start menu programs not working in xp pro

[satyanand]

hi
I own a T42 3WJ preinstalled with japanese xp pro.
After i did a windows update from the microsoft site my start menu programs doesnt seem to work.
Clicking on it doesnt display anything.it simply stays like that .All the programs are safe in c:\programs folder and the shortcuts on the desktop for the programs are working fine. I tried using system restore but it doesnt seem to work.Ive installed some new programs and used the default setting of creating a desktop short cut for the newly installed programs .The shortcuts work fine but clicking on start menu programs doesnt display anything.

Any tool i try to run keeps asking for the windows xp cd what should i do
can anybody tell me what the problem might be and how to solve it.I am new to OS setup and registry stuff so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the patience and thanks in advance.

[satyanand]

i Think ive found out the solution .after much frustration and waiting on this forum I have posted the same question in the forums of
http://theeldergeek.com

and here is the reply i got and its working fine.

hope this will be helpful to somebody
courtesy of the http://theeldergeek.com


Symptoms:

When you click Programs menu in the Start Menu, it may show Empty

Nothing happens when you click All Programs in Start Menu

Not all the shortcuts are displayed

This happens if the Shell Folder data for Start Menu, Common Start Menu or Common Programs (mainly) are set incorrectly.

NOTE: Backup the Registry before modifying it. See this article for more information on backing up the registry keys.

Open Registry Editor by typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog.

Navigate to these locations and in the right pane, set the correct values mentioned herewith:


HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Set Start Menu value to %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu

-and-

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Set Common Start Menu to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu
Set Common Programs to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs


If Common Programs value is not available in the right-pane, create a new REG_EXPAND_SZ value named Common Programs and assign the data as said above.




Type the command in Start, Run box: REGSVR32 /n /i:U SHELL32

[This updates the Shell Folder paths in accordance with the User Shell Folder's REG_EXPAND_SZ values]

Restart Windows for the changes to take effect!

This should fix you up. TTFN.