2 min to read
Tweaks Fail Because Windows Cannot Find Its Own Tools
If tweaks fail one after another and the error mentions that cmd.exe could not be found, the problem is a Windows setting on your PC rather than anything in RIP Tweaks. It is fixable, and it explains a lot of other odd behaviour you have probably been seeing.
What is going on
Windows keeps a list of folders where it looks for programs. Our tweaks ask Windows to run a standard Windows tool, and if that list has been damaged or emptied, Windows cannot find its own tools any more. Ours are not the only things that break, they are just the ones that told you about it.
How it gets damaged
Usually a third party cleaner or optimizer, a badly written installer, or a manual edit that replaced the list instead of adding to it. It is not caused by applying tweaks.
How to tell this is your problem
- Several unrelated tweaks fail in the same way rather than just one
- Other programs on your PC have started behaving strangely
- Built in Windows tools sometimes do nothing when you open them
How to fix it
This is a Windows repair rather than an app setting, so it is worth doing carefully.
1
Open your Windows environment variable settings
Search the Start menu for environment variables.
2
Look at the system variable named Path
It should contain entries pointing at your Windows folder and its System32 folder.
3
If those entries are missing, add them back, then restart your PC
4
Open RIP Tweaks and try the tweak again
If you would rather not do it yourself
This is a reasonable thing to want help with, because a wrong edit here affects the whole PC rather than just our app. Send us a message from the support bubble at the bottom right and we will walk you through it properly rather than leaving you with a list of instructions.
Related: Tweaks not applying, Error codes explained.