How To Fix The Cmicnfg.Cpl Error

The Cmicnfg.Cpl is a Windows Control Panel file, which is used to load the various configurations of Windows after a crash. The error that this file causes are triggered when you install a C-Media WDM Audio Driver update on your computer, and this update may cause the audio to stop playing. The update my not remove all of the old files and its past registry entries, causing the new CMedia program to be unable to load properly. When you restart your computer and it tries to load the Cmincfg.Cpl file, and it shows up with the error because you have already carried out the uninstall.

What Causes The Cmicnfg.Cpl Error?

As mentioned above, the Cmicnfg.Cpl error is caused when you install a C-Media WDM Audio Driver update on your computer. This update may cause the audio to stop functioning. To fix the error, you should first look to clear out all the old settings that C-Media left on your PC, and then reinstall the drivers for the hardware involved. Here’s what you need to do…

How To Fix The Cmicnfg.Cpl Error

Step 1 – Remove The Registry Settings For Cmicngf.Cpl

Editing the registry is complicated and these steps have been made so that you can follow them as easily and as safely as possible:

• Click Start, select Run.
• In the box type ‘Regedit‘ (without quotations).
• Click OK.
• This will open up the Registry window.
• Once in the Registry window, navigate to the following key.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
• Once you have done that, delete the cmaudio string.

Deleting this string will in turn, stop the error code from appearing at system startup, although it seems that we have successfully removed the problem, we haven’t. We have only just removed the command that causes the error to appear at system startup, not the actual problem itself.

• In the Registry window press Edit, then select Find.
• Once you have done that, search for all the keys that are related to cmaudio and C-Media, and delete them from the Registry.
• Navigate your way to the next registry key:
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Cpls
• For this key you need to delete the Cmcpls string, this will delete the WDM Audio Drivers Control Panel icon.

It is highly recommended that you create a backup of the registry just in case you make a mistake and you need to go back.

Step 2 – Delete C-Media Files

After you’ve cleaned out registry keys left by CMedia, you then need to delete the files it may have left on your PC as well. To do this follow these steps:

• Open Windows Explorer, find the System32 folder.
• Delete the following files:
• cmirmdrv.exe
• cmirmdrv.dll
• cmuda.dll
• cmicnfg.cpl
• C:\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\cmuda.dll
• C:\WINDOWS\System32\LastGood\cmicnfg.cpl
• You need to also delete any related file that are located in these folders:
• C:\Temp
• C:\Windows\Temp
• C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%Local Settings\Temp (Windows 2000 and XP only!)
• C:\Windows\prefetch (Windows XP only!)

Step 3 – Reinstall The Original C-Media Drivers

For this step you need to reinstall the original C-Media drivers, to do this you need to access the device manager and to do this please follow these steps:

• Open the Control Panel.
• Select Performance and Maintenance.
• Select System.
• In the System Properties dialog box, open the Hardware tab.
• The select Device Manager.

The next thing you need to do is to reinstall the original C-Media Drivers, to do this follow these steps:

• When you are you in Device Manager, in Sounds, video, and game controllers.
• Right click C-Media WDM Driver, and select Uninstall.

After the uninstallation process has completed you need to check for any hardware that might be left over from the process. Tto do this you need to right-click on the top icon and select the Scan for hardware changes. This process will search your entire computer for any Plug and Play devices, this process should seek out your Sound Card and should also install the generic Multimedia Audio Controller and not the C-Media WDM Audio Driver. However if this procedure fails that you should carry out step 2 again.

Step 4 – Clean Out The Registry

– Download this registry cleaner

Once you’ve removed the various CMedia files & settings, you may find that a lot of unwanted settings are left inside the “registry” of your PC. Not many people realize the registry is a part of Windows, but it’s a database & one of the most important components inside your system. Unfortunately, uninstalling the CMedia driver will actually cause this database to have a lot of settings left over, which often causes the Cmicnfg.cpl error. It’s highly recommended that you clean out this part of your PC by using a ‘registry cleaner’, of which you can see one below: