Windows 7 taskbar changed to basic view and won't change back

[Maya164]

Hi,

I've seen a lot of posts about this issue but unfortunately none of the solutions offered worked for me.
I have a Sony VAIO VPC laptop, Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit.
Everything was fine until yesterday when I opened my computer and the taskbar now looks like this:


when it should look like this:


I ran the Aero troubleshooter and the report says my Desktop Window Manager is disabled. I tried turning it on in the Services window but nothing happened. It also said that the current theme doesn't support Aero, and nothing happened when I changed the theme back to the default Aero theme.

I also updated my Intel GMA 3150 driver. again, nothing's changed.

This is extremely frustrating, any help would be appreciated.

 

[Tews]

Try doing a system restore to a point before the problem started..

 

[Maya164]

The computer is 2 weeks old, I haven't set a restore point.... :/

Could a program be causing this?
Right before the change occurred, the computer ran a disk check and found a corrupted file or something. How do I know what caused this?

 

[brianzion]

Perform a SFC Scan

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow

2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

A message will appear stating that 'The system scan will begin'. Be patient because the scan may take some time

3. If any files require a replace SFC will replace them. You may be asked to insert your Windows 7 DVD for this process to continue

4. If everything is okay you should, after the scan, see the following message "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations"

5. After the scan has completed, close the command prompt window, restart the computer and check.

more information here :ar: How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

 

[brianzion]

Enable Desktop Window Manager

1. Click the Start
2. Type in: "Services.msc" (without the quotes) into the Start Search textbox. If prompted by the UAC, provide a password or confirmation. Click Continue.
3. Scroll down until you locate the entry that is labeled: “Desktop Window Manager Session Manager”
4. Right-click on this service. Select Start from the context menu.
5. Right click once again on the entry. Select Properties from the context menu.
6. Go to the “General tab.” Change the Start up Type to "Enabled." Click OK.

Hope this helps!!

 

[Maya164]

Perform a SFC Scan

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow

2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

A message will appear stating that 'The system scan will begin'. Be patient because the scan may take some time

3. If any files require a replace SFC will replace them. You may be asked to insert your Windows 7 DVD for this process to continue

4. If everything is okay you should, after the scan, see the following message "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations"

5. After the scan has completed, close the command prompt window, restart the computer and check.

more information here :ar: How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

I ran the SFC and and you said it did finish with "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations".
I restarted my computer and my blue taskbar is back!!!
thanx!!!

 

[Maya164]

Enable Desktop Window Manager

1. Click the Start
2. Type in: "Services.msc" (without the quotes) into the Start Search textbox. If prompted by the UAC, provide a password or confirmation. Click Continue.
3. Scroll down until you locate the entry that is labeled: “Desktop Window Manager Session Manager”
4. Right-click on this service. Select Start from the context menu.
5. Right click once again on the entry. Select Properties from the context menu.
6. Go to the “General tab.” Change the Start up Type to "Enabled." Click OK.

Hope this helps!!

I don't have an "enable" option, all i have is Automatic, Automatic (Delayed Start), Manual and Disabled.
It's currently set to Automatic, is that ok?

 

[brianzion]

well done yes that service setting automatic leave it set at that when you boot windows up it will start for you ok

 

[Maya164]

we're not done yet
i shut down my computer last night and this morning i opened it and now the old grey taskbar is back.
am i gonna have to run SFC every day for it to go back to normal?
how can i find out what's causing this?

thanx guys

 

[brianzion]

right ok do another scan in admin mode check aero settings to.

 

[Maya164]

this is so frustrating - whenever i run SFC and restart, everything comes back up as it should - aero and all, basic view is gone and everything's fine.
if i shut down or restart w/o SFC, it'll start windows with the yucky basic view.

any idea how i can find out what's causing this? cuz the SFC finishes the scan with "did not find any integrity violations".

 

[brianzion]

hi sometimes you have to run the scan a few times even though windows does not tell you all it does it does hidden repairs check your aero settings graphic card driver etc.

 

[Maya164]

ok i found the corrupt file in SFC:
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\aero"\[l:26{13}]"aero.msstyles"; source file in store is also corrupted

do i replace it?
does this mean the "aero" feature is ****ed up?

 

[brianzion]

did windows ask you for the installation disc?

 

[brianzion]

what theme for the aero are you using have you tried changing to different ones ?

 

[Maya164]

nope. here's the log:

2010-12-18 13:32:46, Info CSI 000001aa [SR] Verify complete
2010-12-18 13:32:46, Info CSI 000001ab [SR] Repairing 1 components
2010-12-18 13:32:46, Info CSI 000001ac [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2010-12-18 13:33:22, Info CSI 000001ad [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:26{13}]"aero.msstyles" of Microsoft-Windows-aero, Version = 6.1.7600.16385, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_INTEL (0), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2010-12-18 13:33:42, Info CSI 000001ae [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:26{13}]"aero.msstyles" of Microsoft-Windows-aero, Version = 6.1.7600.16385, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_INTEL (0), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2010-12-18 13:33:42, Info CSI 000001af [SR] This component was referenced by [l:238{119}]"Microsoft-Windows-Client-Features-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~6.1.7600.16385.Microsoft-Windows-Client-Features-Update"
2010-12-18 13:34:06, Info CSI 000001b0 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:72{36}]"\??\C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\aero"\[l:26{13}]"aero.msstyles"; source file in store is also corrupted
2010-12-18 13:34:06, Info CSI 000001b1 Repair results created:
POQ 82 starts:
0: Move File: Source = [l:192{96}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\Temp\PendingRenames\cb36a17aa79ecb0129240000a808bc04._0000000000000000.cdf-ms", Destination = [l:104{52}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\FileMaps\_0000000000000000.cdf-ms"
1: Move File: Source = [l:162{81}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\Temp\PendingRenames\3f48a27aa79ecb012a240000a808bc04.$$.cdf-ms", Destination = [l:74{37}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\FileMaps\$$.cdf-ms"
2: Move File: Source = [l:216{108}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\Temp\PendingRenames\920ba37aa79ecb012b240000a808bc04.$$_resources_fbee56ab048ab239.cdf-ms", Destination = [l:128{64}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\FileMaps\$$_resources_fbee56ab048ab239.cdf-ms"
3: Move File: Source = [l:230{115}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\Temp\PendingRenames\f6f5a37aa79ecb012c240000a808bc04.$$_resources_themes_4d0d4910e83c2273.cdf-ms", Destination = [l:142{71}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\FileMaps\$$_resources_themes_4d0d4910e83c2273.cdf-ms"
4: Move File: Source = [l:240{120}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\Temp\PendingRenames\cfacaa7aa79ecb012d240000a808bc04.$$_resources_themes_aero_3fd78bf4cb5fa2c4.cdf-ms", Destination = [l:152{76}]"\SystemRoot\WinSxS\FileMaps\$$_resources_themes_aero_3fd78bf4cb5fa2c4.cdf-ms"

POQ 82 ends.
2010-12-18 13:34:06, Info CSI 000001b2 [SR] Repair complete
2010-12-18 13:34:06, Info CSI 000001b3 [SR] Committing transaction
2010-12-18 13:34:06, Info CSI 000001b4 Creating NT transaction (seq 2), objectname [6]"(null)"
2010-12-18 13:34:06, Info CSI 000001b5 Created NT transaction (seq 2) result 0x00000000, handle @0x1d84
2010-12-18 13:34:07, Info CSI 000001b6@2010/12/18:11:34:07.035 CSI perf trace:
CSIPERF:TXCOMMIT;603131
2010-12-18 13:34:07, Info CSI 000001b7 [SR] Verify and Repair Transaction completed. All files and registry keys listed in this transaction have been successfully repaired

 

[Maya164]

what theme for the aero are you using have you tried changing to different ones ?

i did change the themes, thought that might fix it.
i downloaded them from the link provided in control panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > get more themes online

 

[brianzion]

im trying to find the answer for you will ask another guru for you try and run the scan again but this time put your windows disc in the drive but dont start it run the scan after the disc is in.

 

[brianzion]

you could try this How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7 tutorial by brink :ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[Maya164]

i have an "windows.old" folder, since i upgraded to 7 Ultimate from 7 Starter.
Could a clean version of the corrupt file be there? should i try to replace it?