Quick answer: Messages such as ms-settings:display. This file does not have an app associated with it mean Windows couldn’t hand the ms-settings: link to the Settings app. Press Win + R and run ms-settings:. If Settings doesn’t open at all, reset and re-register the Settings app from an admin PowerShell, then run DISM and SFC. If Settings opens but one page doesn’t, a policy is probably hiding that page.
Applies to: Windows 11 and Windows 10, including the Display settings and Personalize items on the desktop right-click menu, which open Settings through these links.
In this guide
Every Settings page has an address that starts with ms-settings:, for example ms-settings:display for Display or ms-settings:personalization-background for Background. Shortcuts and right-click menus open those addresses. When the Settings app is damaged or unregistered for your account, Windows has nothing to open them with, so you get the error instead.
1. Test the whole app or one page
- Press Win + R, type
ms-settings:and press Enter. This should open the Settings home page. - Then try the page that failed, for example
ms-settings:displayorms-settings:personalization. - Restart the PC once and test again. A Settings process stuck in the background can block it until then.
If ms-settings: fails too, the app itself is broken: go to step 3. If Settings opens but jumps to its home page instead of the page you asked for, read step 2 first. If the right-click menu itself crashes Explorer, that’s a different fault covered in Explorer crashes on right-click.
2. Check for a policy that hides pages
Windows has a Settings Page Visibility policy that hides chosen pages. Microsoft notes that a hidden page can’t be reached from a link or the Explorer menu either; Windows shows the first page of Settings instead. On a work or school PC this is set by IT, so ask them before changing it.
On your own PC with Windows Pro, Enterprise or Education, open gpedit.msc and look in both Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Settings Page Visibility and the same path under User Configuration. If it’s Enabled with a Hide: or ShowOnly: list you didn’t set, set it to Not Configured and restart. (Group Policy tools are explained in our GPMC guide.) On Home editions the same setting lives in the registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer (or the HKCU equivalent), usually as a text value named SettingsPageVisibility; export the key before you delete anything.
3. Reset the Settings app
Settings is a built-in app named windows.immersivecontrolpanel. Resetting it clears its local data without touching your files. Because Settings itself won’t open, do it from PowerShell: right-click Start, choose Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin), and run:
Get-AppxPackage *windows.immersivecontrolpanel* | Reset-AppxPackageRestart the PC and test ms-settings: again. Reset-AppxPackage exists only on recent builds of Windows 10 and on Windows 11; if PowerShell says it’s not recognised, go to step 4.
4. Re-register the Settings app
Re-registering repairs the link between your account and the app, the same way it works for Store apps that won’t start. In the same admin PowerShell window run:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Name windows.immersivecontrolpanel | ForEach-Object { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" }No output means it worked. Restart and test. Re-register only this one app: running the same command for every package on the PC is slow and can produce dozens of harmless red errors that make the result hard to read.
5. Repair Windows system files
If the app’s own files are damaged, re-registering can’t fix them. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannowWait for each to finish, restart, and test again. Our SFC guide explains what each result message means.
6. Try another account, then a repair install
Built-in apps are registered per user, so a damaged profile can break Settings for you alone. Create a test account from the admin Command Prompt (Settings isn’t available to do it):
net user TestUser * /addEnter a password when asked, sign out, sign in as TestUser and run ms-settings:. If it works there, your own profile is the problem; you can move your files to a new account. When you’re done testing, remove the test account with net user TestUser /delete.
If Settings fails in every account, a repair install is the last step before a full reset. It reinstalls Windows over itself and keeps your files and apps: run setup.exe from a Windows ISO of the same edition and choose to keep personal files and apps. Back up your files first; even this option is not risk-free. How to reinstall Windows compares the options.
Related guides
- Explorer crashes on right-click: how to fix it
- The app didn’t start in the required time: how to fix it
- How to use sfc /scannow
- How to reinstall Windows 10: reset, repair install or clean install
Official sources:
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