Program Manager Issues in Windows 95

ID: Q116245

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS

One or more of the following problems occurs when you use Program Manager with Windows 95:

When you use the mouse to drag a link from the Windows 95 desktop to a Program Manager group, the item description is truncated to eight characters.

When you copy a link or item from the desktop to Program Manager, the item's icon is lost.

You cannot drag an item from a Program Manager group to the Windows 95 desktop.

You cannot copy the My Computer, Network Neighborhood, Control Panel, or Printers folders to a Program Manager group. The Info Center folder can be copied to the group, but it does not work properly because of an "Invalid Path" error.

Changes to the Start menu, either performed manually or performed automatically by an installation program, are not reflected in Program Manager group files.

Note that these behaviors can also occur with Windows 98 if you upgrade an existing installation of Windows 95 to Windows 98. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: Q185146
TITLE : No Program Groups Are Available When You Open Program Manager

CAUSE

Although Program Manager ships with Windows 95, it has not been updated from the previous version of Microsoft Windows; therefore, you may encounter several issues while using Program Manager. It is provided to ease the transition from Program Manager to the Windows 95 desktop.

MORE INFORMATION

Truncated Description

Program Manager uses the filename minus the extension when you take advantage of the drag-and-drop capability to create an icon. For example, if you drag the MS-DOS Prompt link from the Desktop to a Program Manager group, the MS-DOS Prompt description is shortened to "MS-DOSPR." This occurs because the MS-DOS Prompt link uses the MS-DOS name "MS-DOSPR.LNK."

To work around this issue, manually edit the description of the item by choosing the item and then clicking Properties from the File menu on Program Manager's menu bar.

Lost Icon

The icon that is created in the Program Manager group is referencing a file with an .LNK extension. Program Manager has no knowledge of such an extension; therefore, you get a generic icon.

To work around this issue, manually change the selected icon by performing the following steps:

Select the item.

On the Program Manager File menu, click Properties.

Click the Change Icon button.

Click OK when you receive the following error message:

The path "%1" is invalid.

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Type the path to the icon you want to use or select an icon from the choices given, then click OK.

Cannot Perform Drag-and-Drop from Program Manager to Windows 95

Program Manager is not designed to provide drag-and-drop functionality from its groups to the Windows 95 desktop.

This is expected behavior for Windows 95; therefore, there is no workaround.

Cannot Copy Folders to a Program Manager Group

The folders that are created when you install Windows 95 are not designed to work with Program Manager. Program Manager recognizes files only.

This is expected behavior for Windows 95; therefore, there is no workaround.

Changes to Start Menu

Although Windows 95 automatically updates the Start menu with changes to Program Manager group files, the reverse does not occur. If you want changes to the Start menu to be reflected in Program Manager group files, you must perform the changes manually.

Additional query words: progman.exe


Keywords          : kbtool kbui win95 win98 
Version           : 95
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: January 13, 1999