For most users, Run as Admin + DirectX 9 install gets Settings.exe working instantly. The issue isn't that your computer is broken; it's that PES 2017 is an old game trying to run on new architecture.
Have a fix we missed? Drop a comment below. We know the PES modding community is legendary for solving these obscure errors.
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Tags: PES 2017, Settings.exe, PC Gaming Errors, Troubleshooting, Konami
Title: The Night the Whistle Wouldn't Blow
It was a Friday evening, the kind designed for pixelated glory. Outside, the rain was drumming a dreary rhythm against the windowpane, but inside, the atmosphere was electric. I had a brand new pair of virtual boots, a freshly brewed coffee, and a singular goal: to guide my Master League team from obscurity to the Champions League final.
I sat down at my desk, the familiar hum of my PC filling the room. I clicked the PES 2017 icon. The Konami logo flashed, the stirring orchestral anthem began to swell, and I felt that familiar rush of adrenaline.
Then, the screen went black. The music cut out.
A small, gray box appeared in the center of my monitor. It wasn't the main menu. It was the Settings panel—the gateway to graphics, controls, and resolution. I clicked "OK."
Nothing happened.
I clicked it again. The button depressed, but the window remained stubbornly static. I tried to close it, but it froze, turning that opaque, milky white that signals a digital heart attack.
"Not tonight," I whispered to the screen.
The First Half: Diagnosis
I was locked out. The settings.exe file—the gatekeeper that tells the game my monitor’s refresh rate and which controller to use—had gone on strike. Without it, the game would launch in a blurry, unplayable window, or crash instantly.
I did what any seasoned gamer does. I restarted the PC.
When it booted back up, I tried again. I navigated to the game’s installation folder, found the settings.exe file, and double-clicked with the precision of a surgeon.
Thud.
The cursor spun for a second, then stopped. No window. No error message. Just silence. It was as if the file was a ghost haunting my hard drive.
The Second Half: The Tinkering
I rolled up my sleeves. I wasn't going to let a few lines of code ruin my Friday.
First, I tried Compatibility Mode. I right-clicked the stubborn file, went to Properties, and checked "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 7."
Result: Failure. pes 2017 settings.exe not working
Next, I tried "Run as Administrator."
Result: Silence.
Panic began to set in. Was it my graphics drivers? I spent twenty minutes updating my NVIDIA drivers, sweating slightly as the progress bar inched forward. Once updated, I rebooted and tried the settings again.
Still nothing.
I turned to the internet, scouring forums where the digital warriors of the past had documented their battles. I found a thread from 2016. It spoke of a silent enemy: Internet Explorer.
"Surely not," I thought. "PES 2017 settings relies on Internet Explorer?"
It turns out, the settings application for PES 2017 was built using an older framework that, for some baffling reason, depended on the legacy components of Internet Explorer. If those components were corrupted or disabled, the settings executable would simply fail to launch, giving no error message to explain why.
The Winning Goal: The Fix
I navigated to the Control Panel. My fingers moved with purpose.
It was already checked, which meant it was "on," but perhaps the installation was corrupted. I unchecked it, waited for the system to apply the changes, and rebooted the machine. It felt counter-intuitive—turning it off to fix it—but I had a plan.
I rebooted, went back to the same menu, and checked the box again, re-enabling it. The system spent a few minutes "searching for required files" and applying the fix.
The Final Whistle
With the feature re-installed, I navigated back to the PES 2017 folder. My heart hammered in my chest. I hovered the mouse over settings.exe.
Double-click.
Instantly, a window popped up. The familiar tabbed interface with "Screen," "Control," and "Audio" shone back at me. It worked. The game recognized my controller, set my resolution to 1920x1080, and saved the configuration.
I launched the game. The main menu loaded in crisp, high definition. I selected "Match," chose my team, and as the referee blew the whistle to start the match, I leaned back in my chair, victorious.
My Friday night was saved, all thanks to a fix as old as the game itself.
Before giving up, run through this quick checklist:
| Action | Status |
|--------|--------|
| Run as Admin + Win7 Compatibility | ✅ |
| DirectX June 2010 Redist installed | ✅ |
| VC++ Redists (2013, 2015-2022) installed | ✅ |
| Disabled fullscreen optimizations | ✅ |
| Overridden DPI scaling (Application) | ✅ |
| Forced dedicated GPU (laptops) | ✅ |
| Excluded folder from antivirus | ✅ |
| Deleted corrupted settings.dat | ✅ |
Sometimes, specific DLLs are missing or unregistered. The most notorious for this issue is d3dx9_43.dll.
To check and fix:
Quick test: Download a tool like "Dependency Walker" (depends.exe) and open Settings.exe inside it. It will highlight exactly which DLLs are missing.
Sometimes your antivirus (or Windows Defender) has quietly quarantined a critical .dll file, or the .exe itself is corrupted.
When the PES 2017 settings.exe fails to open, it is typically due to missing system components (like .NET Framework or DirectX), permission issues, or antivirus interference. Since this utility is essential for configuring graphics and controllers, fixing it is the first step to getting the game running properly. 1. Install Missing Dependencies
The settings app relies on specific Windows libraries that might be outdated or missing.
Update .NET Framework: Download and install the latest version of Microsoft .NET Framework. Version 4.5 or higher is usually required for PES 2017.
Reinstall DirectX: Ensure your DirectX Runtime is up to date. This handles the graphical interface of the settings menu.
Visual C++ Redistributables: Install both x86 and x64 versions of the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages (specifically 2013 and 2015). 2. Bypass Administrative Restrictions
Windows often blocks older executables from making changes to files in the "Program Files" directory.
Run as Administrator: Right-click settings.exe and select Run as administrator.
Compatibility Mode: Right-click the file > Properties > Compatibility tab. Check "Run this program in compatibility mode for" and select Windows 7 or Windows 8.
Disable Fullscreen Optimizations: In the same Compatibility tab, check the box for Disable fullscreen optimizations. 3. Address Antivirus and Firewall Interference
Security software may flag the settings tool as a "false positive" because it attempts to modify system registries or local files.
Add an Exclusion: Open your Antivirus settings and add the entire PES 2017 installation folder to the "Exclusions" or "Whitelist" section.
Disable Real-time Protection: Temporarily turn off your antivirus or Windows Defender to see if the application opens. If it does, the software is definitely the culprit. 4. Direct Graphics Card Assignment
If the settings app opens but shows "N/A" for your GPU or crashes immediately, it may be trying to run on your integrated Intel graphics instead of your dedicated card.
NVIDIA Users: Open NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings. Add settings.exe and set the preferred graphics processor to High-performance NVIDIA processor.
AMD Users: Open AMD Radeon Settings > System > Switchable Graphics. Locate the executable and set it to High Performance. 5. Check for Corrupt Files
If you are using the Steam version, a single missing byte can break the utility. Open your Steam Library. Right-click Pro Evolution Soccer 2017. Select Properties > Installed Files.
settings.exe is not opening or crashes immediately, it is usually due to missing system components, restrictive antivirus settings, or incorrect file permissions.
Here is a guide to the most effective fixes to get your settings back up and running. 1. Run as Administrator For most users, Run as Admin + DirectX
The most common reason for the settings file failing is a lack of permission to modify game files. Navigate to your PES 2017 installation folder (usually
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 Right-click on Settings.exe Properties , go to the Compatibility tab, and check Run this program as an administrator and try opening it again. 2. Install/Repair DirectX and .NET Framework
PES 2017 relies on specific Windows components to execute the settings menu. _CommonRedist
folder inside your game directory and run the DirectX setup. .NET Framework:
Ensure you have the latest version of .NET Framework installed. You can download this directly from the official Microsoft website 3. Update Graphics Drivers
An outdated GPU driver can prevent the settings executable from detecting your hardware, causing a crash. NVIDIA users: Update via GeForce Experience or the NVIDIA website. AMD users: Update via Adrenalin Software. Intel users: Update via the Intel Driver & Support Assistant. 4. Add an Exception to Antivirus/Windows Defender Sometimes security software flags the settings.exe as a "false positive" and blocks it from executing. Windows Security Virus & threat protection Manage settings and scroll down to Exclusions Add the PES 2017 folder or the Settings.exe file specifically to the exclusion list. 5. Check for Corrupt Files (Steam Users)
If you are playing via Steam, a file might have downloaded incorrectly. Right-click Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 in your Steam Library. Properties Local Files Verify integrity of game files
. Steam will automatically replace any missing or broken files. 6. The "Setting.dll" Fix If you receive a specific error about a missing DLL: Ensure that Setting.dll (or similar) is present in the same folder as Settings.exe
If it is missing, you may need to reinstall the game or retrieve it from your antivirus quarantine. Are you seeing a specific error code (like 0xc000007b) when you try to open the file?
Issues with the settings.exe Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2017
typically stem from missing system dependencies, corrupted game files, or hardware conflicts. Common Causes & Quick Fixes Missing .NET Framework: The settings application often requires .NET Framework 4.8
or higher to launch. If it’s already installed, try repairing the installation via the Windows Control Panel. DirectX & Visual C++: Ensure you have the DirectX End-User Runtimes Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Service Pack 1 (both x86 and x64) installed. Missing DLL Files: Common errors include d3dx9_43.dll msvcp100.dll being missing.
Reinstalling DirectX or the relevant C++ Redistributable is safer than downloading individual DLLs from third-party sites. GPU Conflicts (Laptops):
If you use a laptop with dual graphics (integrated + dedicated), the settings app may fail if it tries to use the wrong processor. NVIDIA Control Panel AMD Radeon Settings and manually add settings.exe to use the High-performance processor Advanced Troubleshooting Potential Solution App won't open at all Right-click settings.exe Properties Compatibility , and check "Run this program as an administrator". Settings won't save
Ensure your antivirus isn't blocking the game from writing to your Documents\KONAMI Corrupted EXE
If you are using Steam, right-click the game in your library, go to Properties Local Files , and click Verify integrity of game files Manual Bypass
If the application absolutely will not run, some users bypass it by manually placing a pre-configured settings.dat
file into the game directory or the Konami folder in Documents.
For a visual walkthrough on replacing files and fixing startup errors, you can follow this guide:
When dealing with issues like "pes 2017 settings.exe not working," there are several potential solutions and troubleshooting steps you can take. Here are some interesting features and fixes that might help: Tags: PES 2017, Settings
This solves 50% of the cases. The Settings.exe needs to write to protected folders.
If you have a laptop with dual graphics (Intel + NVIDIA/AMD), Windows sometimes forces the Settings app to run on the integrated GPU, which confuses it.
