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Tech Tips : Cannot Delete Key With Windows Registry Editor
Regedit Returns "Error While Deleting Key"
Subjects > Computers > Microsoft
By Garnet
I encountered this error while trying to delete the keys for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Deterministic Networks. I tried booting into safe mode, but Regedit was still unable to delete the key.
- Under DeterministicNetworks?Create is a DNE subkey, and under that Parameters. Trying to show permissions for Parameters gets "Unable to display security information", even when logged in as an administrator in Safe mode. Also I get "Cannot open Parameters: Error while opening key" immediately after trying to see the permissions.
Searches on Microsoft site:
- regedit "error while deleting key" "cannot delete" - This returns nothing at all!
- regedit "error while deleting key" - Also returns nothing!
Removing regedit from the search string gave one result. Here is someone who encountered a similar problem with some other keys: forums.microsoft.com/Genuine /ShowPost?Create.aspx?PostID?Create=514705&SiteID?Create=25&PageID?Create=1
- This is a typical thread offering no solution. Phil was encouraged to rename the key. That did not work for him, and it did not work for me. "The Registry Editor cannot rename DeterministicNetworks?Create. The specified key name alreadyt exists. Type another name and try again." This is a bogus error that happens the second time trying to rename a key, as I was renaming it to "[DeterministicNetworks Old]?Create" which definitely doesn't exist. The first time got "The Registry Editor" cannot rename DeterministicNetworks?Create. Error while renaming key." Refreshing the registry now reveals several copies of the DeterministicNetworks?Create branch under the different renames I was trying.
Lets try the search at msdn.microsoft.com. It gives "There are no search results to display" in response to "error while deleting key".
Google has 126 entries for "error while deleting key"
- The first links from laplink could not be displayed.
- Another post suggested setting "Full Control" permissions. I am logged on as an administrator, and administrator has full control, but just for fun, I added full control to the actual login ID I am using. No luck, still got an error trying to delete.
- Also tried this, but it didn't work: Right click edit permissions on that branch of the registry, go into advanced, clear the "inherit from parent" box. Then make sure you check "replace permission entries on all child objects". Now give yourself full control, and click Apply. Unfortunately, this gives "Registry Editor could not set security in the key currently selected, or in some of its subkeys."
Also tried google for regedit permissions "unable to display security information", but nothing useful was found.
Searching suppport.microsoft.com for "registry editor" results in over 200 articles.
- "registry editor" deleting key - 159 results
- "registry editor" unable to delete key - 93 results - Most articles refer to other problems that require editing of the registry.
- "registry editor" "deleting key" - 0 results
- "deleting key" - 0 results for product Widndows XP. Tried expanding search to "all products", and still got zero results. Expanded to all of microsoft, got lots of scripts that include error messages about unable to delete keys.
Google:
- "error while opening key" - 145 results
Something else to try: NOTE: This doesn't help this problem.
- Access is Denied
- Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) gave us the "access is denied" error. We found a [Microsoft suggestion] about what to do, but that is really complex and basically involves running the SP2 update, finding which Registry Key can't be opened, fixing that problem, and then running it again.
- Only this forum entry (no longer available) had a more reasonable suggestion: Go to start -> run, then type
- secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose
- This resets your security policy, so that registry keys that may have given you errors like "Error while opening key" will be reset.
- NOTE: This may take a long time to run.
- Further Note: This didn't help the problem of trying to open or delete the keys we are having problems with.
Other links, probably not this problem:
Others who may need help with the same problem:
More google searches:
- Corrupt Registry Key
- Nothing relevant. Most articles talk about what to do if Windows won't startup.
Status: Unsolved....
This registry entry is usually related to a component of the Cisco VPN Client. The reason you can't remove the entries is due to system files creating them and accessing them. Try the manual removal method found on this cisco page:
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Windows Registry Editor Regedit Cannot Delete Key, Gets Error While Deleting Key
