SOLVED Drive properties missing

[Jimmy Neutron]

Hi everyone,

I have a problem whereby the properties for my disk drives do not display - when I click properties on the c drive I get a popup message "The properties for this item are not available". For all other drives I get a properties window, but with only a 'Customise' tab.
I have tried sfc /scannow which showed no problems.
I do not have a suitable restore point.

Does anyone know how I can fix this please?
(WIndows 7 Home Premium)

TIA

 

[TrainableMan]

Do you use a registry cleaner? This forum highly recommends freeware CCleaner. From what I can find this error may be caused by a link in start-up to an old folder directory. If you run the registry cleaning part of CCleaner, hopefully it will find the obsolete link and delete it. Then reboot and see if the problem persists.

Please report back and let us know if this works or if we need to keep looking for a solution.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

Hi TrainableMan,

Thanks for the reply; I've run CCleaner at your suggestion and rebooted but it's made no difference.

Incidentally, before you or anyone else else asks, there is nothing in event viewer to indicate any issues,

Any other suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

[TrainableMan]

First off, you are signed in as an administrator, correct?

Go to windows start. type in msconfig in the search and hit enter. Under the Startup tab look for any Command items that reference a missing path, especially like a drive letter you aren't using; maybe to the DVD/CDROM or to an external HD you don't have turned on.

Also look in the Start Menu, Startup folder for any shortcuts to moved or deleted programs.

Did you transfer data from an older version of Windows with Windows 7 Easy Transfer? And if so, by any chance was your OS on a different drive letter than your W7 is (likely C: )?

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

Hi TrainableMan,

First off - I killed my Windows system trying to resolve this, but I'm back up and running. Before I go any further, I have another query, for future reference - I had a backup of my registry using ERUNT, but I couldn't boot into my system to restore it. Is there a way to restore a registry while booted into another Windows System on the same PC? In olden days (Win Me) I could just copy the 4 or 5 registry files back to the Windows folder, but I'm not sure if that's possible with Win 7?

Now back to the original problem - yes I am administrator; no there are no links in either Startup or the start menu pointing to missing programs or disks; no I did not transfer data from a previous Windows using easy transfer - I've been running this sytem for about 6 months.

I know everything was OK up to a few days ago cos I did a disk check (which I did via the properties that are now missing).

I can System Restore back a few days, but it seems the problem existed then. If I try earlier restore points, the system restore gives a BSOD. Everything seems fine otherwise - it's just these missing property pages that are the problem.

Thanks again for your assistance.

 

[TrainableMan]

I have no idea how you would restore the registry w/o being logged on (not saying it can't be done, I just have never done it); personally I would try booting up to safe mode (hit F8 while booting up from a fresh shut-down) and restore the reg from there. I would also run a virus scan while in safe mode. Once done, reboot.

When you first install/start up windows on a new machine it tells you to create recovery discs; if it still doesn't work after fixing the reg in safe mode, I would try running that.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

Thanks again for the response - The registry question was just in case I screw up my registry again trying to solve the missing property page issue and am unable to log in - it's not an issue right now.

Any other thoughts on the missing disk drive property pages?

 

[TrainableMan]

I've never encountered it before, I was hoping the recovery discs would restore things to normal.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

well thanks anyway for your ideas - maybe someone else will have some thoughts - if not it's a repair install - again

 

[TrainableMan]

I'm not saying reinstall, if you have a recovery disc you run that and it won't wipe out everything it just repairs system stuff. This would be different from the install discs. On the 3 computers I installed W7 on and the laptop that came with it, they all suggested creating a recovery disc when they first booted W7 and this is the disc I am suggesting you try. Basically, I think it is a snapshot of the operating system after a nice fresh install.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

HI - I wasn't suggesting a complete re-install, I was considering a repair install. It retains all installed programs and most of the settings - the pain with that is having to reinstall up-to-date drivers again, and all the windows updates etc. - and a few other little tweaks. It sounds similar to what you're suggesting. It has to be run from within the current Windows system; it can't be run directly from the installation discs.

I could restore a partition backup from a week or so ago, but because Windows insists on putting Appdata on the system disc, (and won't allow it to be relocated ) a partition restore could lose me some data.

System Restore is supposed to allow system files (only) to be recovered, but as was the case with Windows Me and Windows Vista, System restore isn't reliable - when windows breaks, System Restore usually breaks with it (as is the case now - if I try to restore to a point when I know it was OK, the restore crashes with a BSOD - yet it will allow me to recover to more recent, but broken, restore point ).

If I can't find the root of the problem and fix it with a tweak, then my least painful option is the repair install - at least I won't have to reinstall all my programs, and I'll retain most of my user settings and user data.

The annoying thing is, I'm sure it's a registry problem to do with devices. I have Acronis non-stop backups so I could restore just the registry files back to the windows folder - if only I knew what files made up the registry.

But thanks for your input anyway - If anybody knows what files the win 7 registry comprises, I'd be gratetful for the info.

 

[TrainableMan]

Windows registry files and where to find them.
I take no responsibility as to whether it is correct information but if you look under the NT section that might be what you need.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

For the benefit of anyone else who experiences this problem, here is how I resolved it:

I restored the following registry key (with all subkeys) from an old registry backup:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers