Unable to Open Display Properties in Windows XP

When you right-click on the Desktop and choose Properties, a busy cursor may appear for a moment but the Display Properties dialog is not opened. Same may be the case when you double-click the Display icon in the Control Panel.

If you’re experiencing the above symptom, read below for the solution.

EXPAND A COPY OF THEMEUI.DLL

This happens if the file Themeui.dll is missing or corrupt. To fix the problem, extract a new copy of Themeui.dll from your Windows XP CD. Follow these steps:

1. Insert your Windows XP CD in the drive

2. Click Start, Run and type cmd.exe

3. In the Command Prompt window, type:

expand X:\i386\themeui.dl_ -r %systemroot%\System32

Note that there is an underscore ( _ ) at the end of the file name. It’s themeui.dl_

* Where X:\ represents the drive letter of your CD drive. To avoid formatting errors, copy the above command and paste it in the Command Prompt window, instead of typing it manually.

EXAMPLE

expand H:\i386\themeui.dl_ -r %Systemroot%\System32

(Assumes H:\ is the drive letter of the CD drive)

RELATED ARTICLE

Restore missing tabs to the Display properties dialog

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3 Responses to “Unable to Open Display Properties in Windows XP” Subscribe to comments!

  1. dixie normus
    said this on Wednesday, June 3rd 2009 8:10 am

    same deal it sais output file cannot be opened….

  2. Bencze Balázs
    said this on Monday, April 27th 2009 1:58 am

    this is exactly the same problem that i have.
    but nothing changes after typing it to cmd. it says in my language that: the output file cannot open

    what can i do now? is it a runtime error or a malware (i doubt)
    every other tabs can be opened in control panel and i can open every other files’ properties except the Desktop’s.
    so desktop properties and Display in control panel are ONE. and cannot be opened just the same way as it is described above

  3. Mark
    said this on Tuesday, March 10th 2009 12:11 am

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. You rock! After days of searching found this.

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