TechTips - Windows Sidebar Won't Start in Vista

The other day I was having an issue with my Sidebar in Windows Vista: it wouldn't start no matter how many times I rebooted or tried to open it. I could see it in my process list but it still wasn't opening and without any errors details I was really thinking I was going to have to live without it or reinstall. But I found a way to get it back, with just re-registering some DLL files.

If you are having problems with the Sidebar I suggest you try these steps before trying to register the DLL files.

1. Open you Task manager (CTRL + Alt + Delete and choose Start Task Manager), choose the processes tab and look for the Sidebar.exe, if this is there then right click and choose End Process. This should close the Sidebar.exe and hopefully you can just reopen it without having to go through all the trouble of re-registering DLLs.

2. Now try re-opening the SideBar.exe, you can do this by going to C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe and double clicking sidebar.exe.

3. If the above didn't work then do the following command line options. (copy and paste makes this easier)

4. Open Command Prompt as an admin, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe, right click on cmd.exe and choose Run as administrator.

5. In the command prompt you will type in Regsvr32 -u "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll" this should be done for 32 bit and 64 bit OS, if you have 64 bit then you will also want to run Regsvr32 -u "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll"

6. Once you have typed the commands hit Enter, if you have 64 bit you will have to put both commands and hit Enter after each.

7. After you have hit enter it should have a pop-up window letting you know the command succeeded, click OK

8. Next type Regsvr32 -u "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll" again this command is for 32 and 64 bit, for 64 bit you also want to run this command Regsvr32 -u "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll"

9. You will again get a prompt that the commands succeeded, click OK

10. Next you will want to type Regsvr32 atl.dll and hit Enter, this one you only have to run one command line for 32 and 64 bit

11. You will again get a prompt that the commands succeeded, click OK

12. Next type Regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll" again this command is for 32 and 64 bit, for 64 bit you also want to run this command Regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll"

13. You will again get a prompt that the commands succeeded, click OK

14. Next type Regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll" again this command is for 32 and 64 bit, for 64 bit you also want to run this command Regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll"

15. You will again get a prompt that the commands succeeded, click OK

16. Close your command prompt

17. Reboot

18. Now turn on your Windows Sidebar and it should start up for you, remember to do this follow step 2

19. You should be done and the Windows Sidebar should start up now.

Hope this guide helped you with your Windows Sidebar issues. The Windows Sidebar is a nice tool to have and its even nicer when it works properly.