PC settings - Fix and Restore in Windows 8.1

How to Fix and Restore PC settings and "Change PC settings" in Windows 8.1


information   Information
This tutorial will show you how to restore PC settings on the Apps screen, and fix the "Change PC settings" link in the Settings charm :)winkey: + I) in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.


EXAMPLE: "Change PC settings" in Settings charm and PC settings on Apps screen
Change_PC_settings.png
PC_settings_Apps.png



Here's How:

1. Double check to make sure that access to PC settings has not been disabled.

2. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, copy and paste the path below into Run, and click/tap on OK.
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs


3. Check to see if you have the PC settings (aka: Immersive Control Panel) shortcut. (see screenshot below)
PC_settings_File_Explorer.png


4. Do step 5 or 6 below depending on if you already have the PC settings shortcut.


5. If you do have the PC settings shortcut, then go to step 7 below.

6. If you do not have the PC settings shortcut, then click/tap on the download button below to download the PC_settings.zip file below for a clean copy.
download
A) Save the .zip file to your desktop.​
B) Open the .zip file, extract (drag and drop) the Immersive Control Panel (aka: PC settings) shortcut to your desktop.​
C) Move the Immersive Control Panel (aka: PC settings) shortcut into the Programs folder in step 2. (see screenshot below step 3)​
D) If prompted, click/tap on Yes, Yes, Continue (UAC), Yes, and Yes to approve. (see screenshots below)​
Approve.png
Conitnue.png
E) Test to see if you are able to open PC settings now.​
F) If you are still not able to open PC settings, then go to step 7 below.​
G) If you are able to open PC settings now, then you're finished and can stop.​

7. Open an elevated command prompt.
A) In the elevated command prompt, copy and paste the command below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)​

Code:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\ImmersiveControlPanel\AppxManifest.xml
Command.png

Note   Note
If you get the 0x8007064A error in quotes below, then it means that the Packages registry key below does not have System set as it's owner. For how, see step 3 in Option Four here. Afterwards, try again.

Code:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModel\Repository\[COLOR=#ff0000][B]Packages[/B][/COLOR]

error 0x8007064A: Cannot register the request because the following error was encountered while initializing the windows.repositoryExtension extension: The
configuration data for this product is corrupt. Contact your support personnel
.



8. Test to see if you are able to open PC settings now.

9. If you are still not able to open PC settings, then see: Fix Store Apps and Tiles that are Not Working or Responding in Windows 8 and 8.1


That's it,
Shawn


 

Attachments

  • PC_settings.zip
    831 bytes · Views: 53,291
  • Device_Settings.png
    Device_Settings.png
    15.1 KB · Views: 629
Last edited by a moderator:
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    AMD A10 5800K Black Edition
    Motherboard
    F2-A85M PRO
    Memory
    Patriot Viper 3 (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600, 2x8GB 2400 Radeon R9
    Graphics Card(s)
    DIAMOND HD Radeon 7870 GHz Edition (7870PE52G)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQGW2255; Asus VE228
    Screen Resolution
    (1920,1080,60Hz) (1920,1080,60Hz)
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
    Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid
    PSU
    OCZ 550w Fatal1ty (OCZ550FTY)
    Case
    CMSTORM Scout 2 (SGC-2100-GWN1)
    Keyboard
    Razer Deathstalker Expert Edition
    Mouse
    Monoprice 8-button (PID:9286)
    Internet Speed
    30Mbps<x<100Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Good ol' Windows Defender (or MSE)
    Other Info
    http://pcpartpicker.com/user/VoidsShadow/saved/M7nwrH
You're most welcome. I'm glad it could help. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I cannot get Step 7 to work

Step 7 doesn't work for me, I get this problem when i post the code inside elevated cmd. Attached picture.

CMD issue.PNG
 
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Hello Frank, and welcome to Eight Forums. :)

If you like, you could try a system restore using a restore point dated before you had the issue with PC settings to hopefully fix it quickly.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I tried to system restore to a month ago, and tried to access pc settings. Then after, I tried the command in cmd again, but I got the same exact issue. Is there anything else I can try, or do I have to do a complete wipe?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
You could refresh Windows instead of a complete clean install or reset.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thank you so much, OMG, I've been searching for the solution for hours and hours, and here it is! I made this account just to thank you for sharing this with us :3
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Thank you so much, OMG, I've been searching for the solution for hours and hours, and here it is! I made this account just to thank you for sharing this with us :3

You're most welcome, and welcome to Eight Forums. I'm glad it was able to help. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Getting the below error:

Help me friends, i am pissed of by Windows 8.1

My change pc setting is not working. I am currently connected to windows account. So, i was unable to refresh the pc with recovery drive. It tell the account is locked, so we cant refresh your pc.

Thank you.



"Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFE, The packagerepository is corrupted.
error -528: Windows cannot process a deployment operation because the package
repository database encountered an ESENT error. Use the Reset Your PC feature
to recover your PC. See the Application event log for messages with ESENT as
the event source for more details.
NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId]
bf3a389f-d88a-0001-067e-3dbf8ad8cf01 in the Event Log or use the command line
Get-AppxLog -ActivityID bf3a389f-d88a-0001-067e-3dbf8ad8cf01
At line:1 char:1
+ Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register
$Env:SystemRoot\ImmersiveContr ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (C:\WINDOWS\Imme...ppxManifest.xml
:String) [Add-AppxPackage], Exception
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageMa
nager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommand"
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 With Media Centre

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 With Media Centre
If SFC was unable to repair the files, then see if doing the items listed in the blue note box at the bottom of OPTION TWO in the sfc tutorial will allow SFC to repair them afterwards.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Hi! Thank you so much for this, I just did this because none of my windows apps like the store, settings, camera, music and video were working. Now the store and the settings started working again, but the others still won't open. Do you know what I should do to them to get them to work as well?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Hi! Thank you so much for this, I just did this because none of my windows apps like the store, settings, camera, music and video were working. Now the store and the settings started working again, but the others still won't open. Do you know what I should do to them to get them to work as well?

Hello Helmi, and welcome to Eight Forums. :)

For now, you could go through the list of items in the tutorial below to see if they may be able to help.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/21051-apps-tiles-not-working-responding-fix-windows-8-a.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I'd like to thank you as well! This has been bothering me for months and I finally got around to fixing it, thanks solely to your tutorial.

Every other tutorial I tried seemed to miss the mark, but this one worked perfectly.

Once again, thank you!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Thankyou!!

Yay!!!:party: Thank you so much, the cmd/powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\ImmersiveControlPanel\AppxManifest.xml did the trick!!:dinesh::party::party::party:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Back
Top