Problem: I tried to start "JDiskReport 1-4" and it did not find javaw.exe so I let it search for the javaw.exe meanwhile I was installing Java 8 RE. It found a javaw.exe and then I pressed "Fix it" which seems not to have gone so well. After Java was installed all icons on shortcuts became Java icons. I then uninstalled Java, then the shortcuts had no icon at all any longer.
[our company or rather IBM who handles our PCs have their own way of updating java which i (a bit thoughtlessly) circumvented by installing directly from oracle]
The symptoms are that some .exe-files cannot be run (it seems to depend on where they are located), for the ones that do not run I either get File not found or Access denied.
E.g. If I use another program that works (totalcmd.exe) and try to start a program say C:\Windows\cmd.exe
I get Access denied.
E.g. right-clicking on the taskbar to start task manager yields File not found showing the correct path but somehow still not finding it. Doing "Start/cmd.exe" gives the same error. Seems all programs under the windows directory gives me Access denied and any program under Program Files also gives me Access denied.
The user I have is a domain user, if I log onto another PC alls works fine so nothing wrong with the user. Also if another user logs in on my PC he has no problems to start an app so it seems to be linked to my user profile on that particular PC.
In addition on the desktop I don't see any icons for the shortcuts I have there, I guess it is related to the above problem. If I click on a shortcut it asks me what program I would like to use to start it.
I have tried setting file permissions/ownership on C:\Windows
and C:\Program Files
but it has not helped and it seems the permissions are ok since they look
the same if I login on another PC and compare.
I wonder if somebody has had something similar and how it can be solved part from deleting the user account on the PC which would be the last resort. I have spent several hours troubleshooting this so would be grateful for some help.
EDIT :
Another thing worth mentioning is that it seems file association works, so for instance clicking on a .pdf file starts adobe acrobat reader or .txt starts notepad++. But when clicking on an .exe doesn't work
chkdsk
to ensure the drive/file-system isn't corrupted?