Can’t start Task Manager

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I have a problem with task manager. In Windows 7 when you press ctrl+alt+del you get a screen offering 5 options. One is Start Task Manager. When I click on Start Task Manager nothing happens. In the Windows Application log I see this error.

“The Windows logon process has failed to spawn a user application. Application name: taskmgr.exe. Command line parameters: taskmgr.exe /2 .”

Google searches have turned up many hits. Generally it seems to be a problem with a windows update. Most recommendations are to use system restore or reinstall Windows.

I just re-installed Windows for another issue, see this thread:
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//135387-Can-t-access-Computer-Management-via-right-click

Can anyone shed any light on this?

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The Windows 7 equivalent for the old ctrl+alt+del is now ctrl+shift+esc. This keyboard combo directly opens Win7’s Task Manager. Do you get the same error message when you try it? How about when you right click the Taskbar and select Task Manager?

There could still be some permissions issues, so if nothing above works, locate the executable ‘Taskmgr’ in the C:WindowsSystem32 folder. Right click and select the Security tab. Select Administrators under the Groups or user names. Beneath Allow you should see check marks in the boxes beside permissions to read & execute and read. These are the Windows 7 default permissions to execute Task Manager. The user TrustedInstaller has full permissions over Task Manager.

Is the the WMI (Windows Module Installer) service running? This is TrustedInstaller.

Try right clicking on Taskmgr and selecting Run as Administrator to see what happens.

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If the previous post does not help, you can reset all Windows 7 user permissions to their defaults by following this guide from Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum:

Quote:

Welcome to Microsoft Answers!

You will need to run ‘Subinacl Tool’ to reset the permission to normal. To reset system permissions, follow the steps:

1. Download subinacl.msi from the following link, and save it on the desktop.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en#AffinityDownloads[/url][/FONT][/COLOR]
2. On the desktop, double-click subinacl.msi to install the tool.
3. Select C:WindowsSystem32 as the destination folder.
Note This step assumes that Windows is installed in C:Windows. If Windows is installed elsewhere, select the appropriate path to .System32.
4. Open Notepad.
5. Copy the following commands and then paste them into the opened Notepad window.

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=system=f

6. In Notepad click File, Save As, and then type: reset.cmd
7. In Notepad click Save as type, and then select All Files (*.*).
8. Save the reset.cmdfile to your desktop, and close Notepad.
9. Double-click the reset.cmdfile to reset the Windows Update permissions.
Note This step may take several minutes, so please be patient. When the permissions have been reset, you will be prompted with “Finished, press any key to continue.”
10. Press any key to complete the installation.

Check if you have the right permissions to all the folders for all users.

For more information you may check the article given below. The article given is for Windows XP updates, but still holds good for Windows Vista as well as Windows 7.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968003[/url][/FONT][/COLOR]

Hope this information is helpful.
Amrita M
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

End quote.

Hope this helps with the Task Manager difficulties.

Reply | Quote

If the previous post does not help, you can reset all Windows 7 user permissions to their defaults by following this guide from Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum:

Quote:

Welcome to Microsoft Answers!

You will need to run ‘Subinacl Tool’ to reset the permission to normal. To reset system permissions, follow the steps:

1. Download subinacl.msi from the following link, and save it on the desktop.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en#AffinityDownloads[/url][/FONT][/COLOR]
2. On the desktop, double-click subinacl.msi to install the tool.
3. Select C:WindowsSystem32 as the destination folder.
Note This step assumes that Windows is installed in C:Windows. If Windows is installed elsewhere, select the appropriate path to .System32.
4. Open Notepad.
5. Copy the following commands and then paste them into the opened Notepad window.

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=system=f

6. In Notepad click File, Save As, and then type: reset.cmd
7. In Notepad click Save as type, and then select All Files (*.*).
8. Save the reset.cmdfile to your desktop, and close Notepad.
9. Double-click the reset.cmdfile to reset the Windows Update permissions.
Note This step may take several minutes, so please be patient. When the permissions have been reset, you will be prompted with “Finished, press any key to continue.”
10. Press any key to complete the installation.

Check if you have the right permissions to all the folders for all users.

For more information you may check the article given below. The article given is for Windows XP updates, but still holds good for Windows Vista as well as Windows 7.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968003[/url][/FONT][/COLOR]

Hope this information is helpful.
Amrita M
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

End quote.

Hope this helps with the Task Manager difficulties.

This didn’t help. Also it would not install properly into windows/system32. I had to install into it’s default directory and copy to windows/system32.

Thanks for trying.

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Pressing ‘ctrl+alt+del’ on my W7 Home Premium, I was able to start Task Manager. ctrl+alt+esc starts task manager instantly.

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Pressing ‘ctrl+alt+del’ on my W7 Home Premium, I was able to start Task Manager. ctrl+alt+esc starts task manager instantly.

Mistype, I think that’s Ctrl+Shift+Esc

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Mistype, I think that’s Ctrl+Shift+Esc

Hi Ted, wrong! try ‘ctrl+alt+del’ on your W7 Ultimate to see what shows.

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I just noticed that Subinacl Tool doesn’t indicate that it supports Windows 7. Can someone confirm that it does?

Never mind, I just reread the post. 🙂

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I get the same error running from task bar or ctrl+shift+exc, and if I run directly from the taskmanager exe i get this.
27239-tskmgr

I checked the permissions and I have read and execute.

Interestingly if I right click and run as administrator “Process Explorer” starts. I guess that’s correct as I have Processor Explorer installed.

I’m going to try that program that resets the default permissions.

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I get the same error running from task bar or ctrl+shift+exc, and if I run directly from the taskmanager exe i get this.
27239-tskmgr

I checked the permissions and I have read and execute.

Interestingly if I right click and run as administrator “Process Explorer” starts. I guess that’s correct as I have Processor Explorer installed.

I’m going to try that program that resets the default permissions.

The Permissions referred to are Full Administrator Privileges. If the Account you are using to access the Administrator Tools does not have full Administrator privileges, there may be issues of this type. What Windows is asking for is an elevation of privileges to Administrator levels. If Windos 7 UACs are on and sensitive enough, a dialog box normally pops up, asking for the Administrator Password. That is, assuming you have already set up an Administrator Account on your computer. Standard Users have much more restricted privileges.

-- rc primak

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The Permissions referred to are Full Administrator Privileges. If the Account you are using to access the Administrator Tools does not have full Administrator privileges, there may be issues of this type. What Windows is asking for is an elevation of privileges to Administrator levels. If Windos 7 UACs are on and sensitive enough, a dialog box normally pops up, asking for the Administrator Password. That is, assuming you have already set up an Administrator Account on your computer. Standard Users have much more restricted privileges.

As posted earlier, I resolved this issue by uninstalling Daemon tools. This never was a permissions issue. I was always using an administrator acct. After removing Daemon tools this all works as it should.

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“Is the the WMI (Windows Module Installer) service running? This is TrustedInstaller.”

It wasn’t running. It was set to manual. I started it but that made no difference to Task manager.

The permissions are as they should be.

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Will Task Manager run if you double-click the file itself in WindowsSystem32?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Will Task Manager run if you double-click the file itself in WindowsSystem32?

No. See the message image a few posts back.

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Resolved. I uninstalled DAEMON tools program.

I just had a feeling that this was the problem.

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Resolved. I uninstalled DAEMON tools program.

I just had a feeling that this was the problem.

it’s good to know you have resolved it yourself. I was about to ask what was the lat thing you ever did to your pc or what was the last thing happened before you experience this error. daemon tools with all due respect have a lot of issues regarding win 7 OS. I have uninstalled daemon tools on my win 7 due to issues. Any just a bit of advised you may want to try having a backup image just in case you will experienced the same trouble in the future. Have fun 😉

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Actually I’ve had DAEMON tools installed for quite some time. I just suddenly remembered that I had issues with it on XP. I’ve uninstalled several programs trying to resolve this issue. I’ll also bet that DAEMON tools had something to do with my other issue (see link earlier in this thread), but the repair/upgrade was able to resolve it.

Live and learn.

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Neither ctrl+alt+del nor ctrl+shift+esc starts task manager in my Windows 7 Home Premium. Pushing ctrl+shift+esc opens the start menu. Trying ctrl+alt+del opens nothing. Right-clicking on the task bar (bottom of the screen) opens a menu that includes Start Task Manager.

Works for me.

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Funny, all three of those methods now work for me.

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