Solved Device Manager and Administrative Tools do not open

[four321zero]

Hi

Im running a Win7 64 bit installed in february.

I had installed Comodo System Utilities, which i suspect is the culprit. Not sure though.

This has happened a over a month ago but i never bothered. I had run the Comodo System Utilities software and immediately on the next boot i could no longer access my "event viewer" from Start > Search. I cant remember what error i got back then. But i can vaguely remember being able to access it from the control panel admin tools.

However, now when i go to Admin tools, i can open all other tools within it, except for event viewer. (please check attachment for the right click menu options on event viewer)

Along with this, i am also unable to access my Device manager. Ive tried right clicking "my computer" and selecting device manager, as well as tried to open it directly from the control panel. I get a new window that says "Navigation to the webpage was canceled" "refresh the page". When i click on refresh the page, i get a new error saying "MMC has detected an error in a snap-in. It is recommended you shut down and restart MMC"
Please check the attached snapshots of all these errors.

Would appreciate any help.
thanks.

Edit: forgot to mention, ive already tried taking over ownership and granting all permissions. But didnt work. Also followed some regsvr32 dll steps in start and run ...i found somewhere. It said successful but no results.

 

[karlsnooks]

Uninstall Comodo System Utilities.

 

[four321zero]

Uninstall Comodo System Utilities.

I uninstalled it long ago already.

 

[four321zero]

hello
any help on this please?

 

[karlsnooks]

Restore to a System Restore Point prior to the problem.
You should have restore points. If you do not, please let me know so that we can fix that problem.
RESTORE TO A PREVIOUS SYSTEM RESTORE POINT
1) WIN | type SYSTEM RESTORE | ENTER | NEXT
| Choose a different restore point radio button | NEXT
2) Show more restore points checkbox (lower left)
3) Highlight the desired restore point
4) Scan for affected programs (lower right)make a note of affected programs
5) CLOSE | NEXT | FINISH


WIN = key with the wavy Microsoft flag on top.
===========================================

 

[four321zero]

Restore to a System Restore Point prior to the problem.
You should have restore points. If you do not, please let me know so that we can fix that problem.
RESTORE TO A PREVIOUS SYSTEM RESTORE POINT
1) WIN | type SYSTEM RESTORE | ENTER | NEXT
| Choose a different restore point radio button | NEXT
2) Show more restore pointscheckbox (lower left)
3) Highlight the desired restore point
4) Scan for affected programs(lower right)make a note of affected programs
5) CLOSE | NEXT | FINISH


WIN = key with the wavy Microsoft flag on top.
===========================================

Hi
thank you for your reply.

System restore shows me only 1 restore point i.e. todays , in spite of me checking the option to show more restore points. And when i click next, it just asks me to confirm the restore.
Find attachment below.

Any suggestions?

 

[karlsnooks]

If you are using any wonder program to speedup/cleanup/etc your computer, then uninstall the program now.

You should have had numerous restore points.

CONFIGURE SETTINGS FOR SYSTEM RESTORE POINTS


WIN | type CREATE RESTORE | ENTER |
CONFIGURE button (in the Protection Settings section) |
Click on Restore system settings and previous versions of files radio button |
Slide the Max Usage: slider to at least 5 GB |
OK button | OK button

Some like to set the max usage to at least 20 GB or even more.
==============================================

time to feed my face.
Will be back with more later.

 

[four321zero]

If you are using any wonder program to speedup/cleanup/etc your computer, then uninstall the program now.

You should have had numerous restore points.

CONFIGURE SETTINGS FOR SYSTEM RESTORE POINTS


WIN | type CREATE RESTORE | ENTER |
CONFIGURE button (in the Protection Settings section) |
Click on Restore system settings and previous versions of files radio button |
Slide the Max Usage: slider to at least 5 GB |
OK button | OK button

Some like to set the max usage to at least 20 GB or even more.
==============================================

time to feed my face.
Will be back with more later.

Ok ive uninstalled the other program i had for cleanup (Glary utilities).

Have also, increased the max usage to 5.13 GB. But i guess i have lost my previous restore points now.

I dont know if this is a coincidence, but the only control panel features i used at that time (a couple of months ago) were device manager n event viewer. And these are the only 2 i find missing now.

To be honest i am not sure if comodo caused it, but even if it did, i dont really remember when was the last time these worked fine. Would be sometime in late feb.

Is system restore my only hope of solving this?

 

[karlsnooks]

Let's see if the SystemFileChecker, SFC will do the job.

System File Checker – SFC

System File Checker checks system files and restores them if possible.

System File Checker places results in:
%windir%\logs\cbs

My preference is to empty the abovementioned folder BEFORE I run SFC.

How to empty the “results” folder
· Run CMD.EXE as administrator
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]WIN | type CMD.EXE | do NOT hit ENTER |
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]CTRL + Shift + ENTER key combo | YES button
· Type following commands, each followed with ENTER key
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]CD %windir%\logs\CBS
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]DEL *.*
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]EXIT

To run System File Checker:
WIN | type CMD.EXE | do NOT hit Enter| CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER key combo | YES button
WIN is the key with the Microsoft flag on top.

Enter SFC /SCANNOW
When System File Checker finishes---

If you do not see:
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Then:
Ø Type EXIT to return
Ø RESTART your computer
Ø Run sfc /scannow again

If you do not see:
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Then:
Ø Type EXIT to return
Ø RESTART your computer
Ø Run sfc /scannow again

If you do not see:
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Then:
Ø Type EXIT to return
Ø RESTART your computer
Ø Run sfc /scannow again
Notice that you have run sfc and restarted your computer up to three times.

Ø If all did not go well, you can use
the findstr command to view the results.

VIEW THE RESULTS
Put the System File Checker (SFC) results in a File on the Desktop
findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log > %userprofile%\desktop\sfcdetails.txt
where /C: specifies the desired search string

This finds the primary results. More info can be gleaned, if necessary, by examining the entire cbs.log file.

 

[four321zero]

Let's see if the SystemFileChecker, SFC will do the job.

System File Checker – SFC

System File Checker checks system files and restores them if possible.

System File Checker places results in:
%windir%\logs\cbs

My preference is to empty the abovementioned folder BEFORE I run SFC.

How to empty the “results” folder
· Run CMD.EXE as administrator
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]WIN | type CMD.EXE | do NOT hit ENTER |
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]CTRL + Shift + ENTER key combo | YES button
· Type following commands, each followed with ENTER key
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]CD %windir%\logs\CBS
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]DEL *.*
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]EXIT

To run System File Checker:
WIN | type CMD.EXE | do NOT hit Enter| CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER key combo | YES button
WIN is the key with the Microsoft flag on top.

Enter SFC /SCANNOW
When System File Checker finishes---

If you do not see:
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Then:
Ø Type EXIT to return
Ø RESTART your computer
Ø Run sfc /scannow again

If you do not see:
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Then:
Ø Type EXIT to return
Ø RESTART your computer
Ø Run sfc /scannow again

If you do not see:
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Then:
Ø Type EXIT to return
Ø RESTART your computer
Ø Run sfc /scannow again
Notice that you have run sfc and restarted your computer up to three times.

Ø If all did not go well, you can use
the findstr command to view the results.

VIEW THE RESULTS
Put the System File Checker (SFC) results in a File on the Desktop
findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log > %userprofile%\desktop\sfcdetails.txt
where /C: specifies the desired search string

This finds the primary results. More info can be gleaned, if necessary, by examining the entire cbs.log file.

Hi,
thanks for following up on my issue.

I followed these steps.
After 3 scans, the SFC SCANNOW returned with the same messages:
"Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them."

I saved my CBS log on my desktop
I am not really quite sure how to perform the other thing u mentioned about search strings.
I suspect, i am supposed to replace the [SR] with something. Replaced userprofile with my account name and used the correct drive letter.
I gave it a shot anyways but got an error "The system cannot find the path specified."

Ive attached the CBS log file in case you need it. Its in a zip file since the txt file is 2.6mb

 

[karlsnooks]

Just need the sfcdetails.txt file mentioned in the procedure.

 

[four321zero]

Just need the sfcdetails.txt file mentioned in the procedure.

Sorry, i followed the "save file" steps incorrectly earlier,

find attached the sfcdetails.txt file

thanks.

 

[karlsnooks]

Repair install time.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[four321zero]

Repair install time.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

oh ok

i read through those steps. It seems like i may have to reinstall all drivers and some softwares perhaps. wont be able to do that until month end or June since my net speed sucks and some of these driver set ups are pretty big.
I need my system running for a large part of the day for a video rendering free lance assignment i have.
Lol i guess i learnt it the hard way, not to play around with system tweak applications.

You know the part that still confuses me, i can access the "event viewer" as well as my device manager properties for my graphic card perfectly well via the "advance tools" in the "windows experience index screen". Just cant access event viewer or device manager via control panel.

Anyways, i really appreciate your assistance. Ill try a repair install next month.

Have a nice day.

 

[karlsnooks]

Good luck with all.
I use:
EVENTVWR.MSC to access the event viewer

and

DEVMGMT.MSC to access the device manager.

 

[four321zero]

Good luck with all.
I use:
EVENTVWR.MSC to access the event viewer

and

DEVMGMT.MSC to access the device manager.

thanks for that.
Eventvwr.msc worked like a charm for me.

DEVMGMT.MSC is giving me the same error as mentioned in my first post. The refresh page thing.

 

[karlsnooks]

Does this info here help?

View attachment 210629

 

[karlsnooks]

Run Powershell.exe

Enter following:
cd $env:windir
dir -recurse . "devmgmt.msc" -ea silentlycontinue | select name,directory, length | format-list

that will let you know where the devmgmt.msc files are on you system.

 

[four321zero]

Run Powershell.exe

Enter following:
cd $env:windir
dir -recurse . "devmgmt.msc" -ea silentlycontinue | select name,directory, length | format-list

that will let you know where the devmgmt.msc files are on you system.

This worked for me

Find attached the file with the locations of where it was found.

I didnt try every location, but the first few gave me the same error. Till i went to WOW64 folder. The devmgmt.msc opened from there. Ive placed a short cut of it on my desktop now.

Any clue why its not opening from the other locations?

 

[karlsnooks]

So this one gave you an error?
Name : devmgmt.msc
Directory : C:\Windows\System32
Length : 145640

If yes, then what was the error?