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I decided to rebuild my work PC, and install XPSP2 RC2 on it.

That all went well etc etc installed a few other apps, rebooted it today though and I lost my startbar.

So i messed round with a few things, deleted profile, tried a repair with no luck.

Then I rebuilt and installed XP SP2 again, with no other apps this time though, and bugger me it happens again. After a SP2 install and reboot the startbar is missing.

Perhaps it didnt like the permissions I set on something...

Ah well, rebuild no 3 on Monday.

You really shouldn't put Release Candidate or Beta software on a production PC. (especially a work one!)

Early "beta" software are really for software developers checking for compatibility and then fixing issues they encounter.

I would wait until MS releases an official publically ready version before even looking at SP2.

Otherwise, grab a spare PC (non-production) and put SP2 on that. It "feels" like either one of the apps or SP2 has screwed the "explorer.exe" service. I'm not sure. There's a disagreement somewhere...Boot into SAFE MODE and Check the Event Viewer in Administrative Tools of the Control Panel.

That's interesting.

I put XP SP2 RC2 onto my home PC which has been happily chugging along for a good 2 years on it's original build, and since I planned on upgrading my system in the next month or so anyway I thought I'd give it a whirl, so far without any worries. All my old software runs perfectly, and it was quite interesting to see Windows block programs from accessing the web, although I noticed it doesn't block itself as EzFirewall keeps letting me know how often it is putting out DNS enquiries etc.

RC1 was a shocker.

i had more luck with RC1 then i have with RC2.

On the Laptop RC2 is working fine, but I didnt mess with permissions on it though.