Control Panel Empty Issue

Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone else is having this issue and can suggest a
permanent cure?

Every now and again the vista control panel will become empty. It doesn't
mater if it's classic or not, the control panel flashes empty for a second
and closes. If accessed from start menu in show as menu mode it's just
empty. If accessed from explorer it has a much reduced number of icons.

I have found that deleting the control panel entry from prefetch cures the
problem on the next boot but the issue does come back after a while, not in
the current session but after rebooting.

I wonder if anyone else has this problem and knows what causes it. My
suspicion is accessing remotely has some effect as the CP always seems to be
missing afterwards after a reboot. I need to test this further though.

I am glad to see that someone else is having similar problems with the
control panel not loading from time to time. I just bought a new
computer with windows vista home premium on it and discovered that from
time to time the control panel won't load. It will flash empty for a
brief second and close. A reboot seems to fix the problem. However, the
last time this happened...it took 2 reboots. I have tried to duplicate
the problem with no luck so far. I have noticed that the "personalize"
link when you right click on the desktop will not load either. I am
sure this has something to do with the fact that it is a feature in the
control panel.

I know I haven't been much help, but at least we both know it is not a
isolated issue, but instead a glitch within the vista operating system.

Well I've tried some tests and can't seem to recreate what causes it to
disappear. Seems almost random that every few reboots the CP will disappear
(and personalise menu). For me though rebooting doesn't bring it back, even
after 3 or 4 reboots. For me only deleting the CONTROL.EXE-817F8F1D.pf file
in the windows\prefetch folder and rebooting fixes. For a while anyway,
after another couple of reboots and the CP disapears again

I wonder why deleting this file always works and why. Must be corrupt but
don't know why. BTW running retail Vista Ultimate Edition.

Every now and again the vista control panel will become empty. It
doesn't
mater if it's classic or not, the control panel flashes empty for a
second
and closes. If accessed from start menu in show as menu mode it's just
empty. If accessed from explorer it has a much reduced number of
icons.

I have found that deleting the control panel entry from prefetch cures
the
problem on the next boot but the issue does come back after a while,
not in
the current session but after rebooting.

I wonder if anyone else has this problem and knows what causes it. My
suspicion is accessing remotely has some effect as the CP always seems
to be
missing afterwards after a reboot. I need to test this further though.

Stuart:

I replied once before to your post stating that I have had the sam
problem with control panel. I have since contacted my computers tech
support (gateway) concerning this issue. They had me restore or roll back
my computer to an earlier date to try and fix the problem. I told them
that I felt this would be a temporary fix....they didn't seem to have
much of a resolve other that to restore to the date I bought the computer
which would wipe out all my data and programs I have installed.

I have googled this problem with spotty results of problems and do
solution.
I was just wondering if you have had any success finding a fix to this
problem?

I don't know if this is just luck or a possible work around...

I was having the same problem.
I went to Control Panel and rather than left clicking, I right clicked
and chose Explore. It opened right up.

Hope this helps.

Hi,
I'm having the same intermittent issue in which the control panel is
sometimes empty (the welcome screen will not load at login).

I can't access any control panel items thru the UI... eg if I type
printers in the search box in the start menu, it doesn't come up with
anything!

Don't know if this helps any of you, but if I try to access SOME
control panel items directly (ncpa.cpl, desk.cpl, sysdm.cpl) they
launch fine, whereas others (appwiz.cpl,
firewall.cpl) still refuse to load...

Anyone had any more insights on this issue?

Hmm. This isn't encourging. I have just got a new PC and have exactly the
same problem. Vista was fine for a while and then the control panel vanished.
I rolled back to factory install and it was back until the next re-boot and
now it's gone seemingly for good.

If anyone at MS reads these forums HELP US PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Since deleting the Prefetch file helps, you might try stopping and
disabling the "Superfetch" service and restarting to see if that helps.
If not, just restart it and put it on automatic.

Hope this helps

[Jaycub]

Control panel fix for Vista?

Hi Guys this is a problem i had with my new pc it's two days old running vista ultimate 32bit, and after booting to the desktop the control panel applets were missing games wouldn't launch, and the answer below i found on the MSDN forum i think his name was Joe, and from most of the answers i have looked at this worked the easiest 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

He went on to say no thanks to microsoft......

[lucifershetty]

I have had the same problem for past week and i have tried to do wht Jaycub suggested....but when i try to restart servivce ...it says " windows cannot find the service specified "

I found a permanent solution, so far
let me know if it works for you, you have very similar symptoms

[cpd101]

The empty control panel issue after many clicks ended up an easy fix. Right click on Computer in start menu, then in left side panel, right click on control panel and select expand and all the options will be listed!