Settings App Missing Important Settings

Question

My settings app is missing important settings. The settings are Display, Windows Update, and Installed Apps. I have tried DISM, sfc, regestriy edits, safe mode, reinstalling settings app in powershell, restarts, updates, control panel, start ms:settings, basically EVERYTHING.

im on windows 11 home with a Lenovo V15 G4 IRU
also i am NOT factory reseting it or anything that will reinstall windows

Answer 1

Since you already tried possible options but nothing worked, I recommend to perform repair upgrade once:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2287898/how-to-perform-repair-upgrade-in-windows-11-articl

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Hi!

This is the first time I've seen a problem like this. Is the computer new, or did you install Windows recently? Did you receive this computer from someone?

Is this a personal computer, or did you receive it from an institution or company?

Send me the system build and edition.

• Press WINDOWS + R > Type "msinfo32" > In System Summary, send me a screenshot.

Also, follow recommendation 01 from AI answer and see if you can access these settings via the URL. In addition to this test, try it with a new user.

1. Go to System Settings (CTRL + I) > Select ''Accounts'' > 'Family and other users'' > ''Add another person to this PC'.
2. On the Accounts screen, choose the option ''I don’t have that person’s login information' > Then select ''Add a user without a Microsoft account''.
3. Click on the newly created user > Click "Change account type" > Under Account Type, change the option "Default User" to "Administrator" > Click "OK".
4. Enter the username, and password (optional, leave blank if you do not want to put password) > Click ''Next'.
5. Press the shortcut CTRL + ALT + DEL (DELETE) > Select ''Exit'' option > On the Login screen, choose the new user created.
6. See if the problem will occur with this new user.

Answer 3

Display, Windows Update, and Installed apps are core parts of the Windows 11 Settings app. When they are missing from the UI but basic repair actions (DISM, SFC, Settings re‑registration, Safe Mode, etc.) have already been tried, the remaining supported options are:

1. Use direct Settings URIs to confirm whether the pages still exist
   • Display: run ms-settings:display
   • Windows Update: run ms-settings:windowsupdate
   • Installed apps: run ms-settings:appsfeatures
   These URIs are part of the documented ms-settings: scheme and should open the corresponding pages directly even if navigation links are hidden.
2. Check whether access to Settings pages is blocked by policy
   • In managed/education scenarios, admins can hide or block sections such as System, Apps, or Windows Update using management tools. When that happens, categories like Display, Windows Update, and Apps features can disappear from the Settings UI.
   • If the device is joined to an organization or school, contact the administrator to verify that policies such as blocking System settings, Apps, or Update & security/Windows Update are not applied. These policies can remove or disable those pages and cannot be overridden locally.
3. If not managed by an organization and URIs fail or pages are still incomplete, perform an in‑place repair/Reset this PC
   • Use Settings → System → Recovery → Reset this PC and choose Keep my files. This reinstalls Windows while preserving personal files, and restores the full, default Settings layout and functionality.
   • After the reset, verify that all Settings categories are present again (System → Display, Windows Update, Apps → Installed apps).

If the device is under organizational management and policies are intentional, only the administrator can re‑enable those missing Settings pages.

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References:

• Launch Windows Settings
• Windows device settings in Intune for Education
• Understand and explore Windows Settings
• System Configuration Tools in Windows