[This is Part 1 of a two part problem. You can see the description and solution for the second issue which was no audio during and after the part 1 solution was completed. See Part 2 here.]
I ran into this issue a couple of weeks ago and eventually threw my hands up. Today, I came across the exact same symptoms on another computer so I decided to dig further in and find the cause. After successfully discovering the problem and applying the solution to the first problematic computer, I was able to fix the issue without reloading/refreshing the PCs.
I looked all over the web and was unable to find any mention of this problem with a valid resolution. Most things I found suggested running SFC /SCANNOW which refused to run. I also tried some other repair tools, most of which failed or wouldn’t complete.
In determining the problem and discovering a solution, one of the PCs actually had a 2nd problem with a similar solution regarding audio on the computer. No audio due to “Audio Service not started”. The service fails to start and an error is logged in event viewer that says the reason is “duplicate endpoint”. I’ll post the resolution for the audio problem in a separate post.
Sympomps
Here are the symptoms I was seeing to confirm that you are seeing the same problem as I have:
- Control Panel fails to load. You can get a white explorer box, but the window hangs. It can’t be resized, moved or closed without forcing explorer.exe to close. After that, Control Panel usually won’t load anything at all–not even a white frozen box.
- Lots and lots of repeated Service Control Manager errors from the service “Network List Service”. The reason for the failure to start is “Procedure not found”
- The Network Connection Broker service is stuck in the Starting state.
- Office 2013 programs hang while launching
Resolution
Method 1 (Automatic)
You can download my registry exports included at the end of Part 2 to avoid having to edit the registry. Just download the appropriate .REG file and then double click the file in your downloads list to import the registry key. No knowledge needed.
Method 2 (Manual)
- Open regedit.exe
- Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\netprofm\Parameters - Check the value of ServiceDLL, it should be exactly as follows:
%SYSTEMROOT32%\System32\netprofmsvc.dll(See update note below)
- If it is not, change it to match the above value.
- After making changes, reboot the system and look for the symptoms again.
UPDATED 3/13/2015: Stephen G. commented below about the environment variable being incorrect. At first I thought this was due to 32/64-bit system differences, but I believe I simply added the 32 in %SYSTEMROOT32% accidentally as I do not believe that %SYSTEMROOT32% is a valid path on any Windows operating system. Please verify that there is NOT a 32 in the variable as this will still be an incorrect path. Just ensure the corrected value is in place. Sorry for the type-o.
I just want to say a HUGE thank you, this information fixed my daughter laptop..which had both problems..No audio and control panel frozen, I searched everywhere for help and it seemed I had to either refresh the laptop or re-install everything (I haven’t a clue how to do either, even with tutorials) I came upon this information and used the manual instructions as the automatic didn’t seem to work for me (I probably did something wrong)..as soon as I changed the parameters/value services to what you have stated and re-booted…it was all fixed……Thanks once again you clever person 🙂
You are a true legend! 🙂 I was literally struggling ALL day trying to fix my sisters PC due to this problem and found your post only hours after. but when I did, I did what you instructed and WHAMO! everything just fixed itself after that. Well done champ!!!!
OMG! THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!
You Sir are awesome!!!
At first i thought my tabletpc got virus, but i somehow i doubt it because i know how to take care my precious lol, then i came across your troubleshooting, and it works as a charm!!!,
btw in my case, it happens after recent windows update, control panel freeze, audio offline, firewall offline and the shutdown sequence took a long time than usual …
Many thanks again Sir!!!
Thank you. Exactly what we needed to do.
Thank you Josh. This problem hit a customer’s Windows 8.1 computer last week (13 May). It followed a big Microsoft update. First sign of trouble was the update froze the computer after restart (it says something like applying updates don’t turn off your computer got to 100% and there it froze). After booting off an Win8.1 install DVD (I should’ve used the Recovery partition – not my own computer and forgetting that was available) I ran Repair and the System Restore function from that. I restored to the one on 13 May the night when the update ran. On restarting the computer it came back up. That I thought was the end of the matter and told my customer to just let the Windows Update go through again when it came up. Well that was not the end of the matter!
On Monday 18th continuing trouble emerged when she tried to compose a message using Windows Live Mail. The composition screen would not appear! I was called in again to troubleshoot. The advice to fix that problem was to go to Control Panel programs and apply “Repair” on Windows Live Essentials. However, when I went to do that I found that Control panel did not work – it was blank and frozen. After looking at a number of other suggestions I found yours and tried it.
The Control Panel problem is fixed. Next I fixed the no audio problem as you detail in Part 2 of your post. Made an absolute difference.
My hunch is that both these problems were caused by the faulty Windows Update. However, here are a couple of relevant observations:
* this is one of 10 machines in my care of the same make and model and the problem has not happened to any other;
* the filesystem of this machine may have been “dirty” (chkdsk c: /f needed to be run) when the update happened.
I can’t be sure whether the sound not working was related to the update because the computer not being my own I don’t know whether it was working or not before the update. I’m not sure whether the staff member would have noticed since sound is not much used I think.
Anyway to give a view whether there is a hardware issue involved I mention that the computer is a Toshiba Satellite L850 notebook.
While the computer was sick I also found that sfc /scannnow did not work. Nor did dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. These failures caused me to think that Windows 8.1 was so badly broken a reinstall “recovery” was needed (perish the thought of all those apps to have to be reinstalled in turn)! Before I found your posting (in desparation!) I found trouble even there! Something has happened to the recovery partitions and the Toshiba recovery program would not run. I was in the process of creating repair media from another computer of the same model to see if that would work…!
Congratulations for your mastery of the Windows Registry that you were able to pin-point the troubles so exactly! I’m envious. The Registry is such a vast complex thing!
this is not working for my system…..please do make correct suggestion,,for us
Thanks… my system is working as normal again….
Thank you thank you. Finally some one who knows what they’re doing. Just bookmarked you. Now on to the audio problem. Again big thanks keep it up.
I have the same problem but the registry key is fine the control pannel freezes in network and sharing
also want to pass on my thanks for this post. totally awesome.
thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much pal. you have no idea how happy you’ve just made me. was just about to wipe a magnet across my computer.
For me, AVG did this. Uninstalled in a flash.
Thanks man.. if you experience the same problem. this works like a charm
Mate you are a total Genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!!! Thanks so much Josh. I was losing my patience until a friend recommended your page to me. After following just the part 1, here am I listening to my fav songs on my hp. And Control Panel back to life.
Anyways need I uninstall AVG? Cos I checked the virus vault earlier and that HKEY was quarantined. I tried to restore it but failed. Do I uninstall AVG to avoid future occurrence now that you have helped me fix it?
I do not have HKLM foldet only HKEY and also dont have netprof folder eithet. Any suggestions or help please ??
Thank you so much for this, saved me a lot of nerves! 🙂
OMG!!!! I had an audio issue and tried everything (IT Tech), then realised as a side effect that control panel was freezing. i downloaded the two seperate reg keys, imported them, and BANG everything fixed!
Thank you very much for poster, you have saved me hours upon hours
Just want add: I had the same exact two issues. Manually applied fix one, reboot, checked it again, still same two issues. It wasn’t until applied the second fix (audio issue), reboot, that both issues were resolved.
So, if you have these two issues, apply both fixes, seems they’re somehow connected.
Thank you for your hard work in finding this!