Sometimes explorer.exe gets corrupted or infected. When that happens, desktop drops and you can’t see any icons, there is no taskbar – all you get is your desktop background. Sometimes everything seems to be fine, but drops soon after booting up, then keeps re-appearing and disappearing so fast that you can’t run any programs, open documents, etc.
Luckily, there is a way to fix this issue without having to reinstall Windows:
1. Backup the Registry
2. Open Task Manager (press Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
3. Then click File - New Task (Run).
4. Type regedit in the Run box and click OK.
5. Browse to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution.options
6. There might be sub-keys named explorer.exe and iexplorer.exe under this key. Those keysshould not be listed under the Image File Execution.options registry key. Delete them entirely.
7. Close Registry Editor.
8. Reboot your computer.
If there are no other infections, Windows desktop should load fine now.
