# My Windows XP DISPLAY PROPERTIES stopped working

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-windows-xp-display-properties-stopped-working/183167>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 20, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-windows-xp-display-properties-stopped-working/183167 "2003-06-20T14:35:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-windows-xp-display-properties-stopped-working/183167/1 "2003-06-20T14:35:39Z")

</div>

- I right-click the desktop and then select PROPERTIES. Nothing happens.

- CONTROL PANEL -\> DISPLAY. Nothing happens.  
How long has this been broken. Don’t know, I just tried it this week.  
The file involved is the DESK.CPL.

I replace it with the one in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386.  
Nothing happens.

Is it buried in the XP install disk? Yes, but it needs to be extracted? Or is there a easier fix?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-windows-xp-display-properties-stopped-working/183167/2 "2003-06-20T14:45:06Z")

</div>

Try going to a command line and typing **sfc /scannow**. You may be prompted to put in your Windows CD. It will then scan all the protected system files and replace any that are damaged.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-windows-xp-display-properties-stopped-working/183167/3 "2003-06-20T14:52:00Z")

</div>

Did you try using Restore to go back to a time that it did work?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-windows-xp-display-properties-stopped-working/183167/4 "2003-06-20T15:58:05Z")

</div>

**Number** ,

I…love…you…

I did the SFC /SCANNOW. It pulled whatever was needed.

I can now access properties from the CONTROL PANEL or right-clicking the desktop.

Of course, before I went and posted this in the SDMB, I went to every Windows forum and they had no fix.