New Connection Wizard missing

About a month ago I formatted the hard drive in my IBM T23 laptop and reinstalled XP Pro. Normally, the laptop is part of a LAN (along with my XP desktop and my 98 SE desktop) with a cable connection to the internet, but I use dial-up when I take the laptop on trips.

Today, while prepping it for the first trip since Windows was reinstalled, I realized that both the New Connection Wizard and the Network Setup Wizard are missing from Network Connections ... the only thing showing is "Local Area Connection" for the LAN. Without the New Connection Wizard, I'm unable to set up the necessary dial-up connections.

I have run System File Checker and I tried a repair operation from the installation CD, but neither corrected the problem.

Any ideas on how I can get the New Connection Wizard back, short of a complete reinstallation of Windows?

Addendum:

I still don't have the wizard icon back, but I discovered that I can access it from the File menu.

 

In your network properties window (right-click My Network Places and click properties), do you have a section on the left called Network Tasks? If so, does it display a double arrow pointing up or a double arrow pointing down?

If down, click on the double arrow to expand the options and you should see your wizard again.

The above assumes you aren't set for "Use Windows Classic Folders ". If you are, things will look a little different and the wizard should be displayed.

 

Newt ...

I just discovered that, although I use Windows Classic, "Use Windows classic folders" wasn't selected in Folder Options. As soon as I selected it and clicked on "Apply" both wizards reappeared.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction ... I only wish I'd asked the question sooner.