XPpro sp2 corruption: Control Panel link to Administrative Tools f

Clicking the Admin'Tools [AT] icon in Control Panel [CP] just directs one
back to the Control Panel. 'Can't say -when- this occurred as I rarely use
this link.

- The system: is fully updated; has AV s/w [Grisoft AVG] & has been found
clean; and has, over the past year, has suffered several glitches -- Registry
damage (exefile[?] corruption preventing .exe execution, a shell extension
problem preventing windows-explorer properly working) and HD corruption
resulting in lost files. I repaired all those.

I'm UNIX proficient but only a highly competent Windows User -- not a
well-schooled Windows Administrator.

I sense that the CP is an artifice -- that there is no analogous directory
on the HD (as I can't find it!). The AT does appear to be a regular
directory, under All Users, and it appears intact. I don't understand the
CP's structure/management well enough to debug WHY I can't use its AT link
successfully: in UNIX terms, it's as if the AT icon is a link to the CP
directory.

I identified one Registry reference [...\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common
Administrative Tools] to the AT directory: this entry and its companion keys
appeared intact/correct when I compared it to another system -- but I might
have missed some nuance since I don't understand the CP design.

I'm lost! 'Can't Google any references to this problem, and don't I grasp
enough of XP internals to go further -- I've spent hours staring at Registry
dumps, etc! I'd appreciate a clue as to how to repair this; although I -can-
work around it by going to that AT directory by other means, I'd like to
identify/remove any corruption.

I have the same kind of problem (I think).
I created a new administrator account in XP Pro SP2.
In the Control Panel, the Administrative Tools are empty.
In another account they show.
Thanks for your help

"Basilisk Pie" wrote:

> Clicking the Admin'Tools [AT] icon in Control Panel [CP] just directs one
> back to the Control Panel. 'Can't say -when- this occurred as I rarely use
> this link.
>
> - The system: is fully updated; has AV s/w [Grisoft AVG] & has been found
> clean; and has, over the past year, has suffered several glitches -- Registry
> damage (exefile[?] corruption preventing .exe execution, a shell extension
> problem preventing windows-explorer properly working) and HD corruption
> resulting in lost files. I repaired all those.
>
> I'm UNIX proficient but only a highly competent Windows User -- not a
> well-schooled Windows Administrator.
>
> I sense that the CP is an artifice -- that there is no analogous directory
> on the HD (as I can't find it!). The AT does appear to be a regular
> directory, under All Users, and it appears intact. I don't understand the
> CP's structure/management well enough to debug WHY I can't use its AT link
> successfully: in UNIX terms, it's as if the AT icon is a link to the CP
> directory.
>
> I identified one Registry reference [...\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common
> Administrative Tools] to the AT directory: this entry and its companion keys
> appeared intact/correct when I compared it to another system -- but I might
> have missed some nuance since I don't understand the CP design.
>
> I'm lost! 'Can't Google any references to this problem, and don't I grasp
> enough of XP internals to go further -- I've spent hours staring at Registry
> dumps, etc! I'd appreciate a clue as to how to repair this; although I -can-
> work around it by going to that AT directory by other means, I'd like to
> identify/remove any corruption.