Pes 2021 Settingsexe Not Opening New !!top!! ✧

Here’s a draft for a forum or social media post regarding the PES 2021 settings.exe not opening issue. Feel free to adjust the tone depending on where you’re posting (Reddit, Steam Community, Twitter, etc.).

Title: PES 2021 – “Settings.exe” not opening? Here’s what finally worked for me

Body:

I ran into a frustrating issue with PES 2021 today – the settings.exe file simply wouldn’t open. Double-click, run as admin, nothing. No error message, no crash report, just… nothing.

After digging through several threads, I managed to fix it. Posting this in case it helps someone else.

What didn’t work (for me):

  • Running as administrator
  • Compatibility mode (Windows 7/8)
  • Reinstalling the game
  • Updating GPU drivers

What actually worked:

  1. Install the missing DirectX components
    Go to [PES 2021 install folder]/_CommonRedist/DirectX/Jun2010/ and run DXSETUP.exe. Even if you think you have DirectX up to date, this fixed the silent crash for me.

  2. Force the settings app to run in Windows 8 compatibility mode

    • Right-click settings.exe → Properties → Compatibility
    • Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” → Select Windows 8
    • Check “Run as administrator”
    • Click Apply → OK

  3. Make sure your antivirus isn’t blocking it
    Some AVs (especially Bitdefender or Windows Defender) randomly quarantine or block settings.exe. Add the game folder to your exclusions list.

  4. Run from the correct location
    Don’t use a shortcut – go directly to:
    SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/eFootball PES 2021/

  5. Delete the settings file and let it regenerate
    Go to Documents/KONAMI/eFootball PES 2021/ and delete SETTINGS.dat. Relaunch settings.exe – it should create a fresh copy.

After doing steps 1 & 2 (and a restart), settings.exe finally opened. pes 2021 settingsexe not opening new

If nothing works:
Try launching the game once through PES2021.exe first, then close it and try settings.exe again. Some users report the settings file only initializes after the game runs at least once.

Hope this saves someone the hours I lost today. 🤝

Has anyone else found a different fix for this?

Troubleshooting Guide: Fix "PES 2021 Settings.exe Not Opening" (New Issue)

eFootball PES 2021 remains a beloved title for football simulation fans, largely due to its modding community and deep gameplay mechanics. However, many players migrating to new hardware (Windows 11, new GPUs, or fresh installs) have encountered a frustrating roadblock: the Settings.exe file refuses to open.

You double-click the executable, see a loading wheel for a second, and then nothing. No error message. No crash log. The game might launch via the main executable, but you cannot adjust resolution, controller settings, or graphics quality.

This guide provides a comprehensive, step-by-step breakdown of why this happens and how to force PES 2021 Settings.exe to open on a modern Windows system. Here’s a draft for a forum or social

The Usual Suspects

Through years of forum trawls (shoutout to the Evo-Web faithful), the community has built a rogue’s gallery of causes:

  1. The Killer of Hope: NVIDIA Overlay & Geforce Experience. The most common executioner. For reasons buried in driver handshakes, the NVIDIA overlay can hook into settings.exe and strangle it instantly. Disabling the overlay—or uninstalling Geforce Experience entirely—is often the magic bullet.

  2. The Resolution Paradox. settings.exe tries to read your current desktop resolution. If you’re using a non-standard scaling setting in Windows (like 125% or 150% text scaling), the executable chokes on the math. Right-clicking the file, going to Properties > Compatibility > "Change high DPI settings," and forcing "Override high DPI scaling" (performed by System) often breathes life back into it.

  3. The Phantom Controller. PES’s legacy roots shine here. The settings app scans for DirectInput devices (older controllers, wheels, flight sticks). If it finds a device with a corrupted input map or an unresponsive axis, the scan never completes. The window never opens. Unplugging all USB peripherals except your mouse and keyboard is a classic diagnostic step.

  4. The Corrupted Sider.ini (Modder’s Curse). This is the cruelest twist. For the massive modding community using Sider (the tool that adds stadiums, kits, and scoreboards), a broken sider.ini file in the root directory can prevent settings.exe from launching. The executable apparently checks for the presence of this file before initializing—and if it’s malformed, the whole house of cards collapses.

Summary Checklist (Fast Reference)

| Step | Action | Success Rate | |------|--------|---------------| | 1 | Disable Control Flow Guard (CFG) for Settings.exe | 85% | | 2 | Install All-in-One VC++ Redistributables | 60% | | 3 | Turn on .NET 3.5 Framework | 40% | | 4 | Delete/Rename settings.dat in Documents | 30% | | 5 | Disable GPU overlays (RivaTuner, Discord) | 25% | | 6 | Run as Admin + Disable fullscreen optimizations | 20% | Title: PES 2021 – “Settings

1. Verify Game Files

  • For Steam Users:
    1. Open Steam and go to your Library.
    2. Right-click on PES 2021 and select "Properties."
    3. Navigate to the "Local Files" tab.
    4. Click on "Verify Integrity of Game Files."
  • For Epic Games Store Users:
    1. Open the Epic Games Launcher.
    2. Go to your Library.
    3. Click on the three dots next to PES 2021 and select "Verify."