Remote desktop - displaying my laptop taskbar and start menu instead

I am connecting to a remote desktop that I have been connecting to for months now but suddenly today the taskbar and start menu from the remote computer disappeared and I can only see my laptop's menu and taskbar. This means I can't get into the Computer or folders of the remote desktop as there is not a shortcut on the desktop. It is also generally annoying.

Any idea as to why this had suddenly happened?

This sounds very similar to an issue I once had with a citrix session to my PC at work. The explorer process had failed and I was unable to use my PC.

To add to the fun, I was unable to send a CTRL-ALT-DLT signal to access Task Manager and restart the process.

In the end, I created a shortcut on the desktop to access Task Manager. If you are using XP you will need to point the shortcut to the following C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe

If you are using Windows 7 you can simply type taskmgr.

Once I was able to access Task Manager I went File - New Process - explorer.exe

This resolved the issue and my start menu and taskbar returned.

I hope that you find this helpful, feel free to message me if you have any questions.

Change the screen resolution on the Remote desktop session. It is probably set incorrectly hiding some of the RD screen.

Is there scroll bars at the side and bottom of the RD Window? If so the screen res is set to larger.

edwar said:

Change the screen resolution on the Remote desktop session. It is probably set incorrectly hiding some of the RD screen.

Is there scroll bars at the side and bottom of the RD Window? If so the screen res is set to larger.

yes - scroll bars are visible. you don't want scroll bars. scroll bars indicate you in a 'windowed' mode where the task bar and start orb of the remote computer are no longer accesible. you don't want that. instead you need to run the session full screen.

like i said - ctl+alt+break fixes it by putting the remote session back in full screen mode

Thanks for these replies, I had not figured out what was happening so had just resigned myself to it being annoying! Ctrl+Alt+Break fixed it, makes my life so much easier thanks very much

alix said:

Thanks for these replies, I had not figured out what was happening so had just resigned myself to it being annoying! Ctrl+Alt+Break fixed it, makes my life so much easier thanks very much

you're welcome alix!

it frustrated the h3ll out of me to.

cheers from the other side of the pond!

Go to Task Manager-Proccesses- End Explorer.exe process
now start the process by going to File-New Task-Explorer.exe