[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.
Awesome fix.
People, use the Donate button and give this guy a buck or two. He’s worth every cent.
You are a serious champion. I had this issue pop up randomly this afternoon and spent the past 5 hours trying to troubleshoot. Your instructions fixed all my problems! No idea how the registry entry became incorrect but changing it to what you suggested fixed it. Many thanks to you!
My control panel is still hanging and giving me a white explorer window… I already installed the registry and still nothing happened. is there any other possible solution? thanks so much.. Im running a Windows 8.1 Single Language
I’m having the same problem but when i try to follow the instructions on method 2 i can’t find netprofm/ which means i can’t continue,please help
Make sure you are looking at the correct part of the Registry tree – there are so many branches! netprofm is under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services
If it is indeed not there I’d say your Windows would be so broken a reinstall is required 🙁
To help speed rebuild of your installation consider one of the Laplink PC moving software.
Hi, The combined fix in part 2 sorted out my control pannel issue, but still have no audio do you have any advice ? Thanks alot…
Oh i got it,my audio is working and control panel no longer freezes now,changing the codes really helped. thanks Guys, All thanks to you Josh
this worked.. after many hours trying to find a fix, im able to actually get the updates downloading, there are over 100 of them, so no doubt going to take a while. but thank you very much .. this was the best fix out .. was quick and easy ..
Thank you, Josh! Why can’t I find this solution on the supportsite of MS…
I am having the same problems. Somebody please guide me step by step. I imported the audio srv reg file from another laptop with same specs but its not working. Please reply as soon as possible.
Thanks is anticipation
Thanks for such an easy and simple fix. I can’t describe how helpful this post has been – it’s fixed all my issues after one restart!
You are AMAZING! Thank you so much! I have been having this problem for months and months but am not tech savvy and could never figure it out. THANK YOU!
OS: Windows 8.1
System: HP ENVY Intel Core i7 (Touch Screen)
I have the exact same problems outlined above, as well the “Part 2” problem. I managed to remove AVG 2015. In other postings I found that this might be the problem. It didn’t change anything. The audio still not working.
I also did a “System Restore” to about two weeks when these issues were not present. The Audio Error and Control Panel Freeze were still happening.
After reading your posts, I proceeded to make the changes described above, for the Registry, in both parts 1 & 2; but the problem continues. In fact, it seems as though no changes took place:
– The Control Panel continues to freeze, and
– “The Audio Service is not running” still present.
Do you have any other suggestions? I would like to stay away from a re-installation.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
SORBE
To be more precise, this is the system that I have:
OS: Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
System: HP ENVY TS 17 Notebook PC
This may be helpful to someone.
After posting my problem (see above). I realized that all my files (OneDrive) files had disappeared. A chill ran through my spine and it stayed there for a few seconds. I became nauseous. At first I thought I lost them forever, but after login in to OneDrive online, I realized that they were still there. That was some consolation. Somehow, the drive disconnected.
In any case, after making the changes you suggested on the Registry (see above), I decided to re-install the Audio drives for my laptop, and restarted the computer.
For some strange reason, that seems to have FIXED THE PROBLEM. The Audio worked fine and Control Panel was not freezing anymore. I have not tried a Windows Update yet, I am afraid that might break it again. I will do that later and will let you know. First, I would like to get some of my work done.
I have been troubleshooting this problem for about 3-days.
Thank you for your help and I hope this experience helps someone else.
SORBE
P.S.: Should I do the Windows Update now, or should I wait? What do you suggest?
It should be fine to do Windows updates. I have seen this problem very very rarely and have not seen it reproduce on an already repaired problematic computer. I have also heard of computers of the exact same model where one is affected and another is not. Seems to be a freak problem with no known cause yet.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! I had been dealing with control panel not working after getting a virus. This solution worked right away. I am extremely grateful that you share your knowledge for others.
One last thing:
My files are back. After the Audio drive re-installation, OneDrive appears to have reconnected.
Thankyou so much. Fixed both problems with your automatic downloads. Life Saver!
I too would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart you are truly a life saver. We had a power outage and I don’t know if that had anything to do with it but I had no sound my control panel was all white I couldn’t reboot my pc as usual from the side charms on 8.1 and I had a useless printer!!!! I applied your fixes and everything is back to normal!!! Thank You!
Thank you very much Josh. I’m extremely grateful that you spend those long hours trying to find a solution. I don’t know what causes the problems, but I can tell you what each problem has in common. They both seem to occur on Windows 8 & 8.1 operating systems. I despise Windows 8 with a passion. I am glad I am upgrading to Windows 10 next month.
Follow up posting about Control panel and sound problems in Windows 8.x due to corruption of registry entries
I haven’t got the time or haven’t had the chance to more thoroughly observe the following view of why this registry corruption problem occurs for so many of you people including to my own customer. There appears to be two factors that leads a computer down into this nasty problem:
* it is essential that the filesystem of drive C: (you may only have such a drive) is “clean”. If in the previous days or weeks since the last Windows Update which did not cause any trouble you had an incident of improper shutdown your filesystem will not be clean. I think the filesystem can also get slightly out-of-whack, not clean, if your computer (laptops in particular) has had many sleep wake cycles.
Now particularly when there is a big Windows update it seems it can upset the computer when it tries to be applied to a filesystem which is not clean.
So how do you clean your filesystem or at least check its cleanliness? One way is to open Computer right click drive C: click Properties in the popup; click the Tools tab; click the button Check now; click Start. You’ll get a prompt saying that it can’t do it now and ask do you want to schedule a check at the next restart; click OK and any other oks and restart your computer.
When it restarts with this setting there will be a process which runs which you don’t normally see. The restart will take longer than normal as a result. The computer will restart again after this process. When the computer presents the login screen you will have a clean filesystem.
If you anticipate a Windows update it’s not bad idea to check the filesystem anyway to be sure.
* I noticed that the incorrect registry entries are actually the ones which are correct for my Windows 7 computer.
Putting two and two together I wonder whether Windows 8.x computers run into these two problems because of filesystems which need to be cleaned at the time of application of updates were not in fact clean.
This may give grounds for confidence to perform an update to those who have been burned by this problem and Windows wants to update again.
Superb. Been plagued for weeks with this ! Give this man a medal !
Thank you so much, this has come in handy 4 times now.