Cannot open Windows 10 Settings - ImmersiveControlPanel repair/rebuild

Issue: Cannot open settings app in Windows 10 - corrupt ImmersiveControlPanel repair/rebuild:

What fixed my settings app incase of "TL-DR":

Folder Location: C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\

Running cmd as admin:
From C:\

cd Windows
rename ImmersiveControlPanel ImmersiveControlPanel.old
SFC /scannow

SFC will rebuild ImmersiveControlPanel.

Settings was working immediately after.


Hello everyone,
My Windows 10 install was suffering from this issue for some time. I finally decided to try and work out a fix since it's a public holiday and I have time. This issue was annoying but since It only really affected the settings app I left it in the "I'll get to it later" basket, A typical self employed tech with no time for their own computers. Other functions like apps, appstore and start menu in Windows were unaffected.

Being a computer tech it frustrated me not being able to find any info on what fixed this in the end for me. I am sure this info is out there somewhere but I could not find it. I've decided to post this here so it can benefit someone just like me when trying to find a solution to this obscure problem.

The only persistent Windows 10 issue I've come across where I couldn't justify a fresh install was on my own computer. No firm idea on what caused it, But I suspect it likely would have cropped up about the time when I had a few random graphics driver crashes and BSOD (nvidia fixed this in the next driver). That was a few months ago (october-november) and that was when I last remembered my settings app was working fine.

My symptoms:

• Cannot open Settings from Start Menu (Will flash on screen then close - No useful info in event manager)
• Cannot open Settings from shortcut (If manually created)
• When opening other functions to do with settings would get errors refering to ms-settings for example on display settings:

"ms-settting:display This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel"

• No issue with start menu or the opening of other apps (not related to settings) including app store
• Could browse and install/open new apps
• While this issue persisted Windows updates were not able to download or install
• Windows was stuck on build 10240 - Could not install 1511 update

Any other function that relied on the Settings app would not work - for exampleisplay settings

• Personalisation settings
• Lockscreen settings
• Windows update (for me)
• etc

Fixes that I have tried:

• CHKDSK /F and /R from within Windows and Live CDs (Only minor issues found)
• SFC /Scannow (Before my fix in the end it did not fix anything)
• System Restore
• Tried the powershell Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} fix
• Tried the DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth fix
• Create a new user
• Could not upgrade with 1511 Windows disc

The fixes that did not fix my issue above may still have enabled my fix to be successful later however.

Anyway, If anyone has an issue similar hopefully this is helpful for them in some way. Hopefully this issue will become searchable now. I'm sure that I am not the only person to have had this although I have only ever seen this on my own computer. Perhaps I am the only one?

Cheers

PogmaN suggestion to RENAME IMMERSIVECONTROLPANEL/SFC SCAN worked perfectly, after months of troubleshooting. The issue was on a Surfacepro 4 everytime they Docked or UNDOCKED.

Issue was in user's profile does not need repairs (SFC / dism / rename C:\Windows\Immer..)
Rather rename this key:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SessionInfo\1\ImmersiveShell

I have tried everything! Including the suggestions made here! I still get the Settings pop up and disappear immediately!
I am reluctant to go through the process of reinstalling Windows but I believe that is the only avenue remaining!

My story is that I followed suggestions some time ago to enable gpedit in Win10 Home in an effort to delay (per some one else's suggestion that gpedit could be used for it), the incessant updates! My motivation for that is; for some strange reason, when I restart my desktop, on (randomly) between the fourth to seventh attempt, my F drive (my main archiving drive) appears! On other start ups it doesn't..! I had tried moving the drive to different SATA ports and it doesn't help! I have three drives, two SSD's and the F drive a Seagate 2TB. I've already updated the BIOS to see if that was the culprit to no avail.

So, I added gpedit, never restarted to finish the addition.. Then, I buckled, allowed an update, thinking; well I have to restart for the gpedit to work anyway and voila; no settings!

Sorry that I seem to be going on but I reluctantly went to Win10 when I built this PC after many great years with Win7. I also have 2 linux machines and even an old PC with Vista! They never suffer any issues like this! I'm an old guy, as in DOS was my MS starting point and before that PDP11's, a VIC20 and so on! (I'm a Mech eng, not CS eng!)

If it helps in any way, I get "this file does not have an app associated ..." if I right click and try to use the "personalize" option on the desktop, and I got error code: -2147219196 (which everyone seems to think is related to the windows photo app) when I tried to 'trick it into running' - I can't remember what I did to get that though!!

Anyone got a clue?

@dalchina,

I have searched for days and I have tried all sorts of things from signing in as Admin, Scans, all of the previous suggestions and even trying to take ownership of the manifest file in the immersive control panel to see if that could solve my issue.

Nothing that I have, as yet, found on web searches has worked.

The fact that doing a system re-install appears to be the only way to remedy this, concerns me! It's akin to saying that if your engines control module fails, you should replace the engine as well!! All too often Windows errors and issues are resolved by 'major' fixes as opposed to the; 'replace this file' and the problem will be fixed! I am a firm believer in finding the root cause of an issue to address it, if it happens again in the future! Microsoft seem to have adopted a: replace the whole thing and the problem will go away attitude and that is now present even within the 'experts' groups such as this.

PogmaN appeared to have a different mindset, I read, during my many searches for a solution, people commending his/her suggestion as being a great way to resolve the problem, that is what led me to this forum. Basically it was one of the few that offered/suggested an alternative to 'replace the engine as well' approach.

I regret the addition of the gpedit, which may have been the cause, but the fact that I allowed an update at the same time may have exacerbated the problem!

The gp edit batch is:

@echo off
pushd "%~dp0"
dir /b C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package~3*.mum >Files.txt
dir /b C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package~3*.mum >>Files.txt
echo Installing Group Policy Editor...
for /f %%i in ('findstr /i . Files.txt 2^>nul') do dism /online /norestart /add-package:"C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\%%i"
echo.
echo Installation complete.
echo.
pause

I really thought it would be a straightforward enable a feature (note that I wasn't trying to cheat Microsoft out of earnings, I was wanting to simply slow the frequency of the updates!).

I guess I will ultimately have to perform the 'rebuild' but as I said before, it is a desire to understand why a broken outlet forced me to rebuild my entire house! (I'm into analogies BTW).

Thanks

I did the Windows rebuild and the settings are back, but.. no ST2000 HDD! I tried rebooting numerous times and finally gave up!

I had a USB to SATA adapter so I put the drive on that.

Anyone any idea why I can't get my 4 spare SATA connections to work?

I have a Western Digital 1TB on one of the M2_2 slot, a Samsung EVO on the first SATA3_1 and a DVD on SATA3_2


I read that if you use 3, 4 is disabled but I can't get the ST2000 (Seagate 2TB HDD) to be recognized on any one of the SATA3 ports?? There are four.. I searched the ASRock B450 Pro4 forums and it seems that this is a variable, some people have issues but simply plugging into a different one seems to work for most??

I updated the BIOS to 3.5 because I have the Ryzen5 2600 so it appears that the latter updates aren't compatible with that particular processor.

Anyone got any suggestions ideas? I would never have been in this situation if Windows didn't keep updating and forcing restarts! I guess the good thing is that with the drive mounted outside, any reboot won't be as problematic for me as it was before!

Cheers.