Why Am I Losing Google Earth

**John Drake** · 04-12-2010

The icon disappeared and it it not on the start menu. I downloaded it again and while that appeared to go swimmingly the icon did not reappear on the desktop nor the program in the start menu. I downloaded it directly and got the download icon on the desktop but it still does nothing but download itself and no functional icon or program appears. There is no error message and the programs seem to think they have downloaded just fine.

This happened before when I had Vista, and I was told it was a Vista problem, but I have Windows 7 now. The GE forum does talk about the problem but they are ambiguous as to whether there is a feasible workaround or it is a Google Earth and/or Windows Issue. Has anyone heard anything about this, or have any idea what might be happening here? Could it be drivers?

**Tanngrisnir3** · 04-12-2010

Originally Posted by John Drake

The icon disappeared and it it not on the start menu. I downloaded it again and while that appeared to go swimmingly the icon did not reappear on the desktop nor the program in the start menu. I downloaded it directly and got the download icon on the desktop but it still does nothing but download itself and no functional icon or program appears.

This happened before when I had Vista, and I was told it was a Vista problem, but I have Windows 7 now. The GE forum is ambiguous as to whether there is a feasible workaround or it is a Google Earth and/or Windows Issue. Has anyone heard anything about this, or have any idea what might be happening here?

So go to the lower left 'start' button, then 'all programs', then 'Google Earth' and make a shortcut of it. Cut the shortcut, copy to your desktop, quickstart menu, or wherever and viola.

**Prince of Space** · 04-12-2010

Weird. I recently installed 7 and had yet to install Google Earth again so I just did and it is working fine. Do you have administrator privileges? I did not have to, but you could try installing and running in compatibility mode and click on "run as administrator." Is there a Google Earth folder in your program files directory at all?