Macromedia Flash registry keys non deletable?

CCleaner for Windows
1

Hello, friends.

On friend machine I made the mistake of installing the Adobe Macromedia Flash, instead of just depacking the installer and copy over the relevant files in Firefox plugins. As result, there are several non-deletable (regeditor refuse to delete them, CCleaner did not delete them as well) registry entries:

2ebv0d2_th.jpg

Both from Flash 9b and 10b versions as you can see in the image. Since regedit refuse the delete the keys AND CCleaner also refuse to delete them, I tried even the Registry Booster, yet this one did not even list them as error. If that is significant, I don't know. I just want them to "go away" and don't know how.

Thinking about Windows PE boot, but not sure if that is safe and if that will allow well me to manipulate with registry... Is not there any other way? There is NOTHING from the flash files in Windows directory at all. All are removed/deleted. I stick with the

flashplayer.xpt

NPSWF32.dll

NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe

files extracted from the install and put in Firefox / Plugins, so I will not ever install that crap again. Never did on my machine and no problemo. But in case someone do, is there a known way to fix this? Using the Adobe utility to clean up is NOT the way to do...

Also installing new version did not seems to fix a thing.

2

Seems to have been a problem spanning a few years.

have you read this thread? (also spans a few years!)

http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-5...-Flash9ocx.html

3

Alternatively, use a sledge hammer when all else fails ! !

I was unable to upgrade my software firewall - the installer said the old version had to be removed.

Regedit was able to show me a registry tree of 2000 keys that it could not delete.

It gave me no clues.

I recognise a permissions error when I see one.

Regedit required that I individually select a key and then it would either show me what it held or tell me NO.

Only after trying 2000 keys, and upon getting a NO, would it allow me (in a blindfold) to take ownership,

and then I could delete them.

Life is too short ! !

I downloaded Registry Registrar Manager Lite (Free),

pointed at the top of the tree,

and 2 or 3 clicks later I owned 2000 keys,

and 1 click later deleted them all and upgraded the firewall.

You can download Registry Registrar Manager from http://www.resplendence.com/downloads

WARNING - Meddling with the registry can do an awful lot of damage.

I always have a fresh ERUNT backup created each morning just in case.

Registry Registrar Manager is no more dangerous to an individual key than Regedit,

BUT it will instantly obey and modify/damage all the keys you have selected.

Regedit is less obliging and tends to restrict damage to one key at a time,

so this is safer for a novice.

Be careful

Alan

4

hazelnut - well, they aren"t very bright to start with. As soon as I can't delete something, I try rename it and then reboot and then I usually delete everything. However the registry keys stay. (cursed Macromedia/Adobe) Well, I tried one suggestion and tried this:

FlashUtil9 -uninstallUnlock

And yea! Much better, only two errors now:

28tyt82_th.jpg

So far, so good. However using the Flash 10 utility by the same way ( -uninstallUnlock ) I get this error message:

2dvqsnb.jpg

Something about impossibility of finding a "GetSystemWow64DirectoryA" is not possible in the kernel32.dll ... hmmm.

So, I tried the other options of the FlashUtil9:

-unregisterBroker

-uninstallDelete

-uninstallControlPath

-uninstallBrokerPath

-uninstallSafeVersions

...but with bad result, as the number of errors only increased by one :(

Next try - I try unlocking these registry keys using the regedt32 ;) Let's hope for the best :)

(yes, regedt32 allows unlocing registry keys even on Windows 2000, so...)

Alan_B - when regedt32 fail, then I try the Registry Registrar Manager, thanks for the tip. I can't believe even on W2k I can stumble upon such "permission problems", oh, well... If that happen on Vista, well... I just format it. But on W2k... :mellow:

5

There is some locking issue with the registry keys because on my mothers laptop one old no longer valid Adobe Flash key remains that registry cleaners find yet can't deal with, and changing the permissions to Admin doesn't work either so I completely ignore it.

Possible using the Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller (which is a separate download) may work, don't know off hand if it will though.

I wonder if that's possibly their response to umpteen registry cleaners mucking up the Flash registry keys by just locking them to protect them.