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Help and Support and System Information fail to start

A system issue with the Windows applications System Information and Help and Support won't start. (The application processes are msinfo32.exe & helpctr.exe)

The System Information was likely corrupted by an unexpected termination, malware, spyware, virus or the like. It can be recovered by reinstalling System Information and Help and Support services.

Restore Help and Support and System Information by perform the following in command prompt:
net stop helpsvc
cd /d %windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries
start /w helpsvc /svchost netsvcs /regserver /install
start /w helpsvc /register

System Information and Help and Support should run correctly now.
Also see: Restoring Windows Original Files

Comments

strangerland said…
I've searched high and low for a fix to this problem and This Is It! If msinfo32.exe will not start from the run dialog do this. Thanks.
David Rodecker said…
Glad that helped. It's ironic you have to search for help when the Windows help system itself fails.

-dave

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