Shortcuts on the desktop and in the start menu are missing,

Hey

Everytime i install a program, game or just someting, it doesn't put a
shortvut on the desktop or in the start menu, even if it normally does. The
software can still be found in "Program Files", and in the controlpanel (hope
that's what's called in english)

I'm using Vista 64-bit, which i just installed yesterday. In the first few
hours, software got installed and placed their shortcuts as thye should, but
then the problem came.

If i remember right the problem came after i've solved the problem with
"BOOTMGR" because i have SATA2 and an IDE harddisk.

/Denno

 

"solved the problem with boot manager"? You'll need/want to tell us what you
did there. My guess is something you probably shouldn't have.

 

Well i found a guy in a forum who had the same problem as i had with the
missing BOOTMGR file and he decribed how he got this problem too.

Like i have on my pc, he had an IDE-disk and a SATA2-disk, and installed
Vista on the SATA2-disk. The problem is by doing so, Vista places it's boot
files on the IDE-disk and since vista is installed on SATA2, it's not
possible to boot Vista. What he said that could be done, was first to unplug
the IDE-disk. Then boot on the Vista cd and make a repair there. Then plug
the IDE-disk into the pc again, and vista should be able to boot without
problems with the with or without the IDE-disk. It worked perfectly to me.

I'm pretty sure nothing is wrong here, but oh well. You may never know.

 

Vista can be installed on any (permanent) disk it can see in your system. It
will install boot files on the first drive in your BIOS.

By changing things around, it sounds like you've got drive assignments not
where Vista thinks they should be, causing this issue. Since this is a new
installation, I'd strongly recommend starting over.

 

VistaBoot Pro 3.3 can write the bootloader (both legacy and Vista) files to
whatever disk (even all of them) you want. It uses a GUI and is an
indispensible tool.

 

The guy where i got this help from explained in detail (in Danish though) on
how Vista accidantly puts it's boot files on the IDE, and his solution worked
fine for me, so i will stick to his point of view on this problem.

I was wondering if i should try reinstalling Vista. Just a lot of work.

Another thing I've noticed is that it's typical those programs that get
installed in the folder "Program Files (x86)" that's exactly these programs
where the shortcuts are missing.

 

Hi, Denno.

Every Windows since at least WinNT4.0 has installed in TWO parts:
1. A few startup files into the System Partition.
2. The rest of Windows into the \Windows folder on the Boot Volume.

When there's only a single hard drive and only a single partition, good old
Drive C:, everything goes into that Drive C:. It's not even obvious that
there are two parts.

But when there are multiple hard drives or multiple partitions on a single
hard drive, things can get more complicated - and confusing if we forget
that 2-part structure. And when we mix different drive interfaces
(IDE/ATA/PATA, SCSI, SATA, etc.) the BIOS can play tricks on us. Older
BIOSes ALWAYS tried first to boot from IDE, even if WE wanted to boot from
the SCSI drive. Newer BIOSes have more options, but we have to study the
manual to learn the right settings, and your BIOS is probably different from
mine.

Ambiguous and counterintuitive terminology also makes it hard to explain
clearly. We boot from the System Partition and keep the operating system
files in the Boot Volume. See KB 314470:
Definitions for system volume and boot volume
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/

When you "installed Vista on the SATA2-disk", the Boot Volume was created
there, the \Windows folder was created there, and all those GBs of files I
mentioned under Part 2, above, went there. But the start-up files (Part 1,
above), including the bootmgr file, went to the System Partition, which was
on the drive then designated in your BIOS as the boot device - and that,
apparently, was your IDE drive.

This is a completely normal situation, Denno. Vista (and earlier Windows)
is quite happy to start the boot-up on IDE and then, using instructions it
finds in bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder there, find Vista on the SATA
drive and load it from there. But it would be just as happy to start from a
System Partition on the SATA drive - if you adjust the BIOS or drive cable
configuration.

If you remove the IDE drive completely and have only the SATA connected when
you boot from the Vista DVD to install, then Setup will have no choice but
to put the startup files (including bootmgr) into the Active (bootable)
primary partition on that SATA drive. You can tell Setup to "install" Vista
into that same partition, or to use (and even to create, if necessary) a
different partition on that drive. Whichever volume you specify will become
the boot volume and will be assigned the letter Drive C:. If it is not the
same as the System Partition, then that partition will get the next
available letter, most likely Drive D:.

What often happens - and may have happened in your case - is that both the
IDE and SATA drives are connected when we run Setup by booting from the
Vista DVD. We say to install Vista on Drive V: (or whatever), which is on
the SATA drive, and all those Part 2 files are written to V:\Windows, but
the BIOS shows the IDE as the boot device, so bootmgr is written to the IDE.
When the installation is all done, we remove the IDE and the SATA becomes
the boot device - but there are no startup files on it, so Vista cannot boot
from it.

To get those startup files onto the SATA drive, you'll need to run Setup
again. But you should not have to run the whole thing. When it gets to the
part about "repairing" the startup files, just have it create the needed
files on the SATA drive. Then you should be good to go. Later, you can
plug in the IDE and set your BIOS to boot from your choice of either the IDE
or the SATA.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

Well, by all means, ask your danish expert.

 

That pretty much is what i got told, and the way you said to solve it was
exactly the same i did.
´
Because of my other problem I've described on the top, i'm pretty sure i
will reinstall Vista. Just a last thing i want to be sure:
If i remove the IDE-disk before i start installing vista, and plug it into
the pc again when Vista is up and running again, will i then get these boot
problems again?

 

I've just reinstalled Vista 64-bit and installed a few security software +
other stuff, and already now i can see that i get the same problem as i
started out with. Some shortcuts are missing.

Here's what I've found out so far:

- Programs where you can choose to make these shortcuts, these programs
place their shortcuts (If you choose to do so).

- Programs that install themselves in "Programs Files" make their shortcuts,
where as progams that install themselves in "Program Files (x86)" don't, even
if they normally do so.

- The programs where the shortcuts are missing, they can be found in the
controlpanel or find it manually in c:/program files (x86)/...