Unable to open User Accounts Control Panel Applet

[Rick]

Windows XP Home (NTFS), logged in as Administrator, I have suddenly found
myself unable to launch the User Accounts Applet either within the Control
Panel or by directly d-clicking on nusrmgr.cpl.

Instead, an instance of Notepad opens with a blank window and the dialog:

"Notepad"

"The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect"

All other Control Panels open as desired, not is the CPL extension
associated with Notepad.

The only system change that I have made recently is the installation of the
latest IE Security Patch from Microsoft's site.

Any ideas on how to correct this so that I can make changes to my users?

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Rick,

This could be related to other file type associations, such as CSS, HTC, JS. As these are all used by the "eye candy" view of the User's Control Panel applet.

ASSOC .css=CSSfile
ASSOC .htc=htcfile
ASSOC .js=JSFile

Open a command prompt window and enter the 3 commands, above, exactly as shown. This will reassociate these extensions to their correct value. You can use just ASSOC .css, ASSOC .htc and ASSOC .js to see what the current associations are. They may already be correct.

 

[Rick]

Thanks Doug . . .
Checked the associations as you suggested and they were correct with the
exception of .htc which had no association. Added that association (ASSOC
..htc=htcfile), restarted. No change.

Can find no references to the Hypertext Component (.htc) in the registry at
all. Am I missing something else. User Accounts (both the GUI and the
command line) still attempt to open something with Notepad, and fail.

Rick

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

That's the only thing that comes to mind at this point.

 

[Rick]

Thanks for your effort. I will beat this thing even if it means I have to
do a line by line compare of two different XP registires.

If you think of anything else, PLEASE let me know.

Rick