In Windows 10, the Settings feature works simply and is very user-friendly when compared to its predecessor - Control Panel. Settings provides you an easy way to personalize and control many important activities and features, such as Windows updates, user accounts, privacy, networking, etc.
On Windows 10, users can access the Settings app via the Start menu, which contains many system customizations such as the Control Panel. However, many users report that they cannot access this app or when clicking on it, they are redirected to the Windows Store. The issue of the Settings app not working on Windows 10 can occur due to corrupted system files, user account files, update errors, etc.
This issue shows that you may be blocked from installing updates through the Windows Update feature and performing some settings-related operations if Windows 10 cannot access Settings, which is terrible! But don’t worry, the article will provide some simple methods to fix this issue and just choose what suits your needs.
Why can't I access Settings in Windows 10?
There can be many reasons why the Settings app won't open in Windows 10. Depending on the complexity, this article will outline some possible issues.
Here are some fixes for this problem.
Re-enable the Settings app in Registry Editor
It's not clear why, but your Settings app might be disabled—maybe after a Windows update, a bug, or maybe because at some point you messed with the registry and did something wrong.
To make sure the Settings app isn't disabled, you can create a Registry Editor entry for it.
In the Start menu , type regedit and open Registry Editor . Here, navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Right-click Policies , then click New > Key and name the new key Explorer.
Next, right-click on the empty area on the right, then click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it NoControlPanel.
Double click on NoControlPanel and set Value data to 0.
Update Windows 10 (or restore an older version)
The first (and probably the simplest) solution is to make sure you’re running the latest version of Windows 10, with all the relevant fixes and patches. Simply click Start , type “update” , click “Check for updates” and see if there are any updates available to install. Restart your PC and see if the Settings app works again.
Conversely, if you notice that your Settings app has stopped working since updating Windows 10 to a new version, then you might want to roll back the old Windows update .
First, on the Windows Update screen , click “View update history” and see if the recent update date corresponds to when you think the Settings app started to stop working.
If so, click Uninstall updates at the top of the Update window , then find that update in the new window, right-click it, and select Uninstall.
Restart your PC. If the problem is fixed, great! If not, you can just reinstall the update again like you would any Windows update.
A simple solution
Sometimes the best solutions are the ones that seem so simple. But in technology, that's often the case. Here's a simple solution:
1. Click the Start button , right-click the gear icon to go to the Settings app , then click More and “App settings”.
2. Finally, in the new window, scroll down until you see the Reset button , then click Reset.
Settings reset, job done (hopefully).
Alternative ways to open Settings
If you're just looking for a quick fix for the Settings app not working properly, then your best bet is to try opening it another way.
One method is to press Win + I to try opening the Settings app .
Alternatively, you can click the Action Center icon on the taskbar (the speech bubble at the bottom right), then click “All Settings”.
If these methods don't work, or if your Settings app still can't be accessed the normal way via the Start menu, then it's time to try something a little more specific…
Reinstall and re-register Windows applications
The Settings app in Windows 10 is considered an officially installed Windows app, so reinstalling it along with other Windows 10 apps (since reinstalling one app will reinstall all other Windows apps) may fix the problem users are experiencing.
To do this, open PowerShell (just type " PowerShell " into the Start menu search, then right-click on it and select " Run as administrator "), and enter the following command:
Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}The above command will re-register and reinstall all Windows apps. Hopefully this will get the Settings app working again.
Using the SFC command
Before trying more complicated Settings app fixes, here are some quick fixes:
Create a new Windows user
If you still can't open the Settings app, you should create a new administrator account and move the files to that account. Since the Settings app isn't working, you can't create a new account from there, so you can use the Microsoft Common Console Document if you're running Windows 10 Pro.
Step 1. Click Start and type lusrmgr.msc . In the Common Console Document, click Users , right-click a user, then " add new user ." Enter your information, then log out of your current account and access the new account via the Start menu or using the Ctrl+ Alt+ Del key combination .
If you are using Windows 10 Home Edition, you can create a new user account via Command Prompt. To open Command Prompt as administrator, click on the Start menu , type cmd then right-click on Command Prompt and select “ Run as administrator ”.
In Command Prompt enter the following command but with the username and password that you want to create for the new administrator account:
net user newusername newpassword/add
Newusername : new admin username
Newpassword : new administrator account password
The message “ The command completed successfully ” appears indicating that the account was successfully created.
Step 2. Next, go to " Control Panel > User Accounts > User Accounts > Manage another account ".
Step 3. Select the newly created account, click on " Change the account type ", then click on " Administrator " in the new window and " Change Account Type ".
Now, the user account you just created is an administrator account.
Step 4. Sign out of your current account and into the new user account. Try accessing the Settings app to see if it works. If it does, the next step is to transfer the files from your old Windows account to the new account.
Go to your system hard drive (where Windows is installed) in File Explorer, click View in the tab at the top, then check the " Hidden items " box.
Navigate to the old user account in File Explorer (C:/Users/old account name by default), and double-click it. You will see the following message.
Click Continue , enter your account password when prompted, then copy and paste all the files from that account into a new account (located at C:/Users/newusername by default).
When you see the message asking if you want to import folders from your old account to your new account, click Yes .
This method is not simple, but creating a new Windows account is the best way to fix the problem. However, you should try the first two simple methods before doing this.
Uninstall incompatible applications
Believe it or not, there are some apps that are said to prevent the Windows 10 Settings app from working. One of those apps is the Lenovo Onekey Theater app . This app is meant to simplify the audio-visual experience on Lenovo devices. However, it seems to have caused problems for some users and stopped their Settings app from working.
Unfortunately, there may be other apps that are similar, so you should consider doing some research to see if any recently installed apps are causing the problem.
After reading this article, hopefully you have a clear idea of the causes and solutions when you encounter the case of Settings app not launching. Just try them according to the actual cases you encounter. Moreover, the best way is to create a system image to perform the troubleshooting quickly .
Good luck!
See also:
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