# Windows Registry Permission Errors



## anon5919521 (Jun 5, 2008)

I'm having trouble using the popular internet-based game-releasing program called steam. it can be found at:

```
www.steampowered.com
```
Specifically the problem is that I can't right click the system tray icon and then call up specific areas of the program via its pop-up menu. I should be able to right click -> choose an option -> receive an appropriate action
however this is not the case. none of the popup options work for this program. This is the only program i have noted so far that is having this issue. On the steam support website there are literally 20 different things to try to fix this error ranging from SP1 to nVidia hotfixes. I have tried every single fix they have suggested except the following registry changes because I get permission errors. Here's the suggested registry changes:

```
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\steam]
@="URL:steam protocol"
"URL Protocol"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\steam\DefaultIcon]
@="steam.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\steam\Shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\steam\Shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\steam\Shell\Open\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Steam\\steam.exe\" \"%1\""
```
Attempting to automatically append the registry yields the following permission error:
Cannot import. Error accessing the registry.

Attempting to manually edit the registry yields the following permission error:
steam cannot be opened.
An error is preventing this key from being opened.
Details: Access is denied.

Attempting to edit the permissions for the steam registry yields the following permission error:
Unable to save permission changes on steam.
Access is denied.


So is there any way to get around this permission nonsense?

Edit: So i don't have SP1 installed but I can't seem to find a way to individually install the updates in SP1 because I don't want all of the fixes, just some. Is there any way to do this?


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## anon5919521 (Jun 5, 2008)

no ideas on why i can't change my own registry?


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## LonnyRJ (Sep 26, 2006)

Hi advocat3
What changes are you attempting to make to the steam key ?
I assume your in an admin accout right ?
Have you tried starting regedit via right click run as admin ?


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## anon5919521 (Jun 5, 2008)

the changes i need to make are listed above in the /code tag
i am on an admin account
i have tried running regedit via run as administrator.

i can't even see what the current reg values are though that's what's funny. and it's not only steam that it's happening on. other entries all over my registry are inaccessible due to permission errors. 

another problem i'm having that is probably related to this is that itunes and microsoft office (all the office components) always run their initial install setup every time they run instead of of course only on their first time running, after the install file has been run. i think it's because they can't access the registry to save permanent values to help the program run so the self-installer has to run each time the programs start to get all the needed variables / values in place to run the program properly.

these programs, itunes / steam / microsoft office, are the 3 latest programs i have installed and the only ones broken so i assume that when i install something else that i'm going to get the same error. does this help elaborate on my problem?

i appreciate any help you can give me on this.


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## LoTekGuru (Jun 18, 2008)

I had this EXACT problem tonight and after about an hour of digging through Google links I found a solution that was not so much steam-based but permissions-based within the registry.

Open Regedit and find your HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\steam key. Click it, and after it tells you that you don't have permissions to view it, right click the key "folder" and select Permissions. You will probably notice that the list of allowed users under Groups or User Names is blank. Click the Add button and add any user groups you want to have access to Steam (I added "Administrators", "SYSTEM", and my user name). Then select Administrators, and make sure that group has full read/write access to the key. Click OK. If the interface gives you guff about not having permission to save because you are not the owner, Click the Advanced button, select the Owner tab, and make sure Administrator and any other users you added are listed as owners (I omitted SYSTEM as owner, and it worked fine for me).

Once you have permissions to the key you will see the values are there, Now do the same for all the other keys.

One odd thing to note, after giving myself permissions for the Shell key, I couldn't see the Shell\Open or Shell\Open\Command keys. As I was creating a new key under Shell to make my own "Open" key, it suddenly appeared and I could edit permissions on that key. Same deal with Shell\Open\Command. A simple refresh might work, I didn't think to try that :laugh:

After making all the permission changes, I closed regedit and launched Steam, and the steam:// protocol was fixed.

My free Portal demo is downloading as I type this


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## LonnyRJ (Sep 26, 2006)

Im curious does the steam key have an owner and if so who ?
advocat3 you can try what LoTekGuru suggests but be carefull and make a new system restore point beforehand, instead though i suggest you create another computer account (administrator) then when logged into it uninstall and reinstall the programs you mention having problems / concerns about.


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## anon5919521 (Jun 5, 2008)

i did that and now i get a permission error inside of steam lotekguru. interestingly as well i now cannot get sound in any application i run and i can't even open audio files anymore. i click play and no sound comes out. 

the steam error is:
steam://run/5051
Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access them.

the current owner of Steam in regedit is my username. i also cannot access of any of sub registrys values of steam, only the main steam key with the default and url protocol entries.

lonnyrjones, i would do that except that now that i don't have sound it doesn't really matter anymore. if i can't fix this registry crap then i'm just going to reformat back to XP. also, the steam entry had no owner. i also have restore points disabled because the information they write to the harddisk can't be defragmented and that annoys me so i disabled it. it has also been unable to fix any of my problem in the past so that was the biggest reason why i don't use system restore.

this may or may not be relevant either but i just changed the owner of the sub-steam entries to myself and can now access them but the steam problem is not fixed. i have not restarted my computer yet though nor have i attempted to append the registry like the steam support said. right now i'm just copying files to my spare HD in preparation of a reformat just in case. also, my computer restarted instantly when i clicked the advanced tab the first time to change the permissions for the sub-steam keys.


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## LonnyRJ (Sep 26, 2006)

The owner should be administrators
You might have to change it for each subkey.
steam and lotekguru.
"i would do that except that now that i don't have sound it doesn't really matter anymore:
Creating and using a new account might help


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## LoTekGuru (Jun 18, 2008)

I had to change permissions and ownership for each subkey:
HKCR\steam
HKCR\DefaultIcon
HKCR\Shell
HKCR\Shell\Open (was hidden until I tried creating a new key with this name)
HKCR\Shell\Open\Command (also hidden until I tried creating a new key with this name)

I don't have problems with permissions in any other program I use (I don't use iTunes or Office) so if the fix I posted isn't working you have a problem that is more deep-seeded than my own and I'm unfortunately not of much help


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## anon5919521 (Jun 5, 2008)

yeah the problem was with my entire registry. a lot of the keys were inaccessible. and i really wasn't up for making a new user name. i mean i'm having compatibility problems with software as is in vista along with these registry malfunctions so i'm pretty disappointed. this post is coming from a fresh install of XP SP 3 ;x so all my troubles are gone.

i definitely want to thank you guys for trying to help though i really do appreciate it but in the end vista is still just too much trouble.


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## Dreamscape86 (Jun 26, 2008)

FINALLY someone else having this problem! I reinstalled Windows trying to fix it, and I still haven't figured out what it is. Here's what I know:

1) It's not Steam's fault. I first encountered it with DVRMSToolbox, a Media Center app which couldn't access it's own registry keys after installing, much like Steam. Steam then had the same problem when I tried to install it. It seems to be an underlying system issue.

2) The problem seems degenerative: Firefox recently stopped saving cookies because it couldn't access the Cookies folder anymore. I had to manually take ownership of the folder and reinstall Firefox before it worked again. This may not be related, but it seems unlikely that two major permissions-involving faults would occur at the same time and be unrelated.

I originally tried the SubinACL fix when I was working on DVRMSToolbox, but that caused me to lose all audio as well as seriously buggering my system, so I managed to fix it and didn't try again. I found a different SubinACL script I'm going to try, and I'll let you guys know if it works.


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## Placehold (Mar 9, 2008)

Hey

Have you all tried 

1. Uninstalling *Steam*

2. Deleting the relating registry keys

3. Rebooting

4. Then running the *Steam* installer from the Steam website

I done this about a month ago on a laptop and after three reboots it started working. I believe there has been no further issues.

Regards





Craig


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## woodsier (Jan 31, 2009)

I have the EXACT same problem. I installed steam yesterday on a perfectly functioning computer and I realised something was wrong when none of the links worked inside stream. So i opened it in firefox and I didn't have the correct protocol working.

I tried some reg fixes but I couldn't get permissions working. I tried changing permissions but it just said access denied. I tried everything the above posters have mentioned but simply get Access denied. I tried doing what the Microsoft dude said, but likewise, Access denied when I tried to delete the key. I can't change permissions at all.

Now my windows installer service isn't working, my audio service has stopped working and my network (even though working) says "there's not enough space to complete this operation" in the toolbar.

Steam has clearly buggered up my computer.

How did you fix this?


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