Registry problem: "Error while deleting key"
Robert Colgan
1402: Could not open key [key...]) etc. After backing up the registry,
I went into regedit, found the key, and tried to delete it manually.
When I try to open it, I get an "Error while opening key" message, and
"Error while deleting key" when I try to delete it.
It seems like something is corrupted in the registry, but I'm no
expert there, and I wouldn't want to mess with it, besides not knowing
where to begin. Can anyone help me out?
The key, if it matters, is:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{97DD9C11-2299-460C-BC4F-177C72FBDB5F}
\Implemented Categories
and also
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{97DD9C11-2299-460C-BC4F-177C72FBDB5F}
\Programmable
R. McCarty
or individual users may not have "Rights" to modify or delete a key. To
overcome that you have to Right Click the Key name, Click Permissions
add your login name to the ACL ( Access Control List ) and then grant
yourself full privileges. Some keys/values are locked and only allow you
to change from Safe Mode.
"Robert Colgan" <Robert...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193955987.2...@50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
VanguardLH
news:1193955987.2...@50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
Right-click on the item and change its permissions to allow Everyone
(or your account) all permissions. Then delete it. Obviously you
need to be logged in under an admin account to be changing
permissions.
Was the following related to the GUID that you mention above? You
didn't provide any of the subkeys, like the inproc server program.
http://www.internetsecurityzone.com/Entities/?_%7B97DD9C11%2D2299%2D460C%2DBC4F%2D177C72FBDB5F%7D
Robert Colgan
wrote:
> Registry Keys/Values have privileges assigned to them. Certain groups
> or individual users may not have "Rights" to modify or delete a key. To
> overcome that you have to Right Click the Key name, Click Permissions
> add your login name to the ACL ( Access Control List ) and then grant
> yourself full privileges. Some keys/values are locked and only allow you
> to change from Safe Mode.
>
>
> news:1193955987.2...@50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Hi. When trying to uninstall a program, I got an error message ("Error
> > 1402: Could not open key [key...]) etc. After backing up the registry,
> > I went into regedit, found the key, and tried to delete it manually.
> > When I try to open it, I get an "Error while opening key" message, and
> > "Error while deleting key" when I try to delete it.
> > It seems like something is corrupted in the registry, but I'm no
> > expert there, and I wouldn't want to mess with it, besides not knowing
> > where to begin. Can anyone help me out?
>
> > The key, if it matters, is:
> > HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{97DD9C11-2299-460C-BC4F-177C72FBDB5F}
> > \Implemented Categories
> > and also
> > HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{97DD9C11-2299-460C-BC4F-177C72FBDB5F}
> > \Programmable
Thanks, I tried that, but I get an "Unable to save permission
changes...Access is denied" message. (I am using an administrator
account.)
Also, when I click "Advanced" and go to the Owner tab, under Current
Owner it says "Unable to display current owner." Is that significant?
R. McCarty
"Robert Colgan" <Robert...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193957327.6...@50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
Robert Colgan
wrote:
> Boot to Safe Mode and retry the ACL changes/deletion.
>
No luck once again; I logged in under Administrator and went to
permissions but it already showed Administrator as having all
privileges. I also went to the Ownership tab under Advanced, and it
displayed the owner as
"S-1-5-21-3287201994-1979570389-645809190-1011"; I was able to change
the owner to GEOFFREY\Administrator and GEOFFREY\Administrators, but I
still couldn't delete it. (GEOFFREY is my computer's name :-) )
Maybe this isn't a permissions problem?
VanguardLH
news:1193957327.6...@50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>
> "R. McCarty" wrote:
>>
>> "Robert Colgan" <RobertECol...@gmail.com> wrote ...
>>>
>>> Hi. When trying to uninstall a program, I got an error message
>>> ("Error
>>> 1402: Could not open key [key...]) etc. After backing up the
>>> registry,
>>> I went into regedit, found the key, and tried to delete it
>>> manually.
>>> When I try to open it, I get an "Error while opening key" message,
>>> and
>>> "Error while deleting key" when I try to delete it.
>>> It seems like something is corrupted in the registry, but I'm no
>>> expert there, and I wouldn't want to mess with it, besides not
>>> knowing
>>> where to begin. Can anyone help me out?
>>>
>>> The key, if it matters, is:
>>> HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{97DD9C11-2299-460C-BC4F-177C72FBDB5F}
>>> \Implemented Categories
>>> and also
>>> HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{97DD9C11-2299-460C-BC4F-177C72FBDB5F}
>>> \Programmable
>>
>> groups
>> or individual users may not have "Rights" to modify or delete a
>> key. To
>> overcome that you have to Right Click the Key name, Click
>> Permissions
>> add your login name to the ACL ( Access Control List ) and then
>> grant
>> yourself full privileges. Some keys/values are locked and only
>> allow you
>> to change from Safe Mode.
>
> changes...Access is denied" message. (I am using an administrator
> account.)
> Also, when I click "Advanced" and go to the Owner tab, under Current
> Owner it says "Unable to display current owner." Is that
> significant?
Are you an administrator in a domain login for your host, or are you
logging on under a local admin account? Being an admin for your host
under a domain doesn't necessarily give you *full* admin privileges.
Did you use your admin-level account or did you relogin under the
Administrator account?
Robert Colgan
In safe mode there were the regular user name choices, plus
"Administrator", which I logged in to. I suppose that is the local
admin account.
R. McCarty
most indented key/value from the name key and work backwards.
- Name Key <--|
- Sub Key 1 ---|
<--- |
-Sub Key 2 * Start Here and set permissions and delete -|
Otherwise, I'd use a tool to reset the entire Registry Permissions back
to default.
http://winonline.blogspot.com/2005/11/reset-entire-registry-permissions-to.html
*I wouldn't do the global reset without an Image or verified backup.
"Robert Colgan" <Robert...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193959492....@v3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Robert Colgan
wrote:
> One process for removing Registry keys like you have is to start at the
> most indented key/value from the name key and work backwards.
>
> - Name Key <--|
> - Sub Key 1 ---|
> <--- |
> -Sub Key 2 * Start Here and set permissions and delete -|
>
> Otherwise, I'd use a tool to reset the entire Registry Permissions back
> *I wouldn't do the global reset without an Image or verified backup.
>
Well now that I'm back out of Safe Mode, it does seem to have done
something -- the name key is still there but the subkeys that I
mentioned before, "Implemented Categories" and "Programmable", and
their contents are both gone. I tried the uninstallation again, but it
still didn't work, and I get the "Unable to delete" error message when
I try to delete the name key. I could try going back into Safe Mode to
delete the name key.
VanguardLH
I forget the character but it is possible to name a registry key so
that it cannot be deleted using regedit.exe because of a parsing
problem. I believe it is the NUL character. The programmer can
specify any hex string they want as the keyname and that can include a
NUL character. When you try to delete the key, you are selecting it
and then trying to remove it but the displayed name is used but that
doesn't include the NUL character. Malware uses this. Some copy
protection schemes, too (I think I saw this scheme used for a subkey
used by SecureROM). Regedit won't give you the means to delete a key
that contains a NUL character.
SysInternals to the rescue again with their RegDelNul utility.