Cannot see icons and task bar on desktop

vista and XP have problems dual booting.

try a few of these

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=vista+%2BXp+%2B%22dual+boot%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Do you have Dell recovery console installed (although I don't know what happens to it with dual boot) ? Switch the computer on and keep tapping F8 before you get to your dual boot option. If you have the CD, maybe you don't have the recovery console (it's usually their if XP was pre-installed). Oh, hang on......

To install the Recovery Console as a startup option

1. With Windows running, insert the Setup CD into your CD-ROM drive.
2. CLick Start and select Run.
3. Type the following where D: is the CD-ROM drive letter: D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
4. Follow the instructions on the screen.

Notes

• To run the Recovery Console, restart your computer and select the Recovery Console option from the list of available operating systems.
• You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
• To see the commands available on the Recovery Console, type help at the at the console prompt.
• If your computer will not start, you can run the Recovery Console from the Setup CD. See Related Topics for information on running the Recovery Console when your computer will not start.

The above may not work exactly, but you should be able to reach some sort of recovery position.

Why are you using a downlevel version of XP, that cannot help matters and it leaves you open to attacks from Viruses and the like......version SP3 with updates is the current level I believe!!

Anyone using Vista in any shape or form must be prepared to accept such challenges daily.......if you can't take a joke, you should never buy Vista or a PC with Vista on it!!!

Remember, MS will be dropping Vista completely very soon for Windows 7, (in Beta test looking quite good and more stable than Vista is right now!!) which will still need to go through 2 years of fixes (just like XP did) before it will be safe to use......

So why not just stay with WinXP Pro? In a fully upto date version it works just fine......

In a recent test here in Germany, XP was still better in many areas, not the least being that it was fully compatible to a vast range of software and very stable!!

Dump Vista........it is a a bad experience with very little benefit , much loss.

MR. Guy

yeah. your windows explorer is broken. probably due to your dual boot. you should use either of the two operating systems or both. If you want to run 2 operating systems on windows, you should be using virtual windows or vmware instead of forcing them in together...

Different versions of Windows do not like working from the same drive. Try partitioning your hard drive and install each version of Windows on a different partition. One reason for problems is that there are different versions of Windows files and these be can be overwritten by one version causing problems with the other version.

Good luck,

Tony.

Being unknowledgeable in many fields, I feel compeled to ask this question; what does double boot mean?

double boot, or triple, or more.

This means the computer has a boot manager installed and can boot into any one of several software systems compatible with the CPU.

Typically, various windows and Linux flavors are available on Intel CPUs and Intel compatible CPUs.

There are a few others on other CPUs, but tiny in comparison

If I'm getting it right you have installed Vista on an XP machine.

The newer O/S will take primary and you need partition drive in Vista and reinstall XP.

Why anyone would want XP and Vista I can not fathom.

As said previously...save yourself the trouble and just use VNC or virtual PC instead of overdoing yourself and trying to dual boot. There is nothing you can accomplish by dual boot that you want to accomplish that you cant do using VNC or virtual PC. you are just complicating things for yourself, especially when its obvious that you are having problems! and your computer is screwing up.