URGENT HELP NEEDED!! Icons won't show up in Control Panel.

Hi guys, I'm troubleshooting a computer and the icons won't show up in either Control Panel, C:, or any of C:'s subdirectories. I know they exist, because I can maneuver through them with the arrow keys and see their descriptions on the taskbar. What can I do to fix this problem? I have approximately 24 hours from now to fix this problem. Thank you.
P.s. No, tweakui is not installed on this pc.

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Comments

mobri09

Try running system file checker first. That is SFC at the command prompt. A service might be disabled, so go to services under administrator tools and check that out. If not the computer might call for a restore.

Vask3n

Forgot to mention it's Windows ME, so so much for restore =(

RussS

ME has system restore

I suggest that you try a spyware sweep first - amazing what some of them can do.

Vask3n

sorry friend, already tried that. How can I enable services without sfc? for some reason, it won't run at command prompt or at run.

RussS

sfc was not included in Win ME - they thought it would not be necessary after Restore was included.

Have you tried a spyware scan?

spudnik

you could search for *.cpl (control panel extension) you will need to specify searching in system files and hidden files, the names are pretty much self explanitory

JDMurray

Tweakui has a "rebuild icons" feature that is very useful for this situation. You can also try changing the Display Properties to "Large Icon" and seeing if that restores them. This settings is found on the Appearances tab by clicking the Effects button.

Webmaster

There's a knowledge base article about missing control panel icons for older NT version. Not sure it will work for ME, but it suggests to simply extract and copy the .CPL files from the installation CD. Might be worth a try.

RussS

jdmurray wrote:

Tweakui has a "rebuild icons" feature that is very useful for this situation.

The problem with that is when the TweakUi icon does not show up either

JDMurray

RussS wrote:

The problem with that is when the TweakUi icon does not show up either

Then start it from the command window.

jescab

Did you ever solve this problem?