I'm facing this issue on a PC running Windows 7 Professional SP1 x64, updated to the latest (Oct 17) Security and Quality rollup.
It's impossible, as any user, to run mstsc.exe
. The error states:
mstsc.exe
The system cannot find the file specified.
c:\Windows\System32\<LANG_NAME>\mstsc.exe.MUI
.
The event viewer's showing no messages at all about this. I've look into all sections and for any type of event, not just errors and warnings.
I've been googling for the error and found numerous posts related to the problem, but none of the soultions worked for me.
I'll briefly explain the steps I took in order to try to fix this:
-
compared
mstsc.exe
andmstsc.exe.mui
's locations with a known good system. -
copied both files from the known good system in the broken one
-
as the default mui location for 32 bit executables on this system is
C:\Windows\System32\it-IT\
I created another folder in it namedit
and put inside itmstsc.exe.mui aaclient.dll.mui mstscax.dll.mui
. I also copied this newit
folder inC:\Windows\System32\
. So now I have three copies of this three files inC:\Windows\System32\it-IT\
C:\Windows\System32\it
andC:\Windows\System32\it-IT\it
-
I've search into the registry for the word
mstsc.exe.mui
and found just two keys, non related to this file's path.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\DerivedData\Components\amd64_microsoft-windows-t..cesclient.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7601.17514_it-it_5f6e83504ee8d5f5
andHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\DerivedData\Components\amd64_microsoft-windows-t..cesclient.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7601.18540_it-it_5f49fb9c4f04de0d
. -
Then I've found a working and updated PC running Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 English, and took
mstsc.exe.mui aaclient.dll.mui mstscax.dll.mui
from its
C:\Windows\System32\en-US
. I've put it inen-US
en
anden-US\en
-
I tought I might have installed an english version of the
mstsc.exe
that might want to find english dlls in the italian path, so I tried to overwrite italian's files with english files. I also tried the other way around, with files from the italian system in the english's folders. -
I've found that installing
KB2574819-v2-x64
might fix this, it was already installed on this system so I tried to remove it and reinstall it back. -
I wasn't able to find a way to remove and reinstall mstsc application/feature.
-
I tried disabling antivirus protection.
-
I've scanned the machine for rootkits and virus, with no luck at all. It's always been protected with a commercial antivirus solution that never expired since it's been in production, and it's always been used by a conscious person, and WITHOUT administrative rights.
-
I've performed a full
chkdsk
pre boot. -
I've scanned with
sfc /scannow
and it found no corrupted system files.
I tried all this steps, with no luck at all but I think I might have still missed something, and don't want to wipe and reinstall a system that is performing perfectly but this issue. Anybody's got any clues?
Another detail that might be important, I don't think the mstsc.exe
was ever run since this PC is in production. Just in the last few weeks they introduced new features that bring on this PC the need to use the rdp client. As far as I know the problem might be present since the fresh installation. As this system was installed in 2014 and is always been up to date, I suspect it might be a problem with the install image, or with the updates that went through years till now. Unfortunately I can't determine when the problem with mstsc.exe
started. This PC is an AD member and has always received updates from their WSUS. It's never been unpatched or without business antivirus solution since 2014.
Relevant edit: as supposed in the answer, yes, it was an english system and the italian language pack was installed before PC went in production.
Best Answer
Have you changed the language on the computer when the problem started?
Here are some possible remedies :
C:\Windows\system32\wbem\<LANG_NAME>\mstsc.mfl
.It is possible that although your computer is Italian,
mstc.exe
is English. Try to create a subfolderen-US
and copy there the files as follows:Note also that as your Windows is 64-bits, and if you are also using a 64-bit Explorer, these files should actually reside in
C:\Windows\SysWOW64
.