When trying to open the Device Manager (Control Panel – System and Maintenance – System), the following error may occur:
C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc
This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations control panel.
When you get this error, there’s probably something wrong with your file association *.msc. In most cases, the association seems to be correct, but it isn’t. The best practice for this issue is re-importing the correct register settings. Follow the instructions below to import the correct settings:
- Click Start, click Run, type Regedit and click OK
- On the left side, navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
- Make a backup of your HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. To do this, right-click HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, choose Export, and save it as “old-classes_root.reg“
- Delete these registry keys. To do this, right-click the keys and select Delete
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MSC
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MSCFile
- The incorrect settings are now deleted.
Download the MSC fix for Vista. This registry file contains the correct file type association settings for Windows Vista. - Navigate to the file you have just downloaded. Double-click. A window will pop up whether you are sure to add the settings. Click Yes.
- Your file type association for MSC-files is now restored to its default. Opening your Device Manager should be working again.
This solution (still) works.
(couldn’t access services.msc (and others) on a recently repaired HP laptop running Vista Business that hadn’t been updated for a year… after (75+) Windows updates, the “permissions” didn’t seem to work)
Thanks Christian… Awesome.
Best,
Lyteck(Quote)
Thank you so much…
Shu(Quote)
Thanks million Christian,
I’m looking for this solution a long time but this is the 1st fix that works perfectly.
Well done and much appreciated.
Ayrton_MB
Ayrton_MB(Quote)
it worked.. thanks a lot christian.. THANKS THANKS THANKS..
i thought it was virus or something weird..
why it can like this ya?
Nold(Quote)
I had this problem when I booted this morning and tried to open the Device Manager from Vista “Computer Properties”. It worked fine from Control Panel. I downloaded the .reg and followed the directions and can now confirm that it works. Thanks a tonne.
Bruce(Quote)
Hi,
I have been having this same problem. I followed the instructions and rebooted, but I’m still getting the same error. Are there any other things I can try?
Thanks.
Scott(Quote)
Hi Paul,
The link to download the MSC fix seemed to be dead. I fixed it, so you can now download the MSC fix.
As instructed in my post, you should first delete the existing MSC registry keys (make a backup first!). After deletion, you can import the settings from the file I referenced in my post.
Please let me know the result!
Christian(Quote)
I know I most likely won’t get an answer, but I did not quite understand what you asked to change. When i open it up to edit, both keys are already present. ::sigh:: damn vista, i tried to love you… i tried.
Paul Lora(Quote)
I also had this problem but as Andrew wrote, the link does not work.
Apparently at some point the shell\RunAs\Command default value gets changed from REG_EXPAND_SZ to REG_SZ and this is what causes the mallfunction the %SystemRoot% does not get translated to C:\Windows (or whatever your systemroot is)
So here’s what i did:
Under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MSCFile, select the open\command “folder” and export.
Edit the .reg file and change the key from open to RunAs:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mscfile\shell\open\command] ->
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mscfile\shell\RunAs\command]
Import the edited .reg file.
Jack Kallestrup(Quote)
Sounds like this would work, if only the link to the reg fix actually worked too.
Andrew(Quote)