Urgent Help Needed...

I didnt do anything with the registry since i had to reinstall windows yesterday. I have had 2 drives that do this, both WD. I have had the 500GB Elements drive and also now i have the 500gb passport essential drive. I can assure you that this is nothing to do with me messing with the registry i dont go there because i know the concequences : )

PS. Thanks for replying : )

So after the re-install your icons were still not how they should be?

After an 'upgrade' install of windows the icons were ok but when i unplugged my drive ( after the reinstall ) the icons went funny again.

Thanks for replying. : )

I wont be able to reply untill tommorow at about 3:00 now but if you find a solution could you please just post it and i can try it out. Hopefully there will be some way to sort this out. All of your posts have been much appreciated.

Thanks for replying : )

What type of files are on the external drive?

Hi i only have normal things like:

- Documents ( Word files etc... )
- Pictures
- Videos
- Because i do programming i have debugged .exe files
- Links/Shortcuts

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks for replying : )

But let's look at how windows may get an icon for a file. If it's on your external drive X (x: for this discussion is a removeable) and we remove drive X then Windows when it refreshes a view will not find the file and the icon may get a generic look to it.

If we have two drive Xs and swap one then the other, same and similar behavior with icons looking odd.

NOTHING IS BUSTED HERE. It's like the show contents while dragging windows around. That was how Windows did that years ago and only if everything is perfect do these features work.

Again, I don't see anything broken here. Yes we all wish it would do this or that under these conditions but here's the bottom line. No one appears to be explaining how Windows works.

I can't because I must limit myself in replies. No tutorials from me. I leave those to web sites.
Bob

Yep, stop messing with the registry. Stop unplugging that drive too. Is it a back up drive? You did say you just reinstalled the OS, did you check for a new Video card driver? Is your installation disc scratched or dirty? This can cause errors during the installation of the OS that cause this sort of problem. OK it's back to Microsoft for you.

Does it have pin holes of light showing through?. No light should show through the disc except around it's edges.

Scratches? Try something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=disc+repair

[This is not an ad for nor and endorsement for the website nor products shown. These were submitted as examples only. Read an follow the directions on any product you might choose.]

I didnt do anything with the registry and i am beggining to question wether windows 7 is worth it, it has done all of these things that didnt used to happen, if you have any answers to them especially the jump list one please tell me:

Show contents while dragging doesnt work
Visual studio reference is brocken/doesnt work
Jump list icons are messed up ( Really need help with this )
Messed up a drive
Caused me to have a breakdown

It is not a backup drive and if i leave it in for long enough it wont let me safely eject it, it says it is being used.

I'm not understanding why you are constantly removing the drive if it is not an external HD you are using for backups?!?!?

Can you elaborate on the drive type and what you use it for/why you are constantly removing it?

Ok, My drive is a wd passport essential, it is an external drive which means that i should be able to unplug it and take it around with me. No i do not use it for backup.

Thanks for posting : )

I see... you can remove it and take it with you, however if you make changes to the interface and store the changed files on there, Windows won't be able to access these UI files if the drive is missing. Bob does a good job explaining this above in this thread.

Is there any way to get it back to normal.

At this point I don't know what exactly you have done to the icons. The obvious answer would be to roll back to a restore point or to reinstall Windows.

I have tried both of these solutions and the reinstall works until i plug my hard drive in again.

Then I would delete whatever files are on your external hard drive that change the icons then reinstall Windows.

Since the hard drive worked just fine with a different operating system, it is conflicting with Windows 7. Maybe a part of the driver is corrupt, making your icons not appear correctly and the other issues you have experienced. I recommend going to your external hard drive manufacture website and see if there are known issues with windows 7, I was reading other forums and came across that WD hard drives had to have a patch released because it was conflicting with Windows 7.

I am not an "over-the-top" experienced user, but sometimes the obvious fixes things.