Mouse settings/properties dialog box won't open in Windows 7

Question

I have a problem trying to open my computer's mouse settings by either going to the command prompt and typing, 'control mouse', 'main.cpl' (as researched online) or simply by trying to go to the Control Panel and clicking on 'Mouse' under Hardware and Sound section. I have also tried running cmd as Administrator and trying the above commands but that is of no help. Lastly, if I search for 'mouse' and click 'Mouse' from the Windows search bar, that doesn't work either.

In the past I had bought and installed Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 software and have just now bought and installed HP's Wireless Comfort Mobile mouse.

Any help in this regard is highly recommended. I won't be able to restore or reinstall my laptop since it's a heavy use machine.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I found you can manually launch the control panel like this:

RUNDLL32 SHELL32.DLL,Control_RunDLL MAIN.CPL,@0,1

You might still get a crash if you open one or two tabs (and it might be on a per-account basis). If so, try the following:

• Log out and log back in.
• Clear key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Synaptics, and log back in.

Answer 2

Temporarily uninstall all 3rd-party mouse drivers and also touchpad drivers. Some of them insert their custom settings tab into Mouse Properties window and if this tab's initialization upon opening the window fails, the entire window display process can get interrupted. After removal of these add-ons you might be able to see the window (now without custom tabs) again.

Answer 3

Try a System File Checker, then reboot.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

.