Desktop Properties are Disabled

[Guest]

When I right click on the desktop, then click on properties, I see an
hourglass for a split second but nothing opens. This also happens in Control
Panel. I'm running xp home sp1.
I would appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Guest]

Try this:

Open Start, Run, type 'regsvr32 themeui.dll' (without the quotation marks) and click OK.

 

[Guest]

I copied and pasted your suggestion without the quotes and received an error
message LoadLibrary("themeui.dll") failed - The filename, directory name, or
volume label syntax is incorrect. Is there an obvious problem with what I
entered?

 

[Guest]

Daniel,
My problem is similar please help.
I can open the "Display Properties" box on the desktop, but when I go to tab
"Desktop" it freezes up and I am unable to change the desktop. All other tabs
function ok. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tommy D

 

[Guest]

Not a common Regsvr32 output... I suggest the following:

- Type without the quotes 'regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\system32\themeui.dll' in the Run menu and click OK. (I suppose Windows is installed on C drive.)

- Click Start, Run, type 'sfc /scannow' and click OK. This will check system files for consistency.

If the above didn't work I'll need a Dependency Walker log to get some clues:

Download Dependency Walker from www.dependencywalker.com. Run the application, click File, Open and load Regsvr32.exe file (placed in \Windows\System32 directory). Press F7, type 'themeui.dll' in the 'Program arguments' box and click OK.

Then you could e-mail me the resultant log text which will have been generated, and I'll take a look.

--
Regards,
Daniel Martín
Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[Guest]

Daniel, this is Spoot51 (Tommy D)
I know I didn't start the thread, but thanks for the help. I ran
"themeui.dll", and rebooted. The Desktop tab in the display properties box
still doesn't work, although the other tabs function ok.
I created a new user, logged on under that name and everything worked fine.
I downloaded Dependency Walker, ran it and get a message "At least one module
has an unresloved import due to a missing export function in a delay-load
dependent module." I will e-mail you the whole file if you tell me how.

 

[Guest]

If a new user account solved the problem maybe a corrupted or extremely large My Pictures folder was causing the hangs (when you click on the Desktop tab Windows scans the %UserProfile%\My Documents\My Pictures folder, among others).

Copy all data except the My Pictures folder from your old profile:

How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151/en-us

--
Regards,
Daniel Martín
Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[Guest]

Hi Daniel,
I tried your suggestion using the full path but received the same error
message. I'm unclear about whether I should run sfc/scannow since I received
an error. Should I try that or go to the Dependency Walker? (btw, I made
sure that the themeui.dll exists and is in the directory you indicated.)
Thanks for your help.

 

[Guest]

I just ran scannow and received no messages from it - I'm assuming that's
good news.

 

[Guest]

I think you've hit it. "MyPictures" folder had over 45,000 files ranging from
slides I took 35 years ago to current 3.5mb files from my Canon 20D digital.
To fix the problem I moved half the pictures into a new folder and not a
sub-directory of My Pictures. I now have about 20,000 pics in MyPictures and
the thing works again. I'll certainly mange the MyPictures file down to size
in future.
Thanks for the help!
Tommy D

 

[Guest]

Hi Daniel,
Sorry for this piecemeal update. I ran DependencyWalker and the log file
has some red in it which I don't know how to decipher. There is also an
error saying the system cannot find efsadu.dll. Do you want me to paste the
logfile into a response or email it as an attachment. If you want email,
please tell me where to send it. Thanks, again, for your assistance.
P

 

[Guest]

OK, send me all the info: (e-mail address removed) (remove "DONTSPAMME").

 

[Guest]

You're welcome, Tommy!