# Vista, no control panel



## xfranciscox92

well all i can think of is did u lock the taskbar maybe it went down??


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## Murlocke

I don't know what you mean by that, I reformatted all was fine, installed some programs, restart still was fine...

Went to bed, logged on today, its gone again.

***? GG MICROSOFT...


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## tweek43110

well if its not showing you can: Run-->Control Panel

Also right click on your taskbar and go to properties. click the start menu tab and customize, make sure control panel is selected to be displayed


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## squarepusher

Gg Vista. No way am I upgrading.


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## 13 3 @ 7 l 3 13 0 y

do a search on the start-menu searchbar for "control panel" it should come up









i love the search bar


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## Fishie36

Woah... I hope this is just a freak accident and not a regular problem!

Try contatcting microsoft tech support ASAP! At the very least, let them know it happened so they can fix it for others.


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## Murlocke

Microsoft just flat out told me they dont know the problem and blamed it on my Raid 0.

Control Panel doesnt exsist.

I managed to get my control panel open and there are 0 Items, and 0 hidden items.

Right clicking the desktop or computer and going to properties doesnt even pop anything up.. Its like gone!

So basically I just wasted 400$, and 370$ on the 2GB more of ram I just purchased for vista. (Vista took a GB of my ram on idle, with no programs running..)


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## 13 3 @ 7 l 3 13 0 y

yeah i REALLY doubt they did that, dont lie.

MS HAS to stay on the line until they fix the problem, or tell you who else to call, or at the very least tell you to reinstall.


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## Chopes

Virus maybe?


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## Murlocke

No, that is what he said. Then he put me on hold, and im still on hold.

And there no way I am getting a virus, the stuff I installed was on my external and I've used those exact .exes for over a year.

The only thing I can think of is something I installed ruins my control panel after like 5 restarts. I've installed all my programs, then restarted twice. And my control panel was still there... Then went to bed, got up and its gone.


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## Higgins

well... it might well have been a RAID error as much as a windows problem... my friend did a bad install with vista, and a day or two after the control panel wouldn't load (would come up but no icons inside), he had to open two to get anything done, reinstalled and it was all good... so reinstall, things like this happen with XP so dont be all like "omg vista sucks cause i got an error" it came out what like two weeks ago?

And support is probably swamped because old people cant find the start bar.


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## noshibby

ok ill give you the control panel put it in

C:/Users/(your account name)/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Accessories/System Tools


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## Fishie36

I had some wierd stuff like this happen when XP was installed with a bad cd-drive. Tons of stuff was missing... networking, themes, about half of the control panel









I'd check your disc and try reinstalling if MS really won't help you.


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## Murlocke

Everything in my computer is less then a year old, The support guy basically had me restore to a time before this happened, and it worked.. but it didnt solve the problem because it will most likely happen again.

I had a wierd issue about a week before i jumped to vista though...

One day I started my comp up and it wouldnt go past loading windows, just sat at the loading bar for 2 hours, then I shut it down and it went, but it ran a CHKDSK saying my hard drives had bad files, but it fixed them. I wonder if one of my raptors is already dying on me.

Maybe vista just needs updated RAID drivers... If it happens again ill let you guys know, Im creating a restore point about every hour to try to find out what is causing it...


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## prosser13

I had a problem where Windows XP was loading, but the loading bar went slow mo and all fragmented - wierd as hell.

Restarted after 5 minutes and never seen it since


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## iLLz

It appears as though Vista is running in reduced functionality mode. There is something that i was able to do to get the control panel back. I simply run services.msc and locate the Software Licensing service and restart it. It will restart the Readyboost service as well because it relies on the SL service. But then the control panel is back and all functionality is too.

The problem is I don't want to do that after every reboot. I seriously think it might be related to the nvidia beta drivers for the 8800GTX. I have the evga model as well. Today I uninstalled the drivers and the control panel was back. I don't know if this is it for sure, i had to goto work so I will play with it more when I get home.

Try to restart the SL Service and see if it brings back the CP. If it does, then reboot and see if it goes away again. If it does, then uninstall the Forceware drivers for vista and then reboot and see if that was the problem. I am interested in hearing from you.

BTW - I did a complete format and clean install again, and the problerm came back after I installed all the drivers, etc. I didn't install much but I noticed that my PC locked up when it was sitting idle for a while. I think it has to do with the drivers for the 8800GTX. We'll see...

- iLLz


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## nolazach

While reading this forum, I restarted my laptop that I just put Vista on. the "Welcome center" came up and I was able to accsess control panel. when I closed it I was not able to open it again. Also I can't open the "personalize" tab. I was able to earlier but now I can't.

Also I can't verify my Vista with Microsoft, for some reason. Their tech is garbage. Vista= waste of money. If your XP works fine keep it, the new bells and whistles are not worth this headache!!!!

Gonna go back to XP. I smashed my Vista CD. I will wait a few years before I try this garbage again. I tried playing a video and it took 100% of my 3.2GHZ processor. Vista is garbage. Do not buy it stay away!!!!!!!!


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## ENTERPRISE

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nolazach*


While reading this forum, I restarted my laptop that I just put Vista on. the "Welcome center" came up and I was able to accsess control panel. when I closed it I was not able to open it again. Also I can't open the "personalize" tab. I was able to earlier but now I can't.

Also I can't verify my Vista with Microsoft, for some reason. Their tech is garbage. Vista= waste of money. If your XP works fine keep it, the new bells and whistles are not worth this headache!!!!


If your Vista copy isnt authentic then you cant verfiy it with Microsoft. It must be authentic.

Also Vista is not garbage. You obviously havent grasped Vista properly or had bad luck with it. I have got it and it works wonders for me and I know other who have a good time with it.

If you smashed up a copy of Vista then all I can say is I hope you like bying things twice lol.

*An Os is only as good as the Person using it. Excluding OS bugs*

You just need to learn something new..Give it time .


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## atomicfission92

I'm really not sure what everyone's problem is with Vista. It is a GOOD OS. Its the users IMO. Not a single problem so far and I have been running it for about a week or so.


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## iLLz

As it turns out, the problem was overclocking. I have an Intel E6600 which has a stock speed of 2400 MHz.

I overclocked this baby to 3600 MHz (400 x 9) with no problems in XP and it appears that Vista has this issue at this speed. I have since went to 3200 MHz (400 x 8) and all is well. It has something to do with the SL Service starting up at boot with really high clock speeds.

At any rate, if you are having these problems and you overclock (I Bet you do if you post here







), then simply tone it down a bit until the problem doesn't exist anymore.

- iLLz


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## Dostoyevsky77

Hello. Old thread, I see. I have been having this problem since I installed Vista, but here's a workaround that works for me:

1) Launch services.msc from a run command
2) Find the SLUNotify service & stop it
3) Find the Software Licensing service & stop it (it may say that ReadyBoost needs that service to run; stop it anyway)
4) Restart both services, starting with Software Licensing

I hope it helps one or more of you (if anyone even checks the thread anymore).

Cheers,

d


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## satcom

Same thing happened to me and it was spyware.


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## eureka

I used to get a clean install of XP and install Oblivion (without updating to latest updates) and it would crash all my programs, and not finish installations.

Horrible.


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## jar3232

Yeah, it is spyware...I run Advanced Window Care...After that a restart usually fixes the problem...Only thing is if you turn off UAC, this turns it back on...Just make sure you un-check that box...


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## Bill Frontdoor

Sup,

i had this a few times on Vista x64 and it occurred when ticking "No GUI boot" in msconfig.

I beleive it may be a conflict between this and the nVidia drivers, but now that ive got everything working again i really cant be bothered to uninstall the nvidia drivers just to test if this is true or not.

I have also read loads of other resons for this bug but see if u have "No GUI boot" checked under the boot tab in msconfig and if so uncheck it.

Hope this helps, peace out


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## DRay9911

Hello. I found this thread through a google search "vista control panel gone".

My problems started up on Saturday morning. It took me over 10 minutes to reboot my laptop. I didn't download anything crazy although I may have received some spyware.

When I finally remembered I could do a system restore, I went to the control panel and it wasn't there (although I can get to the features using the start button).

I downloaded ad-aware last night and ran it, still can't get my control panel back and reboots still take 10+ min.

I will try what Dostoyevsky77 posted as well as download AWC, hopefully I can get my laptop running back to normal.

Last question: Is there a way to bypass the restore points set up by vista? I would like to restore my system back to last Thursday or Friday.

-dan
DRay9911 (at) gmail (dot) com


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## Samhaine

i had that problem ,no control panel,no restore, after i overclocked from 3.0 - 3.6ghz,at frist i ran a repair and window said there was no problem,so i ran a windows memory test and the problem went away for 2/3 days,next i reformated vista at 3.6 ghz and been working for 3 months with no problems,


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## Bill Frontdoor

I got this bug again recently









While i found that restarting the Software Licensing Service provided a temporary fix, the error came back after every reboot.

Finally got rid of it again by updating the Windows Experience Index after restarting the Software Licensing Service.

May be a fluke but its gone again


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## vidcel

I think I fixed it I set the SLUNotify service to automatic and problem seems to have gone.
Problem was there every second time I booted.
Just tried the SP1 beta that seems to make a fair difference to the response of the machine.


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## starsie

Hi. Well i don't even know if you need any further help with this issue, but if you just downclock your comp to factory defaults and boot everything will be OK. You will get control panel, computer properties and all. I'm having this problem for a month now and so far i haven't found an answer what causes it and how to deal with it (Googling does not help at all!). Formating and reinstalling helps, but amazingly after a day or two (or sometimes even a couple of hours) i turn my PC on and there is no access to properties or control panel or any other system settings (though all programs, games, network work fine) unless i downclock it to factory defaults. What is really interesting, it's that it STARTED a month ago. It worked fine for 3 months, NEVER had a problem(!). It just started happening out of NOWHERE at all.

Here are my specs:
Gigabyte X38-DQ6
Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.40 with CoolerMaster Sphere
2 x 1GB Kingmax 8500 @ 1136mhz 5-5-5-18
Asus EAH3870 (aka ATI HD3870 512mb DDR4)
HD - 320GB WD Sata2 16mb
CoolerMaster 700W REAL POWER PRO MODULAR PSU


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## Thingamajig

ive got this problem.

Just rebooted and windows Aero has gone along with my control panel.

Sometimes control panel window appears but has no icons. othertimes it doesn't appear at all.

This is really pissing me off now. ive obtained the "hotfix" from microsoft but this didn't help, as when i triy and install it it says i do not need it

Ive also tried using the services method - also did not work.

I am also running Vista's service pack 1 RC...id uninstall it if i had add/remove programs.


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## R3ap3R

See the section of my guide pertaining to the control panel.


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## Thingamajig

Quote:



Originally Posted by *R3ap3R*


See the section of my guide pertaining to the control panel.


It's alright - i booted into safe mode and uninstalled the SP1 RC that fixed the problem.

But thanks very much for coming in and helping. and for writing the guide. its much appreciated


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## Matt | dofollow is cool

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Murlocke* 
After spending 8 hours getting my data back after installing vista, I restarted and my control panel is gone, I cant even view the properties of my desktop or computer...

I'm beyond mad and about to just forget computers all together...How the hell can my control panel just disappear along with all this other stuff...

All I did was install 15ish games..

I came across this solution which helped me. Likely it will help you. I just found a service wasn't running. Check it out - solution to no vista control panel


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## wiggy2k7

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Matt | dofollow is cool* 
I came across this solution which helped me. Likely it will help you. I just found a service wasn't running. Check it out - solution to no vista control panel

OMG... Do you realise how old this thread is ???


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