When going to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘All Programs’ nothing happens (i.e. the list of programs does not appear). The computer is a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with 512 MB RAM running Windows XP.

The problem of the ‘All Programs’ menu not appearing could be related to problems in the Windows Registry. I found a website (windowsxp.mvps.org/AllPrograms.htm) which provides an explanation for this problem and also an overview of two fixes. As the site only provides an overview of the fixes, I will explain the procedures here in more detail, with step-by-step instructions. The first step is trying to re-register the ’shell32.dll’ file. This file provides functions for the Windows graphical user interface (GUI) shell. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type: regsvr32 /i shell32.dll
then click OK. A message should appear saying the registration has been successful. Click OK to close the message, then restart the computer and check whether the problem continues.

If re-registering ’shell32.dll’ does not fix the problem, the registry values controlling where the Start Menu items are stored may be missing, or have incorrect data. Should the values be set to an invalid or incorrect location, this could cause the Start Menu to think there are no items in the ‘All Programs’ folder and therefore not display anything. We will need to verify the configured Start Menu locations in the registry. Only complete this procedure if you are confident with editing the registry, as doing this procedure incorrectly could cause more harm than good. Should you wish to proceed, go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ then type ‘regedit’ (without the quotes) and click OK. The Registry Editor should appear. Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion ExplorerUser Shell Folders
Once you arrive and have selected the User Shell Folders key, you should see various values in the right-hand pane, such as: AppData, Cache, Cookies, Desktop, etc. Look through the list of values for the ‘Start Menu’ value. Make sure the data for this value equals:
%USERPROFILE%Start Menu
If the data is different, right-click on the value, select ‘Modify’, and then enter this data for the Value Data of the value.

While still in the same registry key, look for the ‘Programs’ value. Make sure the data equals:
%USERPROFILE%Start MenuPrograms
Again, if the data is different, you need to modify the Value Data to equal this data.

Next, navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionExplorerUser Shell Folders
Similar to the previous steps, look for the value ‘Common Start Menu’ and ensure the data equals:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%Start Menu
Then, look for the value ‘Common Programs’ and ensure the data equals:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%Start MenuPrograms

In any of the cases, should the value (e.g. Start Menu, Common Programs, etc.) not exist, you will need to create the value. Go to the ‘Edit’ menu > ‘New’ > ‘Expandable String Value’. Give the new value the name of the missing value and then right-click and select ‘Data’. Type the correct data in for that value.

Once you have finished making any necessary modifications in the registry, restart the computer and check whether the problem is fixed.