control panel, applications will not open 2

[andrewgrain]

During a recent application install, the power was disconected by accident. After a reboot I could no longer start programs such as Add/Remove programs, mouse, time/date etc from within control panel.

How can I rectify without a complete re-install

 

[richardkilmartin]

Sounds like a corrucpt cpl file, try doing a search for *.cpl and renaming the extension from .cpl to something like .old, one at a time and back again until you find the one that allows you to open the control panel appelets, I have just had another thought that you could try downloading and running tweakui from microsoft this has a utility for repairing some stuff. You could also try running the command sfc from the run box to see if there are any damaged system files.

Hope this helps

Rich

 

[reghakr]

andrew

There are a couple Knowledge Base articles to check out:
In Internet Explorer, go to Help>Online Support, choose the Microsoft Knowledge Base, then check the box that says specify an article ID number, then paste the article numbers below beginning with Q into the search box.

Q164787 - INFO The Windows 95 Rundll and Rundll32 Interface
Q192806 - How to Run Control Panel Tools by Typing a Command
Q166168 - HOWTO Use RUNDLL32 to Debug Control Panel Applets
Q193882 - General Protection Fault Error Message Opening Control Panel.
Q221153 - Control Panel Does Not Open

What hapens when you type the following into the Ruin box:
rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL appwiz.cpl,,1

reghakr

 

[Kento]

Not sure if it'll work in this case but restoring the registry to a time before the problem might fix it. I guess it can't hurt to try.

Win98...

Start your computer and keep pressing F8, and then choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only from the Windows 98 Startup menu. At the MS-DOS prompt, type cd\windows\command and then press ENTER. At the C: prompt, type scanreg /restore and then press ENTER. There's a space between the g and /. Then select a registry dated the day before the problem started and then press ENTER. NOTE: A properly working registry has the word "Started" next to the date. When you receive notification that you restored a properly working registry, press ENTER to restart your computer.

WinME...

Insert your Windows ME boot diskette, restart the PC. It should boot to the boot diskette and display a boot menu with 4 options. Take the option for "Minimal Boot". Enter the following commands and press enter after each.

c:
scanreg /restore

Now use the up/down arrows to highlight a registry backup dated the day before the problem started and follow the prompts to restore it. When your prompted to Start Windows with the restored registry, remove the boot disk and follow the prompts to start Windows.