Windows XP: "Cannot start shell application"?

[omega113]

Every time I boot up my laptop, when Windows XP is starting up I get an error

message that simply says "Cannot start shell application" with an "OK" button.

This error box always comes up and pauses my whole startup until I click "OK".

How do I go about removing this error message?

omega

[gosh]

Try the basics:

Does it happen in safe mode?

Does it happen in a full clean boot using msconfig to disable the startup items?

It also sounds like you might have an autorun.inf on your C root.

-gosh