How to fix ms-settings:personalization-background error?

The ms-settings:personalization-background box appears when you choose Personalize or Display settings from the desktop menu and Windows finds no Settings app to open that page for your account. Your wallpaper and files are fine. Register the Settings app again for your account first: it takes two minutes and needs no administrator rights.

Facts checked on 15 October 2026. Steps written for Windows 11 (25H2 and 26H2) and Windows 10 22H2.

What the ms-settings:personalization-background error means

ms-settings:personalization-background is not a file and not a program. It is an address. Microsoft Learn lists the ms-settings: addresses that open single pages of Windows Settings: ms-settings:personalization-background opens the Background page, ms-settings:personalization the whole Personalization category, and ms-settings:display the Display page.

When you choose Personalize on the desktop menu, Windows does not start a program directly. It sends that address, and the Settings app registered to your account answers it. If no Settings app is registered for you, Windows shows the address in the title bar and the generic text for a file type without a program.

Causes of the ms-settings personalization error, ranked

Most often the Settings app registration of one user account is broken, and the other accounts on the PC are fine. Two Microsoft Q&A threads show this pattern: in one, the error "only happens on my user"; in the other, a new local account opened Personalize without any error. Less often Windows system files are damaged, usually after an upgrade. Rarely the whole app store of Windows is damaged and only a repair install helps.

How to fix the ms-settings:personalization-background error

Fix 1 is a one-minute test and a restart of Explorer. Fix 2 works for most readers and needs no administrator rights. Fix 3 does the same for all users from an administrator account. Fixes 4 to 6 repair Windows itself, from the lightest step to the heaviest.

Fix 1. Test the link and restart Windows Explorer

2 minutesNo riskEveryone, before anything else, to see how much of Settings is broken.

The desktop menu belongs to Windows Explorer. A Microsoft community support specialist answering this error on Microsoft Q&A lists an Explorer restart as a repair step, and the test tells you whether only the menu or the whole Settings app fails.

1. Press Win + I. Note whether Settings opens normally, flashes and closes, or shows the same box.
2. Press Win + R, type the address below and select OK.

   ms-settings:personalization-background

3. Repeat with ms-settings:display. If both show the box, the Settings app itself is the problem.
4. Save your work. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, select Windows Explorer and select Restart task. Step by step: Restart File Explorer
5. Right-click the desktop and choose Personalize again.

Fix 2. Register the Settings app again for your account

3 minutesLow riskWin + I or the ms-settings: addresses fail on your account. Works on a standard account too.

The Settings app is the package windows.immersivecontrolpanel, and every app package is registered per user. Registering it again reads its manifest from the disk and gives your account a working handler for the ms-settings: addresses, without a download and without administrator rights.

1. Close Settings if it is open. Select Start, type PowerShell and select Windows PowerShell. Open it normally, not as administrator, so that the app is registered to your account.
2. Check that the package is there. Paste the line and press Enter. PowerShell should print a block with Name and InstallLocation.

   Get-AppxPackage -Name windows.immersivecontrolpanel

3. Register it again. Paste the line and press Enter.

   Get-AppxPackage -Name windows.immersivecontrolpanel | ForEach-Object { Add-AppxPackage -Path "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" -Register -DisableDevelopmentMode }

4. Wait until the prompt returns. No red text means it worked.
5. Restart the PC, right-click the desktop and choose Personalize.

• If step 2 prints nothing, the Settings app is not registered for your account at all. Go to Fix 3, which needs an administrator account.
• If step 3 prints red text that mentions 0x80073D02, a part of Settings is still running. Restart the PC and run the line again.
• Other red errors point to damaged system files: go to Fix 4.
• The general method, with the errors that are normal: How to re-register Microsoft Store apps with PowerShell

Fix 3. Register Settings, the shell and Store again for all users

5 minutesLow riskFix 2 found no package, or you are the administrator repairing a standard user's account.

From an administrator window the same registration can read the package for every account on the PC. The shell package that draws Start and the Store package are registered in the same pass, because a broken shell registration often travels with a broken Settings app.

1. Sign in with an administrator account. Right-click Start and select Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin), then select Yes.
2. Check that Windows still has the package. Look for PackageUserInformation in the output, which lists the accounts it is registered to.

   Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Name windows.immersivecontrolpanel

3. Paste the lines of the block below one at a time and press Enter after each.
4. Restart the PC and sign in to the account that showed the error.
5. Right-click the desktop and choose Personalize.

Register Settings, the Windows shell and Microsoft Store (PowerShell as administrator)

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Name windows.immersivecontrolpanel | ForEach-Object { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" }
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | ForEach-Object { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" }
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Name *WindowsStore* | ForEach-Object { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" }

Fix 4. Repair Windows system files with DISM and SFC

15 to 30 minutesLow riskFix 2 or Fix 3 printed red errors, or several built-in apps fail at once.

The Settings app lives in a Windows system folder. If its files or the component store are damaged, no registration can work. The Microsoft community support answer to this error puts sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth first.

1. Open an elevated command window. Right-click Start and select Terminal (Admin), or type cmd in the search box, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. Select Yes when Windows asks for permission.

   

2. Run DISM first. Type the command below and press Enter. DISM downloads clean copies of damaged components from Windows Update, so it can take several minutes. Wait until it says The operation completed successfully.

   DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

   

3. Run System File Checker. In the same window, type the command below and press Enter. Do not close the window until the verification reaches 100%.

   sfc /scannow

   

4. Read the result and restart. Compare the last message with the table below this guide, then restart the PC so that repaired files are loaded.

   

These steps were written for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. The full page with the other versions and what each result means: Run DISM and SFC to repair Windows system files

When both scans are done, restart the PC and run Fix 2 again. The repaired files are only used after the package is registered once more.

Fix 5. Test with a new local administrator account

10 minutesLow riskFixes 1 to 4 did not help, and you want to know whether only your profile is damaged.

In a Microsoft Q&A thread on the ms-settings:display version of this error, a new local account opened Personalize normally. A new account gets a fresh registration of every built-in app, so it shows at once whether the fault is in your profile or in Windows.

Settings may not open on your account, so use the classic window that does not depend on it.

1. Press Win + R, type the command below and select OK.

   control userpasswords2

2. In User Accounts, select Add. Select Sign in without a Microsoft account (not recommended) and then Local account, and give it a name and password.
3. Back in User Accounts, select the new name, then Properties and the Group Membership tab.
4. Select Administrator and OK.
5. Sign out, sign in to the new account and right-click the desktop to open Personalize.

When Settings on your own account works, Windows 11 offers the same through Settings > Accounts > Other users: Create a new user account to test a problem

Fix 6. Repair Windows with an in-place upgrade and keep your files and apps

1 hourRead the warningThe error appears in every account, or nothing else helped and you need your own profile back.

An in-place upgrade reinstalls every Windows file, the Settings app included, over the running system. Both Microsoft Q&A threads on this error end with it: the Microsoft specialist offers it after the repair commands, and an independent advisor says it fixes the problematic profile while keeping files, apps and settings.

1. Open Recovery in Settings. Open Settings > System > Recovery. Next to Fix problems using Windows Update, select Reinstall now. This keeps your apps, files and settings.

   

2. Start the reinstall. Choose whether the PC may restart on its own 15 minutes after the installation, then select OK.
3. Wait and restart. Windows Update downloads and installs a repair copy of your current Windows version. Keep the PC plugged in and online, and restart it when asked.
4. If that did not help: Reset PC. Back in Settings > System > Recovery, next to Reset this PC, select Reset PC. This keeps your personal files but removes installed apps and settings.
5. Choose Keep my files. Select Keep my files. Do not select Remove everything.

   

6. Choose where Windows comes from. Select Cloud download to download a fresh copy of Windows, or Local reinstall to use the files already on the PC (faster, but may not include the latest updates).
7. Reset. Review the summary and select Reset. The PC restarts several times.

These steps were written for Windows 11 22H2 and later. The full page with the other versions and what each result means: Reinstall Windows without losing files

Still getting ms-settings:personalization-background: what to check

The box itself writes nothing to a log. The useful evidence is the output of the commands in Fix 2 and Fix 3. A red error there carries an 0x8007 code and a package name, and that is what Microsoft support or a technician needs to see.

• Work or school PC: you are probably not an administrator. Send your IT team the result of Fix 2 and ask for Fix 3 or Fix 4. They may also have hidden Settings pages on purpose.
• Home PC: if Fix 5 works and you do not want a repair install, move your files to the new account and use it from now on.
• Need the wallpaper now: right-click a picture in File Explorer and select Set as desktop background. That route does not open Settings.

Keep the Settings app from breaking again

Windows 10 left support on 14 October 2025. The fixes above work there too, but if the error returns after every repair on Windows 10, an upgrade to Windows 11 replaces the Settings app and its registration in one step.

Frequently asked questions

What is ms-settings:personalization?

It is an address that opens a page of Windows Settings, not a program or a file. Microsoft Learn lists ms-settings:personalization as the address of the Personalization category, ms-settings:personalization-background as the Background page, ms-settings:themes for Themes and ms-settings:lockscreen for the lock screen. You can type any of them into Win + R to jump to that page. When one of them shows an error instead, the Settings app that should answer it is not registered for your account. Fix 2 registers it again.

Why does right-clicking the desktop and choosing Personalize give an error?

Because the menu item does not open a program. It sends the address ms-settings:personalization-background, and Windows passes it to the Settings app of your account. When that app is not registered, or its files are damaged, Windows has no handler and falls back to the generic box for a file without a program. Display settings sends ms-settings:display and fails the same way. Restart Explorer first (Fix 1), then register the Settings app again (Fix 2).

How do I fix the ms-settings personalization error on Windows 11?

The same way as on Windows 10. Test the address from Win + R and restart Windows Explorer (Fix 1). Then open a normal PowerShell window and register the package windows.immersivecontrolpanel again (Fix 2). If PowerShell prints red errors, repair system files with DISM and SFC (Fix 4) and run Fix 2 again. The desktop menu of Windows 11 looks different, but Personalize and Display settings send the same addresses as on Windows 10.

What does the ms-settings:display error mean?

It is the same fault reached from a different menu item. Display settings sends ms-settings:display, the address Microsoft Learn lists for the Display page. If the Settings app is not registered for your account, that address fails exactly like the Background one, with the address in the title bar. In German Windows the text reads "Das Betriebssystem kann ms-settings:display nicht ausführen". The fixes on this page cover both, and when Fix 2 works, both menu items open again.

Did upgrading from Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 cause this?

Often, yes. Most reports of this box follow an upgrade or a large feature update, the moment when every built-in app is registered again for every account. If that step is interrupted, or fails for one profile, the Settings app is left without a registration on that account. You did nothing wrong by upgrading. Registering the app again (Fix 2) usually closes the gap, and a repair install (Fix 6) redoes the upgrade step for the whole system.

Can I fix it without administrator rights?

Partly. Fix 1 and Fix 2 work on a standard account, because each user's app registration belongs to that user, and Fix 2 should be run in a normal PowerShell window anyway. The other repairs need an administrator: registering for all users, the DISM and SFC scans, creating a new account and the repair install. A Windows 10 user on Microsoft Q&A without admin rights was told exactly that. Send your administrator the output of Fix 2 so that they can continue.

Should I reset default apps or create an association as the box says?

No. The box offers the same advice for every file type without a program, and here it points the wrong way. The Settings app is already on your PC, and an ms-settings: address cannot be pointed at another program in Default apps. Resetting all default apps changes which programs open your photos, music and links, and it leaves the Settings registration as it was. Register the Settings app again in Fix 2 instead.

How do I change my wallpaper while Settings is broken?

Open File Explorer, right-click a picture and select Set as desktop background. Windows applies it without opening Settings, so the error does not get in the way. This is only a workaround. Themes, colors, the lock screen and the Display page still need the Settings app, so repair it with Fix 2 when you have a few minutes. If the right-click option is also missing, a policy on a work PC may block wallpaper changes, and your IT team decides that.

What are ms-settings:notifications and ms-settings:troubleshoot errors?

They are the same error with another Settings page in the title bar. ms-settings:notifications is the address of Notifications and actions, and ms-settings:troubleshoot the address of the Troubleshoot page, both listed by Microsoft Learn. Any ms-settings: address fails in the same way when the Settings app of your account is not registered. If several of them show the box, the cause is the app, not the page, and Fix 2 repairs all of them at once.

Why is personalized settings not responding on Windows 10?

"Personalized settings (not responding)" is a different message. It appears on a black screen while Windows prepares your profile at sign-in, often after an update, and it is not the ms-settings:personalization-background box this page covers. This page is about the error after you right-click the desktop. If you also see the sign-in message, wait a few minutes first, then restart the PC. If the desktop then shows the ms-settings box, start with Fix 1 here.