Unable to delete registry key

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi,
I have the following registry key:
HKCU\Software\SecuROM
which has a subkey named:
"!Caution" Never delete or change any key"

Now the problem is regedit will not let me either display, delete or change
permissions on that subkey and so I'm not able to delete the parent key
(SecuRom).
I'd like to assume this is not down to registry corruption but has been
somehow engineered by they "nice" people over at SecuRom in some.

Does anyone have a suggestion how it might be possible to remove such a
registry key?
(Exporing just that key only exports the parent key, without any subkeys, by
the way.)

Regards,
VT

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

"Pentium" wrote:
> CTR+ALT+DELETE twice, log in as Admin, go to REGEDIT and try again

I was already logged in as administrator.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Not a desktop admin, but "THE" administrator, usually hidden?

"vkov tinsky" <vkovtinsky@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7668624D-38BB-4079-B618-408F0355B046@microsoft.com...
> "Pentium" wrote:
>> CTR+ALT+DELETE twice, log in as Admin, go to REGEDIT and try again
>
> I was already logged in as administrator.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

First of all,
Whether one logs in as "the" administrator or another user of the
administrator group makes no difference whatsoever.
And yes, I was logged in as "the" (almight) administrator.

VT

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Caution
[[Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before
making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your
computer. ]]

Try this...
Reset the registry permissions
As soon as you have found the registry subkey that has the incorrect
permissions, update the permissions for that subkey.

To update the permissions of the registry subkey, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK to start
Registry Editor.
b. Locate and right-click the registry subkey:
and then click Permissions.
c. Under Group or user names, click Administrators.
d. Under Permissions for Administrators, make sure that the Allow check box
for the following entries is selected:
• Full Control
• Read
e. Click Apply, and then click OK.
f. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

Open the Registry Editor again and see if you can delete the key now.

If not, try this...
Start | Run | Type: regedit | OK |
Navigate to >>>
the said key
Right click the key in the left hand pane | Permissions... | Advanced
button | Owner tab | click the new owner and then click OK.

[[You can take ownership of a registry key if you are logged on as an
administrator or if you have been specifically assigned the permission to
take ownership of the registry key by the cur

To assign permissions to a registry key
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] t_key.mspx

To assign special access to a registry key
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] ecacc.mspx

To grant Full Control of a registry key
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] d_own.mspx

To add users or groups to the audit list
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] duser.mspx

To add users or groups to the Permissions list
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] duser.mspx

To remove a user or group from the Permissions list
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] emove.mspx

To take ownership of a registry key
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] e_own.mspx

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:404391C6-B33C-4B34-BFB3-EAFB1A87A698@microsoft.com,
vkov tinsky <vkovtinsky@discussions.microsoft.com> hunted and pecked:
> Hi,
> I have the following registry key:
> HKCU\Software\SecuROM
> which has a subkey named:
> "!Caution" Never delete or change any key"
>
> Now the problem is regedit will not let me either display, delete or
> change permissions on that subkey and so I'm not able to delete the
> parent key (SecuRom).
> I'd like to assume this is not down to registry corruption but has been
> somehow engineered by they "nice" people over at SecuRom in some.
>
> Does anyone have a suggestion how it might be possible to remove such a
> registry key?
> (Exporing just that key only exports the parent key, without any subkeys,
> by the way.)
>
> Regards,
> VT

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

vkov tinsky wrote:
> Hi,
> That's exactly the problem. For a start it does not even let me select the
> subkey
> of SecuRom, let alone change permissions on it.
> (Comes up with: "...Error while opening key" ).
> If I try to change the permissions of SecuRom itself, and tell it to
> "replace permissions on all child object ..." it says:
> "Regedit could not set permissions for this key or subkey...."
>
> If this one subkey really is just corrupt, is there a way to export
> everything except that key (I guess pretty much the whole of ntuser.dat?) and
> then delete the whole
> of the user registry part, replacing it with a copy from the export?
> In which case the question is... apart from "Software", which other keys
> (Control Panel, Environment?) have to be copied too. (non volatile ones?)
>
> Regards,
> VT


You can try taking ownership of the key with this free app
http://www.resplendence.com/reglite

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Instead of using regedit use regedt32 (note the spelling)

--


The best live web video on the internet http://www.seedsv.com/webdemo.htm
NEW Embedded system W/Linux. We now sell DVR cards.
See it all at http://www.seedsv.com/products.htm
Sharpvision simply the best http://www.seedsv.com



"vkov tinsky" <vkovtinsky@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8CCB880E-D5A5-42BF-8B17-FE8C633E59FD@microsoft.com...
> "Jim" wrote:
>> You can try taking ownership of the key with this free app
>> http://www.resplendence.com/reglite
>
> While registrar (lite) seemd to take ownership of the key in question,
> deleting
> did not bring up an error message, but the key didn't disappear either.
>
> Thanks for everyones' suggestions. I guess it'll have to wait until a
> re-install of XP is due. I sent an email to SecuRom and I'm hoping it
> really
> is just registry corruption and not their work!
> If I get bored I'll give it a last try editing ntuser.dat (and maybe burn
> my
> fingers in the process), but I sure won't be installing any more games
> which
> use SecuRom.
>
> Regards,
> VT

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

vkov tinsky wrote:
> Hi,
> I have the following registry key:
> HKCU\Software\SecuROM
> which has a subkey named:
> "!Caution" Never delete or change any key"
>
> Now the problem is regedit will not let me either display, delete or change
> permissions on that subkey and so I'm not able to delete the parent key
> (SecuRom).
> I'd like to assume this is not down to registry corruption but has been
> somehow engineered by they "nice" people over at SecuRom in some.
>
> Does anyone have a suggestion how it might be possible to remove such a
> registry key?
> (Exporing just that key only exports the parent key, without any subkeys, by
> the way.)

Have you tried exporting, editing and importing?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

WOW! you're so smart VT but not smart enough to fix your own problem. I feel
sorry for you. I guess the correct answer would be to format and reinstall,
that will fix it. While you are formatting do some research on the
difference between the two you might learn something.

--


The best live web video on the internet http://www.seedsv.com/webdemo.htm
NEW Embedded system W/Linux. We now sell DVR cards.
See it all at http://www.seedsv.com/products.htm
Sharpvision simply the best http://www.seedsv.com



"vkov tinsky" <vkovtinsky@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsB95E16C-4BC0-4ED7-BF27-3D3C1E4BB3E0@microsoft.com...
> "pcbutts1" wrote:
>> Instead of using regedit use regedt32 (note the spelling)
>
> If you don't even know that under WinXP regedit and regedt32 is the same
> program then ... (oh dear I better stop before this becomes an insult
> lol).
>
>
> VT

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi vkov,

Did you try in Safe Mode?

It might be worth a shot to try using reg.exe.

Open a command prompt and type:

REG DELETE /?

REG DELETE HKCU\Software\SecuROM

You may have try different combinations, like...

REG DELETE HKCU\Software\SecuROM /va

More info on reg.exe & reg delete here...
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] s/reg.mspx

Also type reg in the Search box in Help and Support.

Or use reg.exe to export the key.

REG EXPORT HKCU\Software\SecuROM C:\FILENAME.REG

Or maybe create a .reg file. Double click the reg file to merge with
registry.

Example...
-------------------------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM]

-------------------------------

One way to create the .reg file is use Regedit.exe to export the registry
key that you want to delete, then use Notepad to edit the .reg file and
insert the hyphen. Or just use the text above in notepad and save as
whateverfilename.reg.

How to add, modify, or delete registry subkeys and values by using a
registration entries (.reg) file
http://support.microsoft.com/defau [...] -us;310516

Beats me if this key is so corrupted that nothing affects it.

Try using ERUNT to backup the entire registry and then restore it.
Maybe it'll shake something loose. ERUNT will backup the whole registry and
can be re-imported without messing things up.

NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer
ERUNT The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:3D64A93D-E1D4-48A0-9E4D-5EB9D53F2BE0@microsoft.com,
vkov tinsky <vkovtinsky@discussions.microsoft.com> hunted and pecked:
> Hi,
> That's exactly the problem. For a start it does not even let me select the
> subkey
> of SecuRom, let alone change permissions on it.
> (Comes up with: "...Error while opening key" ).
> If I try to change the permissions of SecuRom itself, and tell it to
> "replace permissions on all child object ..." it says:
> "Regedit could not set permissions for this key or subkey...."
>
> If this one subkey really is just corrupt, is there a way to export
> everything except that key (I guess pretty much the whole of ntuser.dat?)
> and then delete the whole
> of the user registry part, replacing it with a copy from the export?
> In which case the question is... apart from "Software", which other keys
> (Control Panel, Environment?) have to be copied too. (non volatile ones?)
>
> Regards,
> VT

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Didn't notice it being mentioned, but have you tried to do an uninstall
of the app that is related to SecuRom, apparently it is used with games,
and each time the game is activated the key is regenerated, also have
you tried to do a System Restore to the point before you installed this
product.

Jim

Thanks a lot Jim, using this tool I was able to delete my unownable key. (Macromedia Flash issue)