Administrator Permission

[Speeder293]

Hi all,

 

I'm in deeper than I want to go and life is too short for this stuff!

 

I recently upgraded my desktop pc with a Sony CD/DVD reader/burner. It came bundled with software from Nero that included a little bugger called Nero Scout. Nero Scout is an indexing program that installs itself into machine memory then takes as much cpu time as it can. 97 to 98% It is about as helpful as a virus. Needless to say, computer performance was nil. It would not be deleted from memory with task manager and when I finally went to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel it would not uninstall.

 

I downloaded CCleaner and it removed Nero and its Scout well enough. And many thanks for that! But along the way, several other things were affected.

 

Microsoft Outlook, on startup, goes looking for the install disks. I put the disk into the cd reader and the installer proceeds to not find the disk. I tried to repair/reinstall the program but the installer gets about halfway through the process then gives a message of

 

Error 1402 Could not open Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Msinfo\Categories\APPS\Excel\Add ins

 

I read somewhere, maybe the Microsoft Knowledge base, that I need Administrator permission to change certain keys in the registry. Thing is, I'm the administrator. I can get into the permissions through regedt32 but cannot change them on any of the keys in question. There are several other programs that are similarly affected.

 

Any ideas about changing/recovering administrator permissions?

 

Windows XP Professional SP 2

Intel Celeron 2.8 GHz, 1 gig of ram

 

Thanks and remember-

 

It's not what you don't know that gets you. It's what you think you know that just ain't so.

 

B

[davey]

Hi all,

 

I'm in deeper than I want to go and life is too short for this stuff!

 

I downloaded CCleaner and it removed Nero and its Scout well enough. And many thanks for that! But along the way, several other things were affected.

 

Any ideas about changing/recovering administrator permissions?

 

Windows XP Professional SP 2

Intel Celeron 2.8 GHz, 1 gig of ram

 

Thanks and remember-

 

It's not what you don't know that gets you. It's what you think you know that just ain't so.

 

B

Hello Speeder,

Welcome to the forum!!!

 

CCleaner did what you told it to do.

If you did any registry cleaning, I would MERGE the backup .reg files in reverse order that they were created and then do the following.

 

Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

Start here and figure it out.I have always had best results uninstalling using the manufactures uninstall method and tools.

http://www.nero.com/enu/downloads-cleantools.html

 

You may have to reinstall Nero in order to uninstall it properly and get your Registry back in order.

There may have been permissions settings changed while Nero Scout was in progress also.Hopefully the Nero clean tool will do what you need.

Your best bet is following the manufacturers advice.

http://www.nero.com/enu/index.html

 

With a name like Speeder, it may be wise to slow down sometimes and think these things out.

I heartily agree with your advice "It's not what you don't know that gets you. It's what you think you know that just ain't so."

 

Fill us in on the results.

Good Luck,

davey

[krit86lr]

It sounds like you have 2 problems here.

 

(1) Windows is not recognizing CD/DVD's in the drive, and

(2) Administrator Permissions has been corrupted.

 

 

(1) Do you have any yellow question marks in device manager? Have you uninstalled, and reinstalled your CD Drive in device manager (note: must reboot pc after uninstall).

 

(2) To fix Admin Permissions, and policies...download and run DAF. For instructions on how to use DAF to repair your permissions please read here.

[Alan_B]

Any ideas about changing/recovering administrator permissions?

 

First you need to back-up the registry - BUT reg files will NOT do the job.

If you export a reg file you can inspect it with notepad.

ALL you will see is text describing keys with their data and values etc.

You will NOT see who is "owner", or who is permitted to change or even read it.

 

Before any drastic work you need to export a hive, which includes ownerships and permissions in addition to the names data and values of the keys. With a HIVE you can import it back to totally undo any mistakes you made.

With a REG file you can replace any keys / data you accidentally deleted, but it CANNOT remove any items you accidentally inserted.

 

regedit can export HIVE files, BUT my preference is ERUNT, AVAILABLE AT

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt

 

I had a whole sequence of a key with sub-keys each of which had further subkeys.

Altogether there were about 2000 keys nested to a depth of about 7 levels.

regedit allowed me to see all the keys, but not see their permissions.

regedit allowed me to "take ownership" even though it would not show who the rightful owner was.

regedit allowed me to delete a key I had taken ownership - BUT NOT if it contained another key.

regedit would have allowed me to work on the bottom level and take ownership of a key and then delete it, and repeat for all keys at that level, then I could go up one level and delete.

2 different actions to perform individually on each of 2000 keys - I agree with you, life is too short for this stuff !!!

 

To modify the registry I prefer Registrar Registry Manager - look for free downloads at

http://www.resplendence.com/downloads

This is much more powerful than regedit.

Instead of performing 2 * 2000 actions with regedit, I used Registrar Registry Manager to select the single key at the top of the chain, and I merely said good-bye to it and all its dependants.

 

Power is danger - which is why ERUNT is a wise precaution.

 

n.b. I rarely venture into the registry, but I have an extra sense of peace by setting ERUNT to automatically create an entire registry HIVE each morning. It runs for only 10 seconds whilst a lot of other things are starting up, and probably adds less than 2 Seconds to the total start-up time of the who system.

 

Alan

[Speeder293]

Hi all!

 

Thanks for the responses.

 

Davey - I think I'd rather take a sharp stick in the eye than put Nero back on the system. I'll try some other things first.

 

Krit86lr - My CD/DVD reader is working fine. No yellow warnings in Device Manager. I can scan disks in the drive no problem.

 

I believe the problem is in the registry. If Nero had permissions locked up, those settings might not have been corrected when CCleaner ripped it out.

 

I found a command line program called subinacl.exe, from MicroSoft, that supposedly lets one adjust permissions, but the switches are complex so I'll try DAF first since it is more graphical.

 

Progress:

 

I was able to download, install, and run DAF. Afterwards I was able to convert the permissions on the key that I had mentioned in the first post. Not on the initial try, however. I found a level in regedt32 that I think was not working prior to DAF. There was a tab for ownership that I believe I was not able to change before. This time I was able to assign the ownership to the administrator then my username, then I was able to take change control of the key. That's as far as I went before the sandman got me. I'll see how the rest of it goes shortly.

 

Remember -

 

Dilber is Truth

[Halvah]

n.b. I rarely venture into the registry, but I have an extra sense of peace by setting ERUNT to automatically create an entire registry HIVE each morning. It runs for only 10 seconds whilst a lot of other things are starting up, and probably adds less than 2 Seconds to the total start-up time of the who system.

Alan

 

Could you share the command to have ERUNT automatically create an entire registry HIVE each morning? Does it go in the start up file? Thanks.

[davey]

Could you share the command to have ERUNT automatically create an entire registry HIVE each morning? Does it go in the start up file? Thanks.

Hello Halvah,

See this link and download ERUNT and select the /autobackup option when asked.

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&amp...ost&p=99044

If you already use ERUNT see the Documentation in it's folder.

Best wishes,

davey

[davey]

Hi all!

 

Thanks for the responses.

 

Davey - I think I'd rather take a sharp stick in the eye than put Nero back on the system. I'll try some other things first.

 

I believe the problem is in the registry. If Nero had permissions locked up, those settings might not have been corrected when CCleaner ripped it out.

Hi Speeder,

No,Don't want no sticks in the eye.

Did you use Nero's uninstall tool? I was hoping that would reset the Registry settings for you.

Yes, Dial-a-Fix is a great source to reset things.I owe DJLizard a lot of donations.

That little "hammer" icon at the bottom sure comes in handy.I have reset Windows Fiewall and System Restore and a few other things with Dial-a-Fix TechWiki. http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix.

Not to mention getting Windows Update and Windows Automatic Update fixed.

His site and he is a good friend to the members of this forum.

I have learned a lot using his links.

 

I would recommend everybody get the latest version and at least save it in My Documents to avoid

the big rush when everybody tries installing and using WinXP SP3.

http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix.

 

davey

[Speeder293]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the discussion.

 

There is some progress to report.

 

I downloaded and ran Dial-A-Fix as noted above but was not able to make permission changes that would stick. I would pick the checkbox for full control, hit apply, then ok thinking it worked. Reentering the permission window would show no changes.

 

What I found is that your username needs to have ownership of the key to make permission changes.

 

Click start run enter regedt32. Navigate to the affected key.

 

Right click on the key?s folder. You will get a message that states you do not have permission to make changes but that you can change your permission level. Click ok.

 

Right click on the key again. The permission window will open. If your username or administrator does not appear in the upper window, click on add.

 

In the next window type in your username or administrator (Whatever you are logged in as.) Click search for names. It should replace the name you typed in with the server name and your user name. Click ok.

 

Your name should now appear in the upper window of the permissions window. Not done yet.

 

Highlight your username, click advanced at the bottom of the window. You should now be at a window with several tabs across the top. Click on Owner.

 

Your username should appear in the lower window. Highlight it and click apply. Click ok.

 

Back at the first permission window now. Highlight your username then click the full control checkbox. Click apply, then ok.

 

The install software that has been giving me problems is now making progress. At least up to where it finds another key to choke on.

 

What I am not sure if is if Dial-A-Fix made this process possible. I don?t recall seeing the advanced button, but I wasn?t looking for it either. Maybe someone can confirm this.

 

I still have a ways to go before everything is fixed. Like, my printer driver not working. But that is for another thread.

 

Regards and remember:

Murphy was an optimist.

[Speeder293]

Hi all!

 

You've been very quiet.

 

Not to matter. I am almost at the end of my troubles. No guns involved either.

 

After trying to reinstall software and getting permission denied but no key listing I decided to try a bigger bat. Found a website that had a routine for the switches for subinACL.exe Ran it and got into deeper trouble.

 

Lost most of the desktop, the toolbar, the internet, just about everything. Couldn't get to regedt32 since the toolbar wouldn't work, couldn't get to command either. The top level administrator account was similarly affected. Looked like a full re-install was in order, but I didn't want to have to reset everything. One of the websites I had found talked about an XP repair install.

 

From my computer at work I got to http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm and printed the directions.

 

Went through his listed procedure and voila! The system was restored and almost all the settings were kept from prior to the problems. The only loss I have noticed is the Windows login screen pictures are missing. Don't know where to find them but they'll turn up somewhere.

 

I was able to reset permissions as needed, but for most applications that needed to be reinstalled, there were no hangups.

 

The printer drivers from HP for the Photosmart 7150 continued to be a problem. Somewhere along the line I had expanded the driver installation package to a temporary dirctory. Instead of having the driver's setup program do the install, I told the windows installation wizard to look in that folder. It took a little time, but the printer is now installed.

 

The system is still slower than I would like it to be, but I know there are things to be cleaned out of the registry. I'll now try to find some time and use CCleaner properly to do some cleaning and tweaking.

 

TTFN

 

Remember:

 

Doing it the hard way is always easier.

(Murphy's Paradox)

[davey]

Hi all!

 

You've been very quiet.

 

Not to matter. I am almost at the end of my troubles. No guns involved either.

 

After trying to reinstall software and getting permission denied but no key listing I decided to try a bigger bat. Found a website that had a routine for the switches for subinACL.exe Ran it and got into deeper trouble.

 

Lost most of the desktop, the toolbar, the internet, just about everything. Couldn't get to regedt32 since the toolbar wouldn't work, couldn't get to command either. The top level administrator account was similarly affected. Looked like a full re-install was in order, but I didn't want to have to reset everything. One of the websites I had found talked about an XP repair install.

 

From my computer at work I got to http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm and printed the directions.

 

Went through his listed procedure and voila! The system was restored and almost all the settings were kept from prior to the problems. The only loss I have noticed is the Windows login screen pictures are missing. Don't know where to find them but they'll turn up somewhere.

 

I was able to reset permissions as needed, but for most applications that needed to be reinstalled, there were no hangups.

 

The printer drivers from HP for the Photosmart 7150 continued to be a problem. Somewhere along the line I had expanded the driver installation package to a temporary dirctory. Instead of having the driver's setup program do the install, I told the windows installation wizard to look in that folder. It took a little time, but the printer is now installed.

 

The system is still slower than I would like it to be, but I know there are things to be cleaned out of the registry. I'll now try to find some time and use CCleaner properly to do some cleaning and tweaking.

 

TTFN

 

Remember:

 

Doing it the hard way is always easier.

(Murphy's Paradox)

Wow. What a journey.I was wondering where you went.

Yokenny,posted this for member "ident" but it sounds similar to what you were talking about.Maybe it will help?Note it relates to permissions to delete but you may use it as a guide for other permissions.

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=105194

I would get in contact with YoKenny as he seems experienced in using this tool for many things.

 

Welcome back,

davey