Turn windows features on or off - blank list

[Rusty]

I have Vista Home Premium SP2 on a desktop, fully updated.

When I open "Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features
on or off" the list is empty. It momentarily says "Please Wait...", then
never populates the list.

I read that it may have something to do with Windows Updates errors, so I
checked my history. I found 9 failed ones from 10-15 and 10-14. I went to the
windows download site and tried to manually install them. Every one I tried
ended with a message: "This update does not apply to your machine." I didn't
bother to try a couple of them since I do not use Windows mail. Maybe updates
had nothing to do with it. The problem persists.

I ran sfc /scannow and after completion it said corrupt files were found but
was unable to fix some of them. I don't have a Vista CD but I do have all of
the recovery disks I made when it was new, however I'm not sure how to
proceed.

Am I on the right track?

Thanks,
Rusty

 

[Rusty]

Mr. Arnold, yes my OS is an OEM installation.

Brink, That link is where I was reading and following to get to this point.
I've had no problem installing Microsoft updates, other than the failed ones
I mentioned in my original post.

When I ran sfc and it reported some files could not be repaired, I looked at
the recovery disk I made when the system was new. It does not have a folder
full of anything that looks like system files, such as the old i386 folder in
XP. All I see is a folder with SWM files and a folder with DLLs. I'm
thinking this disk is just to restore to out-of-box condition.

So my question is; how to repair system files with sfc. Is there a folder
within Vista with a copy of all system files that can be used to fix the
system. I used to keep a protected copy of them with XP, but I'm new at
Vista.

I hope I'm making sense. Thanks,
Rusty

 

[Rusty]

Yeah, their favorite cookbook reply is to reset it to its original setup. I
think I'll keep trying to fix it. I won't learn a thing from gutting it and
rebuilding it. I think I just need to figure out how to restore the corrupt
system files. It can't be too corrupt because the machine works flawlessly
other than that missing menu.
Thanks

 

[Borge]

I have Vista Home Premium SP2 on a desktop, fully updated.

When I open "Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features
on or off" the list is empty. It momentarily says "Please Wait...", then
never populates the list.

I read that it may have something to do with Windows Updates errors, so I
checked my history. I found 9 failed ones from 10-15 and 10-14. I went tothe
windows download site and tried to manually install them. Every one I tried
ended with a message: "This update does not apply to your machine." I didn't
bother to try a couple of them since I do not use Windows mail. Maybe updates
had nothing to do with it. The problem persists.

I ran sfc /scannow and after completion it said corrupt files were found but
was unable to fix some of them. I don't have a Vista CD but I do have allof
the recovery disks I made when it was new, however I'm not sure how to
proceed.

Am I on the right track?

Thanks,
Rusty

Try this fix http://borgetech.blogspot.com/2009/12/empty-windows-features-after-installing.html.
It worked for me...