How Do I Access Settings If Windows +I Gives Me An Error

boweasel · 16 Dec 2016

A couple months ago I bought a used Gateway DX4860-UB20P tower that had been upgraded from Windows 7. I've been using it mostly to store mp3s. It seems to work okay, but there's a few 'minor' problems that have me puzzled.

Left-clicking the start button does nothing. Right-clicking works fine - I can get to the Control Panel, open a command prompt, shutdown, restart, etc.

Thinking a Refresh should work wonders I hit the Windows +I combo. I got a message box - This App can't open. There's a problem with Settings. Contact your system administrator about repairing or reinstalling it.

If I right-click the Start and select Search and enter Settings I get nothing. Right-clicking an empty space on the taskbar gives me options, one of which is Settings. Clicking on it does nothing.

I created a new user with administrator privileges using the command prompt. The only difference, after switching to that user is that I don't get an error screen anymore when I hit Windows +I. It does nothing.

I ran a system file check and it told me that no integrity violations were found. A full Malwarebytes scan found nothing - it even congratulated me on finding no problems.

I do have a Home 64 disc, but a complete clean reinstall would mean a lot of transferring to a new external drive (one that I have not yet purchased). That reset seems like just the ticket, but I don't know how to get there. And of course, accessing Updates seems to be impossible without first getting into Settings.

Kari · 16 Dec 2016

Repair install is what you should do: Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Tutorials

boweasel · 17 Dec 2016

Kari said:

Repair install is what you should do: Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Tutorials

Sure, and what happened is exactly what I expected - You can't keep Windows settings, personal files, and apps because your current version of Windows might be installed in an unsupported directory. The only option is to keep nothing. I didn't know how or why but I was positive that this would not go smoothly. An unsupported directory? C:\Windows? Unsupported? Another MS bite in the rear!

boweasel · 17 Dec 2016

I'm guessing that the 'unsupported directory' message has something to do with the following

Winver on the Gateway tower listed as Version 1607 (OS Build 143393.576)
Running the Dism command on the ISO disk in the tower reads Version 10.0.10586, Win 10 Pro.

I'm sure I downloaded the ISO from this site, and I labeled it Windows 10 Home 64, so I dunno how I ended up with Pro. And if the error is really because of the difference in type and build, wouldn't you think Microsoft would be smart enough (after all these years) to actually display a message that was relevant to the issue?