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Unable to open Device Manager from Control Panel

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by June, 2006/03/18.

  1. 2006/03/18
    June Lifetime Subscription

    June Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I have lost the ability to open the Device Manager by double-clicking on the System icon in the Control Panel, selecting the Hardware tab, and clicking Device Manager. Instead of opening I get a window "The selected file cannot be found ".

    I don't find an error in Event Viewer.
    I used System Restore but my restore points didn't go back far enough.
    I used sfc /scannow but that didn't fix the problem.
    I thought maybe it was a simple error in the Registry Editor but I searched and didn't find it.

    I can open the Device Manager from a shortcut I created here C:\WINDOWS\system32\Device Manager.msc
    but I would like to repair this annoyance.
     
    June,
    #1
  2. 2006/03/18
    Welshjim

    Welshjim Inactive

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  4. 2006/03/18
    June Lifetime Subscription

    June Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thank you Jim.
    When I try to open 'devmgmt.msc' from 'Start' | Run I get a window with devmgmt.msc in the title bar and "Windows cannot find 'devmgmt.msc'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search. "
     
    Last edited: 2006/03/18
    June,
    #3
  5. 2006/03/18
    Barry Buzzard

    Barry Buzzard Inactive

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    device manager

    Have you tried right cliking on your my computer icon. then going to hardware, then to device manager.
     
  6. 2006/03/18
    Welshjim

    Welshjim Inactive

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  7. 2006/03/18
    June Lifetime Subscription

    June Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks Barry and thanks so much Jim. You solved my problem with your comment about not having Device Manager.msc.

    When I searched my C drive for devmgmt.msc "there are no results to display ".

    When I searched my C drive for *.msc 20 objects are listed BUT no devmgmt.msc. I do have device manager.msc (all lower case).

    When I searched my C drive for Device Manager.msc one file was found in C:\WINDOWS\System32.

    However, in January I had to have a new motherboard put in my computer and since I am a classic pack rat I still had a backup copy of my old C drive and I found devmgmt.msc but NOT a Device Manager.msc file!

    I copied devmgmt.msc to C:\WINDOWS\system 32 and my problem was solved and now Device Manager works just fine!!!!! Guess I'll never know why System File Checker didn't fix this, what originally happened to that file or where the Device Manager.msc file came from BUT now it works.

    I would never have been able to fix this without your comment Jim.The knowledgeable people on this board always come to my rescue when strange things happen to me.
     
    June,
    #6
  8. 2006/03/18
    Welshjim

    Welshjim Inactive

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    June--That really is good news. Thanks for posting back. Always good to hear a suggestion helped.
    P.S. I wonder where Device Manager.msc. came from. I cannot find a reference to it, but I did not search too hard. :)
     

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