Problem Reported:
Desktop icons and Windows Task Bar missing on Windows XP.
Can open task manager using Ctlr+Alt+Del.
Internet works fine. LAN activity works fine.
Solution:
1) In Event Viewer, under "System" found "Application Popup Event ID: 26". It says SHDOCVW.DLL missing from c:\windows\system32 folder.
2) In Registry, the data value of "Shell" was showing as "Explorer.exe csrcs.exe" under below registry path.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
According to event viewer error, Copy the missing file "shdocvw.dll" in c:\windows\system32 folder from other working Win XP system.
Modify the registry value data of Shell to "explorer.exe" and restart the pc.