saved

I recently inherited a no-name PII 266MHz machine with Win ME. The file
structure (tree) will not display in "Windows Explorer" or "My Computer".
When I click the "Files" icon a gray rectangle appears where the file
structure should be displayed. Another problem is that "View" settings for
individual files are not remembered even though I checked the box to save
them in "File Properites". There was a freeware file manager program on this
machine that I uninstalled but it didn't help, but this program may have
caused my issues. I don't remember the name of this program.

What version is your Internet Explorer?

John

Paul M. wrote:
I recently inherited a no-name PII 266MHz machine with Win ME. The file
structure (tree) will not display in "Windows Explorer" or "My Computer".
When I click the "Files" icon a gray rectangle appears where the file
structure should be displayed. Another problem is that "View" settings for
individual files are not remembered even though I checked the box to save
them in "File Properites". There was a freeware file manager program on this
machine that I uninstalled but it didn't help, but this program may have
caused my issues. I don't remember the name of this program.

Long, long time since I've seen this problem but try the following possible
solutions :-

Either take a look at:
"All Folders" Pane Missing or Windows Explorer Is Blank
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q192315
or if IE hasn't been updated, try
"Description of the Internet Explorer Repair Tool"
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;194177
and run "Repair" on Internet Explorer.

Repairing IE will almost always fix this Explorer.exe problem.

HTH and good luck

Mart


"Paul M." wrote in message
...
I recently inherited a no-name PII 266MHz machine with Win ME. The file
structure (tree) will not display in "Windows Explorer" or "My Computer".
When I click the "Files" icon a gray rectangle appears where the file
structure should be displayed. Another problem is that "View" settings
for
individual files are not remembered even though I checked the box to save
them in "File Properites". There was a freeware file manager program on
this
machine that I uninstalled but it didn't help, but this program may have
caused my issues. I don't remember the name of this program.

I'm using IE version 5.50 SP1. I ran the repair process for IE and I checked
the registry key (there was no Explorer Bar value under "Main"). Still no
file structure or file view settings memory.

"Mart" wrote:

Long, long time since I've seen this problem but try the following possible
solutions :-

Either take a look at:
"All Folders" Pane Missing or Windows Explorer Is Blank
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q192315
or if IE hasn't been updated, try
"Description of the Internet Explorer Repair Tool"
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;194177
and run "Repair" on Internet Explorer.

Repairing IE will almost always fix this Explorer.exe problem.

HTH and good luck

Mart


"Paul M." wrote in message
...
I recently inherited a no-name PII 266MHz machine with Win ME. The file
structure (tree) will not display in "Windows Explorer" or "My Computer".
When I click the "Files" icon a gray rectangle appears where the file
structure should be displayed. Another problem is that "View" settings
for
individual files are not remembered even though I checked the box to save
them in "File Properites". There was a freeware file manager program on
this
machine that I uninstalled but it didn't help, but this program may have
caused my issues. I don't remember the name of this program.

Paul M. wrote:

I'm using IE version 5.50 SP1. I ran the repair process for IE and I
checked the registry key (there was no Explorer Bar value under
"Main"). Still no file structure or file view settings memory.

Explorer's Folder View:

This particular problem is often the result of a damaged IE (usually IE6)
install or update, usually caused by doing so with either Norton or McAfee
AV running at the time. Yes I do realise you are talking about Windows
Explorer rather than Internet Explorer but the two are linked.

The first thing to try is to re-register the file shdocvw.dll. Do this by
typing the following command in the Run box (Start | Run)
REGSVR32 /i SHDOCVW.DLL
and then click OK
--
Mike Maltby

Therefore, I would suggest that you continue to the first step of the
'Resolution' i.e. To 'Upgrade to the most current version of MS Internet
Explorer'. Be aware that Internet Explorer is an integral part of Windows
Explorer.

However, I am inclined to agree with your assertion that :-

There was a freeware file manager program on this
machine that I uninstalled but it didn't help, but this
program may have caused my issues.

and would hope that updating/upgrading IE 5.5 to IE 6 may resolve the issue.

As IE hasn't already been updated/upgraded, I wonder just how many of the
other 58+ Critical Updates have been applied to your inheritance. An early
visit to the WU site might prove beneficial.

Good luck

Mart


"Paul M." wrote in message
...
I'm using IE version 5.50 SP1. I ran the repair process for IE and I
checked
the registry key (there was no Explorer Bar value under "Main"). Still no
file structure or file view settings memory.

"Mart" wrote:

Long, long time since I've seen this problem but try the following
possible
solutions :-

Either take a look at:
"All Folders" Pane Missing or Windows Explorer Is Blank
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q192315
or if IE hasn't been updated, try
"Description of the Internet Explorer Repair Tool"
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;194177
and run "Repair" on Internet Explorer.

Repairing IE will almost always fix this Explorer.exe problem.

HTH and good luck

Mart


"Paul M." wrote in message
...
I recently inherited a no-name PII 266MHz machine with Win ME. The file
structure (tree) will not display in "Windows Explorer" or "My
Computer".
When I click the "Files" icon a gray rectangle appears where the file
structure should be displayed. Another problem is that "View" settings
for
individual files are not remembered even though I checked the box to
save
them in "File Properites". There was a freeware file manager program
on
this
machine that I uninstalled but it didn't help, but this program may
have
caused my issues. I don't remember the name of this program.

Good point Mike!

Mart



"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Paul M. wrote:

I'm using IE version 5.50 SP1. I ran the repair process for IE and I
checked the registry key (there was no Explorer Bar value under
"Main"). Still no file structure or file view settings memory.

Explorer's Folder View:

This particular problem is often the result of a damaged IE (usually IE6)
install or update, usually caused by doing so with either Norton or McAfee
AV running at the time. Yes I do realise you are talking about Windows
Explorer rather than Internet Explorer but the two are linked.

The first thing to try is to re-register the file shdocvw.dll. Do this by
typing the following command in the Run box (Start | Run)
REGSVR32 /i SHDOCVW.DLL
and then click OK
--
Mike Maltby

Mike M.,
Your suggestion of re-registering the shdocvw.dll file fixed my problem. My
file structure now displays and I believe the file view memory is also
working. I have no idea what this file does and I amazed that you guys know
this much detail about an operating system.

On the topic of updating, less than a week ago I ran windows update and
installed all of the updates that appeared. Is IE 6 applicable to ME? If so
I wonder why that update wasn't offered to me. I'll have to try again.

Thanks much for your help.

"Mike M" wrote:

Paul M. wrote:

I'm using IE version 5.50 SP1. I ran the repair process for IE and I
checked the registry key (there was no Explorer Bar value under
"Main"). Still no file structure or file view settings memory.

Explorer's Folder View:

This particular problem is often the result of a damaged IE (usually IE6)
install or update, usually caused by doing so with either Norton or McAfee
AV running at the time. Yes I do realise you are talking about Windows
Explorer rather than Internet Explorer but the two are linked.

The first thing to try is to re-register the file shdocvw.dll. Do this by
typing the following command in the Run box (Start | Run)
REGSVR32 /i SHDOCVW.DLL
and then click OK
--
Mike Maltby

Yes, IE6 is recommended for use in ME - and should be on your update list.
If not, it would indicate that for some reason, WU thinks it's already
installed.
Have you ever reinstalled ME over itself? did you have IE6 installed at the
time?
Such symptoms are frequently the result of mistakenly attempting to
reinstall ME over itself without first reverting back to IE5.5 - the
resulting 'Version Soup' is almost impossible to repair, and the only sure
way known is to completely remove IE and then reinstall whichever version
you require.

Instructions for this process are here
http://www.crashfixpc.com/ReInIE.htm

Please post back if you need more details - preferably before attempting the
process!!g


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"Paul M." wrote in message
...
Mike M.,
Your suggestion of re-registering the shdocvw.dll file fixed my problem.
My
file structure now displays and I believe the file view memory is also
working. I have no idea what this file does and I amazed that you guys
know
this much detail about an operating system.

On the topic of updating, less than a week ago I ran windows update and
installed all of the updates that appeared. Is IE 6 applicable to ME? If
so
I wonder why that update wasn't offered to me. I'll have to try again.

Thanks much for your help.

"Mike M" wrote:

Paul M. wrote:

I'm using IE version 5.50 SP1. I ran the repair process for IE and I
checked the registry key (there was no Explorer Bar value under
"Main"). Still no file structure or file view settings memory.

Explorer's Folder View:

This particular problem is often the result of a damaged IE (usually IE6)
install or update, usually caused by doing so with either Norton or
McAfee
AV running at the time. Yes I do realise you are talking about Windows
Explorer rather than Internet Explorer but the two are linked.

The first thing to try is to re-register the file shdocvw.dll. Do this
by
typing the following command in the Run box (Start | Run)
REGSVR32 /i SHDOCVW.DLL
and then click OK
--
Mike Maltby

Paul,

I'm pleased to read that re-registering shdocvw.dll fixed the problem.
However this suggests that repairing IE had a problem as re-registering
this dll is one of the components of an IE repair.

As Noel has already mentioned I would strongly recommend you to install
IE6 SP1 which should be being offered to you when you visit the Windows
Updates site. That it isn't suggests that it might have been installed at
some time and then either removed or perhaps Win Me reinstalled over
itself. You might want to consider downloading and running Belarc's
Adviser
(http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) as this will help you to
identify any updates that are broken and might need to reinstalling.
Belarc uses a different mechanism to check than the Windows Update site.
--
Mike Maltby
MS-MVP Windows [2001-2006]




Paul M. wrote:

Mike M.,
Your suggestion of re-registering the shdocvw.dll file fixed my
problem. My file structure now displays and I believe the file view
memory is also working. I have no idea what this file does and I
amazed that you guys know this much detail about an operating system.

On the topic of updating, less than a week ago I ran windows update
and installed all of the updates that appeared. Is IE 6 applicable
to ME? If so I wonder why that update wasn't offered to me. I'll
have to try again.

Thanks much for your help.