JSI Tip 5425. My Computer Properties does NOT invoke the dialog box and other strange behavior?

When you right-click My Computer, and press Properties, the System Properties dialog box is NOT displayed?

When you right-click a blank area of the desktop, and press Properties, the Display Properties dialog box is NOT displayed?

Many Control Panel applets do NOT work?

When you use Control Panel / Add/Remove Programs, and press Add/Remove Windows Components, an error message is displayed?

These symptoms can be caused by a missing asterisk  in a registry data value. To determine if this is the case:

1. Open a CMD prompt.

2. Type ftype exefile and press Enter.

3. The display should look like exefile="%1" %*.

If the * is missing, resolve the problem:

1. Copy / Paste the following to a ExeShellOpen.reg file:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\open\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"

2. Merge the ExeShellOpen.reg file with your registry.