Get me my control panel

When I launch "control panel" my screen freezes. It may have happened at the time I installed a second hard drive and copied "everything" from the first drive to the new one.

This question was answered on February 21, 2003. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Each item in Control Panel has an associated ".cpl" file These files, along with the Control Panel initialization file, "Control.ini", are loaded into memory when Control Panel is opened.

In the default Windows installation, these files are stored in the following folders:

File Folder

---- ------

Control.ini C:\WINDOWS

*.cpl C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM

To troubleshoot errors caused by Control Panel files, use the following methods:

Method 1: Test for a Corrupt Control Panel File

To test for corrupt Control Panel files, follow these steps:

Find all files that have the ".cpl" file extension To do this, follow the steps for your operating system.

Windows Millennium Edition

On the taskbar, click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.

In the Search for files or folders named box, type *.cpl.

In the Look in list, click My Computer, and then click Search Now.

All Control Panel item ".cpl" files appear in the Search Results pane.

Windows 98 or Windows 95

On the taskbar, click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.

In the Named box, type *.cpl In the Look in list, click My Computer, and then click Find Now.

All Control Panel item ".cpl" files appear in the list of found files.

In the list of found files, double-click a ".cpl" file under Name

The corresponding Control Panel item opens For example, when you double-click Inetcpl.cpl, the Internet Properties dialog box appears In addition, when you double-click a file such as Inetcpl.cpl, the symptoms described in the "Symptoms" section of this article may occur.

If the symptom does not occur, close the Control Panel item.

Follow steps 2 and 3 for each ".cpl" file in the file list until the symptoms occur, or until you have opened each Control Panel item.

NOTE: If the symptom does not occur with any of the Control Panel items, continue to Method 2 of this article.

Record the name of the file that caused the symptom to occur, and then close any open Control Panel items.

Rename the file that you recorded in step 5 to give it a file extension other than ".cpl".

Right-click the file that you want to rename, and then click Rename on the shortcut menu that appears.

In the name box, type filename.old (where filename is the name of the file that you recorded in step 5), and then press ENTER.

Restart the computer.

Open Control Panel If the symptom occurs, proceed to Method 2 of this article.

If Control Panel opens normally, obtain a new copy of the file that you renamed in step 6.

If the file is related to a Windows Control Panel item, extract a new copy of the file from your

If the file is related to a third-party Control Panel item, reinstall the item or contact the manufacturer for a new copy of the file.

Method 2: Rename Control Panel Initialization File

If the symptom still occurs after you successfully test all of the Control Panel ".cpl" files, rename the Control.ini file To do this, follow these steps:

Search for the Control.ini file To do this, follow the steps appropriate for your operating system.

Windows Millennium Edition

On the taskbar, click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.

In the Search for files or folders named box, type Control.ini.

In the Look in list, click My Computer, and then click Search Now.

Control.ini appears in the Search Results pane.

Windows 98 or Windows 95

On the taskbar, click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.

In the Named box, type Control.ini, then in the Look in list, click My Computer, and then click Find Now.

Control.ini appears in the list of found files.

Right-click Control.ini, and then click Rename on the shortcut menu that appears.

In the name box type Control.old, then press ENTER, and then click Yes to confirm the filename extension change.

Restart the computer.

Open Control Panel.

About the author

Posted by Eugene of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 21, 2003

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