# [SOLVED] Registry Key Access Denied



## ito1matthews (Jul 23, 2006)

I've attempted to install several items in my computer. So far, all have complained about being unable to access a part of the registry. My game, Rome: Total War complains about being unable to write save files to the disk. I'm becoming concerned that some security program is causing problems...or worse...

Any ideas?


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## cjessee (Aug 22, 2005)

Hmmm.... this might be a stupid question, but how much hard disk space is left on your machine?


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## ito1matthews (Jul 23, 2006)

Don't worry, all ideas are welcome, cause i've certainly not got any o_o

I've 10 GB left on my system drive.


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## cjessee (Aug 22, 2005)

How old is the hard drive that we are dealing with?


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## ito1matthews (Jul 23, 2006)

My system drive is a Seagate, ST3250823A. I bought it new and have had it for about 3 years.

Thanks for the input ^_^.


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## cjessee (Aug 22, 2005)

Hmmmm.. that drive is getting boarderline old. You may want to go to Seagates site and download a hard drive diagnostic tool to check and make sure the drive is working 100%.


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## ito1matthews (Jul 23, 2006)

I've done the drive test, and everything appears to be working okay.

I have an example of the error messages i get when i'm trying to install programs (SystemMechanic in this case):

"Error writing to registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

RegSetValueEx failed; code 5.
Access is denied"

Thoughts?

Thanks ^_^


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

You could try giving your profile name full permissions to that particular registry key...that may help.

More info here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...714b-4549-8f21-29ea082ed76b1033.mspx?mfr=true

It's a guide for windows 2003 but it's the same principle.


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## ito1matthews (Jul 23, 2006)

When i try to change the permissions on the key with Regalyzer, i get an error message:

-Could not change key security: Access denied

When i go into permissions in Regedit, the user account that i'm running (Administrator) has Full control and Read marked on the allow list. There is a users called RESTRICTED. This is the only account with only read access and not full control. When i change it to full control, the same access issues occur. Upon restart, the list of "users" in the permissions window has changed. RESTRICTED no longer exists, and now CREATOR OWNER, Power Users, and Users exist. Respectively, they allow none, allow read only, and allow read only.

Thoughts?

Thanks ^_^


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## Aturaten (Jan 14, 2007)

Try booting in safemode under "Administrator".


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

You will probably need to take ownership of the key. After clicking permissions, select the Advanced button then the owner tab and then select your name and then put a tick in the box at the bottom then click Apply/OK. Once you have done that, you should be able to edit the permissions but make sure you back up the key before doing that.

Hope that helps


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## ito1matthews (Jul 23, 2006)

For some reason, even with full control marked i still cannot edit the key x_x.

Thanks for the thoughts ^_^

Any more? XD


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## ito1matthews (Jul 23, 2006)

There are now several branches of this problem...

One, more registry keys are now being denied editing. This was most notable when i recently installed an updated graphics driver for my video card. Nearly 20 error reports saying that the program could not gain write access to certain keys, CLASSID and Software/CurrentVersion/Run (i think) among them. I've checked them all in regedit. They all have full control permitted.

A game that i recently uninstalled has an empty directory left on my drive. When i go to delete it, an error message appears indicating access denied, that the directory is write protected or being used by another program. When i attempt to install over it, same issue.

Any ideas? I'm going crazy here x_x


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## wikeith (Mar 23, 2009)

*Re: Registry Key Access Denied*



nickster_uk said:


> You will probably need to take ownership of the key. After clicking permissions, select the Advanced button then the owner tab and then select your name and then put a tick in the box at the bottom then click Apply/OK. Once you have done that, you should be able to edit the permissions but make sure you back up the key before doing that.
> 
> Hope that helps


I was having issues installing Media Player 11 after running the RegSeeker "repair" program (won't do that again), and the tip on regaining access to Registry keys was exactly what I needed.

Thanks very much.

Keith


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