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In Windows 7, I cannot open
- Advanced system settings (nor "systempropertiesadvanced.exe")
- Computer name, domain and workgroup settings (nor "systempropertiescomputername.exe"
- Performance settings (nor "systempropertiesperformance.exe")
I can open System Properties (the page with the basic information about the system), but that's where the buck stops.
The combined effect is critical:
- I cannot manipulate pagefile properties (except from the registry)
- I cannot set theme engine global performance options (except from the registry)
- I cannot set prioritisation between foreground and background (except from registry)
- I cannot change computer name, FQDN, Windows workgroup, etc.
EDIT
Here's some filtered output from Sysinternals' procmon (API logger/profiler)
23:39:24,4178334 DllHost.exe 3248 CreateFile C:\Windows\System32\DllHost.exe.Local NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open For Backup, Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a 23:39:24,5730910 DllHost.exe 4736 CreateFile C:\Windows\System32\DllHost.exe.Local NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open For Backup, Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a 23:39:24,6609090 systempropertiesadvanced.exe 816 CreateFile C:\Windows\System32\systempropertiesadvanced.exe.Local NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a 23:39:30,3618838 DllHost.exe 5756 CreateFile C:\Windows\System32\DllHost.exe.Local NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open For Backup, Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a 23:39:30,4175383 DllHost.exe 5916 CreateFile C:\Windows\System32\DllHost.exe.Local NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open For Backup, Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a 23:39:30,4369174 SystemPropertiesComputerName.exe5960 CreateFile C:\Windows\System32\SystemPropertiesComputerName.exe.Local NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read Attributes, Disposition: Open, Options: Open Reparse Point, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a
Is the user name you are using a member of the Administrators group? It needs to be. Can you open an admin Command Prompt? Then run SFC /SCANNOW, allow it to complete, restart and test. – John – 2019-10-01T13:24:19.030
@John yes, UAC is setup correctly, so it forces elevation prompts. What does SFC actually do? – Hatebit – 2019-10-01T16:50:50.177
SFC can correct system files that may be damaged or otherwise corrupted – John – 2019-10-01T16:54:17.870
I am doing it now, but with verifyonly. scannow does automatic repair, which might wreck havoc since it's a destructive op – Hatebit – 2019-10-01T16:56:01.643
@John hi. what do I do with the output – Hatebit – 2019-10-01T17:41:45.180
1Look and see if there are errors and then if so look through the very (very) long log to see if anything stands out. If you ran with verifyonly, then nothing was done, so just review the log. Look near the end of the log. – John – 2019-10-01T17:43:40.147
I had to filter it using "findstr [SR]". After that, it seems it points me to the custom logon background hack I performed under oobe/background.bmp. Now I have to figure out what I did there.... – Hatebit – 2019-10-01T18:19:05.760
For example
2019-10-01 20:06:16, Info CSI 00000214 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:56{28}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\oobe"\[l:28{14}]"background.bmp"; source file in store is also corrupted
– Hatebit – 2019-10-01T18:20:08.597See if you can remove what you did there – John – 2019-10-01T18:20:15.397
Let us continue this discussion in chat.
– Hatebit – 2019-10-01T19:17:42.760