Help please, Windows 2000 SP4 & Roll-up problems

I am writing with my Windows 2000 Professional system in protected mode as
nothing else works just now. I foolishly downloaded and installed Windows
2000 SP4 and SP4 Roll-up on my 3 networked machines, shut them down and went
on vacation for a week. On startup, (the first boot since installation of SP4
& SP4 Roll-Up) the desktop on 1 of the machines failed to appear with the
message: "Can't find file "null" (or one of its components). Make sure file
name is correct and all required libraries are available."

Desktops on the other 2 machines appeared but did not work correctly. In
standard mode, clicking on start and then control panel did nothing. The
applications that
still worked were glacially slow.

In protected mode, desktop appeared with some functionality problems. An
icon appears in the lower left tray "Show Desktop" but it doesn't do anything
obvious in either mode.

I tried to check the history of downloaded updates on the MS Update site for
a date and time associated with the updates to check to see if I had
installed
them in the correct sequence. (Control panel "Add/Remove Programs" does not
show dates for these updates.) Got error 0X8007041D. There is a log file
under C:\WINNT NTfor SP4 Roll-up but I can't find a similar file for SP4 to
compare the dates and times. I don't understand the logs so they are not much
help to me.

Attempting to turn back the clock, in safe mode, "reboot with last known
good configuration" made no obvious improvement. On one machine I
un-installed SP4 Roll-Up but that made the desktop disappear in normal mode
so I did not continue to un-install SP4 on the other 2 machines.

My portable external backup drive does not seem to want to mount in safe
mode so my belated backup attempt is stalled until that is sorted out.

Suggestions will be very much appreciated. Thanks!
--
alancello

I have dealt with the missing desktop in 2000 server as well. The only thing
that will fix it is reinstalling internet explorer 6. You need the full
version either downloaded or on CD. The typical instal on the MS website
that downloads about 500K first will not work. I assume you can still
access task manager in normal mode and you can install it using the run
command there. Updating to 2003 server will aslo fix the problem.

"alancello" wrote:

> I am writing with my Windows 2000 Professional system in protected mode as
> nothing else works just now. I foolishly downloaded and installed Windows
> 2000 SP4 and SP4 Roll-up on my 3 networked machines, shut them down and went
> on vacation for a week. On startup, (the first boot since installation of SP4
> & SP4 Roll-Up) the desktop on 1 of the machines failed to appear with the
> message: "Can't find file "null" (or one of its components). Make sure file
> name is correct and all required libraries are available."
>
> Desktops on the other 2 machines appeared but did not work correctly. In
> standard mode, clicking on start and then control panel did nothing. The
> applications that
> still worked were glacially slow.
>
> In protected mode, desktop appeared with some functionality problems. An
> icon appears in the lower left tray "Show Desktop" but it doesn't do anything
> obvious in either mode.
>
> I tried to check the history of downloaded updates on the MS Update site for
> a date and time associated with the updates to check to see if I had
> installed
> them in the correct sequence. (Control panel "Add/Remove Programs" does not
> show dates for these updates.) Got error 0X8007041D. There is a log file
> under C:\WINNT NTfor SP4 Roll-up but I can't find a similar file for SP4 to
> compare the dates and times. I don't understand the logs so they are not much
> help to me.
>
> Attempting to turn back the clock, in safe mode, "reboot with last known
> good configuration" made no obvious improvement. On one machine I
> un-installed SP4 Roll-Up but that made the desktop disappear in normal mode
> so I did not continue to un-install SP4 on the other 2 machines.
>
> My portable external backup drive does not seem to want to mount in safe
> mode so my belated backup attempt is stalled until that is sorted out.
>
> Suggestions will be very much appreciated. Thanks!
> --
> alancello
>
>

First I thank you for taking an interest in my problem and for your advice. I
had just about given up hope on this forum. Perhaps that is the typical
impatience of this modern age but the time seems to fly when your network is
down.

I have windows 2000 professional on 3 systems on a peer to peer workgroup
network. Two of the three systems are hardwired to each other and to the
modem and a to a wireless router via a hub. The 3rd machine is wireless.
There is a 4th machine that is also wireless but it is an xp system, works
fine and is not part of the current problem or discussion.

I can certainly reinstall IE from the CD's if that is how it has to be. That
raises some questions:
1. Do I have to uninstall the old IE first?
2. There have been updates. What do I do about them?
3. I'm not sure if I can access Task Manager in normal mode and am miles
from my systems until Tuesday. I'll look at it then. Just in case, can I do
the install in "safe mode with networking". Safe mode with networking has
allowed me to keep up with my email and do things on the web during this
difficult time.

Again, many thanks for your reply.

"t&g" wrote:

> I have dealt with the missing desktop in 2000 server as well. The only thing
> that will fix it is reinstalling internet explorer 6. You need the full
> version either downloaded or on CD. The typical instal on the MS website
> that downloads about 500K first will not work. I assume you can still
> access task manager in normal mode and you can install it using the run
> command there. Updating to 2003 server will aslo fix the problem.
>
> "alancello" wrote:
>
> > I am writing with my Windows 2000 Professional system in protected mode as
> > nothing else works just now. I foolishly downloaded and installed Windows
> > 2000 SP4 and SP4 Roll-up on my 3 networked machines, shut them down and went
> > on vacation for a week. On startup, (the first boot since installation of SP4
> > & SP4 Roll-Up) the desktop on 1 of the machines failed to appear with the
> > message: "Can't find file "null" (or one of its components). Make sure file
> > name is correct and all required libraries are available."
> >
> > Desktops on the other 2 machines appeared but did not work correctly. In
> > standard mode, clicking on start and then control panel did nothing. The
> > applications that
> > still worked were glacially slow.
> >
> > In protected mode, desktop appeared with some functionality problems. An
> > icon appears in the lower left tray "Show Desktop" but it doesn't do anything
> > obvious in either mode.
> >
> > I tried to check the history of downloaded updates on the MS Update site for
> > a date and time associated with the updates to check to see if I had
> > installed
> > them in the correct sequence. (Control panel "Add/Remove Programs" does not
> > show dates for these updates.) Got error 0X8007041D. There is a log file
> > under C:\WINNT NTfor SP4 Roll-up but I can't find a similar file for SP4 to
> > compare the dates and times. I don't understand the logs so they are not much
> > help to me.
> >
> > Attempting to turn back the clock, in safe mode, "reboot with last known
> > good configuration" made no obvious improvement. On one machine I
> > un-installed SP4 Roll-Up but that made the desktop disappear in normal mode
> > so I did not continue to un-install SP4 on the other 2 machines.
> >
> > My portable external backup drive does not seem to want to mount in safe
> > mode so my belated backup attempt is stalled until that is sorted out.
> >
> > Suggestions will be very much appreciated. Thanks!
> > --
> > alancello
> >
> >

First i assumed it was Windows 2000 Server and not standard PCs. I have
found that 2000 sever continues to function properly even though the desktop
does not appear. But that does not really matter with 2000 pro becuse it's
usless without the desktop. You should be able to uninstall IE and then
reinstall in safe mode. Also upgrading to XP will also fix the problem.
Luckily for you these are just workstations and you can backup any data on
them and reinstall windows.

My motto is, if it takes longer to fix a problem than to reinstall Windows I
always choose the latter.

T

"Alancello" wrote:

> First I thank you for taking an interest in my problem and for your advice. I
> had just about given up hope on this forum. Perhaps that is the typical
> impatience of this modern age but the time seems to fly when your network is
> down.
>
> I have windows 2000 professional on 3 systems on a peer to peer workgroup
> network. Two of the three systems are hardwired to each other and to the
> modem and a to a wireless router via a hub. The 3rd machine is wireless.
> There is a 4th machine that is also wireless but it is an xp system, works
> fine and is not part of the current problem or discussion.
>
> I can certainly reinstall IE from the CD's if that is how it has to be. That
> raises some questions:
> 1. Do I have to uninstall the old IE first?
> 2. There have been updates. What do I do about them?
> 3. I'm not sure if I can access Task Manager in normal mode and am miles
> from my systems until Tuesday. I'll look at it then. Just in case, can I do
> the install in "safe mode with networking". Safe mode with networking has
> allowed me to keep up with my email and do things on the web during this
> difficult time.
>
> Again, many thanks for your reply.
>
> "t&g" wrote:
>
> > I have dealt with the missing desktop in 2000 server as well. The only thing
> > that will fix it is reinstalling internet explorer 6. You need the full
> > version either downloaded or on CD. The typical instal on the MS website
> > that downloads about 500K first will not work. I assume you can still
> > access task manager in normal mode and you can install it using the run
> > command there. Updating to 2003 server will aslo fix the problem.
> >
> > "alancello" wrote:
> >
> > > I am writing with my Windows 2000 Professional system in protected mode as
> > > nothing else works just now. I foolishly downloaded and installed Windows
> > > 2000 SP4 and SP4 Roll-up on my 3 networked machines, shut them down and went
> > > on vacation for a week. On startup, (the first boot since installation of SP4
> > > & SP4 Roll-Up) the desktop on 1 of the machines failed to appear with the
> > > message: "Can't find file "null" (or one of its components). Make sure file
> > > name is correct and all required libraries are available."
> > >
> > > Desktops on the other 2 machines appeared but did not work correctly. In
> > > standard mode, clicking on start and then control panel did nothing. The
> > > applications that
> > > still worked were glacially slow.
> > >
> > > In protected mode, desktop appeared with some functionality problems. An
> > > icon appears in the lower left tray "Show Desktop" but it doesn't do anything
> > > obvious in either mode.
> > >
> > > I tried to check the history of downloaded updates on the MS Update site for
> > > a date and time associated with the updates to check to see if I had
> > > installed
> > > them in the correct sequence. (Control panel "Add/Remove Programs" does not
> > > show dates for these updates.) Got error 0X8007041D. There is a log file
> > > under C:\WINNT NTfor SP4 Roll-up but I can't find a similar file for SP4 to
> > > compare the dates and times. I don't understand the logs so they are not much
> > > help to me.
> > >
> > > Attempting to turn back the clock, in safe mode, "reboot with last known
> > > good configuration" made no obvious improvement. On one machine I
> > > un-installed SP4 Roll-Up but that made the desktop disappear in normal mode
> > > so I did not continue to un-install SP4 on the other 2 machines.
> > >
> > > My portable external backup drive does not seem to want to mount in safe
> > > mode so my belated backup attempt is stalled until that is sorted out.
> > >
> > > Suggestions will be very much appreciated. Thanks!
> > > --
> > > alancello
> > >
> > >

"alancello" <> wrote in message
news:9420FACE-8779-4652-B39D-
....
> Got error 0X8007041D.

Try a search?

<title>You receive a &quot;0x8007041D&quot; error when you visit the Windows Update Web site</title>

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;902322

(MSN search for
0x8007041D
)


---


>I am writing with my Windows 2000 Professional system in protected mode as
> nothing else works just now. I foolishly downloaded and installed Windows
> 2000 SP4 and SP4 Roll-up on my 3 networked machines, shut them down and went
> on vacation for a week. On startup, (the first boot since installation of SP4
> & SP4 Roll-Up) the desktop on 1 of the machines failed to appear with the
> message: "Can't find file "null" (or one of its components). Make sure file
> name is correct and all required libraries are available."
>
> Desktops on the other 2 machines appeared but did not work correctly. In
> standard mode, clicking on start and then control panel did nothing. The
> applications that
> still worked were glacially slow.
>
> In protected mode, desktop appeared with some functionality problems. An
> icon appears in the lower left tray "Show Desktop" but it doesn't do anything
> obvious in either mode.
>
> I tried to check the history of downloaded updates on the MS Update site for
> a date and time associated with the updates to check to see if I had
> installed
> them in the correct sequence. (Control panel "Add/Remove Programs" does not
> show dates for these updates.) Got error 0X8007041D. There is a log file
> under C:\WINNT NTfor SP4 Roll-up but I can't find a similar file for SP4 to
> compare the dates and times. I don't understand the logs so they are not much
> help to me.
>
> Attempting to turn back the clock, in safe mode, "reboot with last known
> good configuration" made no obvious improvement. On one machine I
> un-installed SP4 Roll-Up but that made the desktop disappear in normal mode
> so I did not continue to un-install SP4 on the other 2 machines.
>
> My portable external backup drive does not seem to want to mount in safe
> mode so my belated backup attempt is stalled until that is sorted out.
>
> Suggestions will be very much appreciated. Thanks!
> --
> alancello
>
>