Active Desktop Recovery Fix

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I had a user that couldn’t get the desktop back and I had to use this to get it back. You could also just recreate their profile to get the desktop back. Here is a picture what your user will see if the Active Desktop doesn’t work.

active_desktop_recovery

1. Go to the registery and find the the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\SafeMode\Components

2. Change the value of DeskHtmlVersion to Zero

3. Reboot the PC and log back in as the user to verify the desktop background is showing correctly.

Your desktop should be back to normal. This has worked for me and it should work for you. If you are in a network where the domain users are users then you need to give them local administrative rights to get this to work. Once the desktop shows back to normal then you take the administrative rights away.

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July 25, 2009 | Filed Under Technology

9 Comments

Comments

9 Responses to “Active Desktop Recovery Fix”

The Gooroo @ Finance Advisory Stop on July 25th, 2009 4:16 pm

Thanks Greg! My friend had been looking for a fix like this for quite a while. I’ll definitely share it with him.
The Gooroo @ Finance Advisory Stop´s last blog ..My Alexa Ranking — I Feel Like A Hypocrite
Extreme John on July 25th, 2009 5:32 pm

Good work Greg nice tips for Windows users, I made the switch to Mac about a year ago
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Greg Ellison on July 25th, 2009 5:34 pm

I have a windows computer and a MAC, and I love them both. I live in the middle of the road. Greg Ellison
Bob Jones on July 26th, 2009 5:02 am

There’s a quicker way to fix that – apple.com
Bob Jones´s last blog ..Posterous.com – shaping the future of the web?
jess SEO on August 20th, 2009 12:40 pm

thanks for the tips .. but i havent had a problem like that for a long time ..ever since i upgarded my pc
Top posts for 2009 and Stats | Greg Ellison on January 5th, 2010 5:06 am

[...] The eigth post talks about the Active Directory Recovery fix when you went from IE 6 to IE 7. If you are having those problem then head over to [...]
Joe Malone on May 13th, 2010 6:15 am

Your fix for Active Directory Recovery fix works 1 time, but if you reboot again it gets the same Active Directory Recovery error. How can you keep it from coming up again. Thanks Joe Malone
Joe Malone on May 13th, 2010 10:23 am

Greg, I even deleted DeskHtmlVersion and it rebooted correctly. I checked it again and it restored the deleted line and when I rebooted the Active Directory Recovery comes back. The setting want stick.
Greg Ellison on May 13th, 2010 10:26 am

It has worked for us at my work. This is what we use. The settings stick.