Reg Edit

Hi,

I'm having a devil of a time deleting several entries in my W2K registry. When using the W2K regedit I get the error message "error while deleting key". I've tried several other registry editors that I found on the web - all say the same thing - can't delete the key.

Anybody know of a registry editor that will delete these pesky keys?
BTW - the keys in question are leftovers from software that I no longer use.
Thanks,
Larry

 

If you are running software that protects the registry from being changed you'll get a message similar to that one. Also, try deleting the keys from Safe Mode.

 

Don't have any software protecting the registry. I'm able to edit other entries using the w2k regedit. Just seems to be keys from certain removed programs.

Just tried the Safe Mode - no joy in muddville - same thing - "Error while deleting key". Which I don't understand at all - when I saw your reply I slaped myself beside the head - daa - that ottawork.

Larry

 

What keys are you trying to delete? Give the full path. Some are not possible to delete. Others, you may need permissions to......

 

You might have to take ownership of the files.

Try right-clicking the key, then permissions, and allow yourself full access.

Not sure if that is available in W 2000 as I'm going from XP experience. Should be okay though.

 

HKEY_CLASS_ROOT & HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE are where the keys are located. The keys in question are all the leftovers from removing iTunes - like iTunes.aa, iTunes.aif, iTunes.aifc etc.

In HLM they are located under "software" "classes" and then the various classes such as .aa; cdda; .itl; etc.

Larry

 

Might be that way with XP but with W2000 it doesn't work - the right click is ok that gives you the list of things you can do with the key such "delete" "rename" etc. - no permissioms in the choices. Probably W2000 uses the users overall permissions. Just to be clear - I have administrator rights on the machine.

Larry

 

Right-click in the left-hand side, in the "tree view" and not on the item.

ie right-click the actual folder

 

Sorry about that - my previous message led you off. The left-hand side is where I right-click - the list includes "delete" and "rename" and the various other things you can do such as "new", "find", "copy key name" and "expand".
Larry

 

Can you list all the keys here that are causing you problems?

You said HKLM, and HKCR. These are the Roots of the acutal keys. I'd love to know the FULL PATHs.


I.E. HKLM\Software\Micro...etc...

Or, for simplicity sake, run Crap Cleaner:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4191

 

The first one that shows up is HKCR\.aa then HKCR\.aaa then HKCR\.ccda and several others in this section then HKCR\.itms - .itmss - .itpc - then HKCR\iTunes.aa - iTunes.aif and about twenty other iTune keys.

In HKLM it starts out HKLM\Software\classes\.aa additional entries are the same as for HKCR including HKLM\Software\classes\iTunes.aa and about twenty other iTune keys.

Used the last half hour or so to download Crap Cleaner, install it and run it. Crap Cleaner did find the iTune keys (and a lot more) - said that it fixed them by deleting the registry value - closed the program and rebooted the machine - ran Crap Cleaner again - it found the same keys that it said that it deleted. I did this three time in a row - same result.

Larry

 

You must have a program running in the background and loading on startup that is replacing those files, either iTunes or something related.

You have Windows 2000, which unfortunately doesn't come standard with msconfig, unless you installed it? (Start, run and type in msconfig)

If not, install PROCESS EXPLORER and see what is loading at startup.

 

Nope don't have msconfig - downloaded and installed the ProcessExplorer. Nothing shows that should not be there.

Here is the run:
Process PID CPU Description Company Name
System Idle Process 0 98.02
Interrupts n/a Hardware Interrupts
DPCs n/a Deferred Procedure Calls
System 8
SMSS.EXE 156 Windows NT Session Manager Microsoft Corporation
CSRSS.EXE 180 0.99 Client Server Runtime Process Microsoft Corporation
WINLOGON.EXE 176 Windows NT Logon Application Microsoft Corporation
SERVICES.EXE 228 Services and Controller app Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 408 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
spoolsv.exe 440 Spooler SubSystem App Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 484 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
mstask.exe 620 Task Scheduler Engine Microsoft Corporation
vsmon.exe 856 TrueVector Service Zone Labs, LLC
WinMgmt.exe 1060 Windows Management Instrumentation Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1080 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
LOCATOR.EXE 1100 Rpc Locator Microsoft Corporation
LSASS.EXE 240 LSA Executable and Server DLL (Export Version) Microsoft Corporation
explorer.exe 808 Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation
atiptaxx.exe 960 ATI Desktop Control Panel ATI Technologies, Inc.
zlclient.exe 964 Zone Labs Client Zone Labs, LLC
jusched.exe 968 Java(TM) 2 Platform Standard Edition binary Sun Microsystems, Inc.
TotRecSched.exe 984 Total Recorder scheduler High Criteria inc.
OSA.EXE 1024
IEXPLORE.EXE 1368 Internet Explorer Microsoft Corporation
explorer.exe 604 Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation
procexp.exe 652 0.99 Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals

Process: Procexp Pid: -2

Type Name


Also ran the Crap Cleaner again - back to back runs. Run and clean then run again. CC finds the same problems on each run.

Don't know what is happening - but I'm getting realy frustrated - I hate it when the computers will not allow me to do what I want to do.
Thanks for the help,
Larry

 

I should have suggested you also install AUTORUNS to see what is set to load with Windows. Sorry.

If it doesn't show up there, then I'm out of ideas.

 

Hmmmm.....

HKCR is HKEY_Classes_Root. This hive contains all your available extensions. I know that XP has a built in command line based registry editor.

I wonder if 2k also has this.

Try: Click start, RUN, type in CMD (press enter)

type in:

REG (Press enter). If you get an error that the file doesn't exist, then you need to download:

Okay, just found out that reg is native to 2k.

Now at the "DOS" prompt, type in:

reg delete "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.aa" (press enter) [note the period . between the \ and the aa]

type in: y (enter) when it askes if you are sure.

If you don't get any errors, check to see if that key is now gone in the registry.

 

A shame that .net framework 2.0 and monad...err the new windows shell is not installed on all machines. Using this new shell is freaking easy to edit the registry. I'm so looking forward to VISTA....

 

If it's ever released.

There ain't that much to look forward to. Micro$$oft keeps trimming it down, then postponing the release date.

I hope it doesn't become another Windows ME.

 

From the looks of things, it is very good. But, since I'm merely a beta microsoft guy, I have to wait till beta 2 (I believe) is out.

Still waiting on the download link for OFFICE 12 via beta.microsoft.com...........

 

It would be good if WinFS, the file system originally proposed, was deployed.

As it is, Vista looks more like a skin for XP.

Anyway, lameyering, let us know how you are going.

 

Looks like the whole problem was the Regedit file in my win2k - re-directed to regedit32 and I was able to delete the offending entries - which also made CCleaner work. Seems that whatever iTunes did to the reg did not affect regedit32.

Much thanks - to all - your help keep me going in the right direction.

Larry