The menu bar and the toolbar are missing in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista or Windows XP or in Windows Explorer on Windows XP

When you open Windows Internet Explorer on a Windows XP-based computer or on a on a Windows Vista-based computer or Windows Explorer on a Windows XP-based computer, you may find that the menu bar, or the toolbar, or both, are missing. This article helps you fix the problem.

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the “Fix it for me” section. If you would rather fix this problem yourself, go to the “Let me fix it myself” section.

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50157

Note this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Thanks to MVP Doug Knox (https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=7811DC57-7FB7-40CD-B5BB-38742958E4CA) for contributing to this Fix it.

Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Close all open Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer windows.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar
5. Use one or both of the following steps, as appropriate for your situation:
   • For Windows Explorer: In the details pane, locate the Explorer subkey, and then open it. In the details pane, locate the ITBarLayout value. Right-click this value, and then click Delete.
   • For Internet Explorer: In the details pane, locate the WebBrowser subkey, and then open it. In the details pane, locate the ITBarLayout value. Right-click this value, and then click Delete.
6. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can try the following:

1. Close all open Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer windows.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\ShellBrowser
5. In the details pane, locate the ITBarLayout value. Right-click this value, and then click Delete.
6. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

For Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer, this behavior is caused by one or more corrupted values in the Windows Registry.

After you fix this problem, any toolbar layout customizations are removed, and the affected toolbar is reset to its default configuration.

For Windows Explorer, in Windows XP Home Edition, you may have to re-enable the Address bar in Windows Explorer. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click a blank area of the toolbar or the menu bar
3. Click the Address Bar item.