Chad Harris said:I've seen similar problems with the CP in builds 5840 and RTM. I have
seen Add/Remove and the CP balk in XP and a reboot fix it.
I've had the CP's icons missing after a reboot twice. Nothing I tried was
able to fix this, but I do have a workaround for you that will let you use
the applets and copy them to a folder on your desktop you can name CP or
whatever you like and use it as your surrogat CP if you can't fix it.. I
think this is a wider problem than the two of us, and I am going to try to
get some feedback from the Vista shell team or whomever I figure out works
with the CP.
First what I tried and didn't work:
From Kelly's XP:
1) http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_c.htm#cpiconsmissing
I don't see a "don't load" subkey and none of the icons are listed in the
right pane as value names in Vista so that may be a difference between
the XP Reg. and the Vista Reg.
2) You can try adding these:
You can get complete details by visiting the site but in brief a control
Panel tool can be included in a particular category by adding a registry
DWORD entry for the tool in the following registry key: Go to
Start/Run/Regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control
Panel\Extended Properties\{305CA226-D286-468e-B848-2B2E8E697B74} 2. Value
category ids are:
0x00000000 : Other Control Panel Options (any tool that does not specify a
category ID is placed in this category)
0x00000001 : Appearance and Themes
0x00000002 : Printers and Other Hardware
0x00000003 : Network and Internet Connections
0x00000004 : Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices
0x00000005 : Performance and Maintenance
0x00000006 : Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options
0x00000007 : Accessibility Options
0xFFFFFFFF : Do not put the tool in any category (for special tools such
as Add/Remove Programs which only start directly
I haven't tried this one.
3) I tried this with no help:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
#256:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/controlpanelrestrictionrestore.reg
The regedit that you can do automatically by clicking the above link is
this one:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoControlPanel"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoControlPanel"=dword:00000000
4) I tried system restoring using every available restore point since it
went missing. No dice.
5) I tried several on point MSKBs that did not work:
Control Panel "Dont Load Feature" Does Not Work
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221153
Control Panel Don'tOpen Value Does Not Work
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126972
6) I tried Win RE's Startup Repair which MSFT hasn't revealed to the
public is much less successful than a repair install in XP. But it is.
You won't see this piece of statistic in Jim Allchin's blog on Win RE nor
will you see it in Microsoft's Advertising in the foreplay or prelude to
the big 1/30/07.
I believe this is a bug in Vista that's going to be widelyknown and will
become an MSKB but whether there will be a fix is a good question.
The workaround is to 1) type in the name of any Vista control panel applet
into the search box above the start button for example programs or
administrative tools 2) type control panel into the search box above
start and expand it or to open up Help and Support and type control panel
into its search and then expand it. By that I mean from the left pane in
the Windows Explorer Window. You can click on the entry Control Panel in
the left pane and expand it and most of the applets (icons) will show up.
Further you can use the run box short cuts for each individual applet to
access them via the run box.
This is not always the same command in Vista as it is in XP, but most are
similar. There is an MSKB that lists some of these:
How to Open the CP From the Command Prompt (or Run Box will work for these
cmds)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/180025
You can also find additional run box cmds for subsets of the CP applets
using any search engine.
I'm sorry I don't have a fix. I've seen this happen with every build of
Vista. I've tried a lot of fixes. But I can still reach the CP applets
and just copy them into a folder so it really doesn't make any difference
whether the CP opens from the Start menu or I hit the applet I want with a
run command. In fact, it's faster to type in the run command in a run
box/address bar I plant in the task bar then it is to go all the way to
the left corner of my desktop and click on start>control panel.
That gives me a way to accept what I believe is a bug in Vista--control
panel's opening with all the icons breaking.
Good luck,
CH
Clayton said:Ever since installing Vista RTM and going to the control panel it only
shows the first 10 icons and says searching as the green bar goes across
the top of the address bar, this has happened alot and a reboot usually
fixes it.
Any idea why this is happening?
Thanks
Chas said:eClayton:
I have a similar problem in that clicking on control panel it flashes a
empty box and disapears. I could get it to work with a reboot or two, but now
that is failing as well. I had to rollback to a date that it was working to
get it back. I am wondering if this may have something to do with graphics
card. It is very strange because I get no error message and it is very ramdom.
I am running a gateway gm5420 computer with windows vista home premium. I am
running the intel grahics media accelerator driver which I just updated the
chipset.
Is anyone else having this problem...I am at a loss for a fix. All I can do
is rollback until it messes up again.
any help would be great
chas
I have the same problem. My control panel is sometimes empty. When thisChas said:eClayton:
I have a similar problem in that clicking on control panel it flashes a
empty box and disapears. I could get it to work with a reboot or two, but now
that is failing as well. I had to rollback to a date that it was working to
get it back. I am wondering if this may have something to do with graphics
card. It is very strange because I get no error message and it is very ramdom.
I am running a gateway gm5420 computer with windows vista home premium. I am
running the intel grahics media accelerator driver which I just updated the
chipset.
Is anyone else having this problem...I am at a loss for a fix. All I can do
is rollback until it messes up again.
any help would be great
chas
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