Something happened to one of our Windows XP sp2 (fully patched) systems
today. The user restarted the computer and couldn't connect to the office
network. Checking the Network Connections window showed no Local Connection.

Tried a half dozen things, then eventually realized that the Properties
option wasn't working for most windows services. For instance, going to the
Computer Management window I found that I could look at the different Event
logs, but I couldn't open any of the individual events to read the problem.

Under local users & groups - Users, I can't open any user.

Under Device Manager, I can see the devices, but I can't open the Properties
windows for anything (eg. the installed network card)

Under services I can see all the services, a large number of which are now
set to Manual start, but can't access any of them to make changes. If I have
an option to Start a service, doing so results in a dependanct service
unavailable error.

And Add/Remove programs returns a "Windows Installer Service could not be
accessed error"

I'm thinking this machine picked up a bug which changed all the permissions,
rendering all of the administrator accounts on the computer unable to make
changes.

Any suggestions as to how to fix this (Restarting and selecting "Use last
known good configuration" didn't work.)? Or would it probably be faster to
just format the hard drive and re-install from scratch.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Phil

Aaron Stebner's WebLog Solving setup errors by using the SubInACL tool to
repair file and registry permissions:
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archi...04/739820.aspx

HOW TO Reset Security Settings Back to the Defaults:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;313222

--
helpful? click "Yes" button. Voting helps the web interface
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...lp_and_support
Mark L. Ferguson



"Phillip Armitage" wrote:

> Something happened to one of our Windows XP sp2 (fully patched) systems
> today. The user restarted the computer and couldn't connect to the office
> network. Checking the Network Connections window showed no Local Connection.
>
> Tried a half dozen things, then eventually realized that the Properties
> option wasn't working for most windows services. For instance, going to the
> Computer Management window I found that I could look at the different Event
> logs, but I couldn't open any of the individual events to read the problem.
>
> Under local users & groups - Users, I can't open any user.
>
> Under Device Manager, I can see the devices, but I can't open the Properties
> windows for anything (eg. the installed network card)
>
> Under services I can see all the services, a large number of which are now
> set to Manual start, but can't access any of them to make changes. If I have
> an option to Start a service, doing so results in a dependanct service
> unavailable error.
>
> And Add/Remove programs returns a "Windows Installer Service could not be
> accessed error"
>
> I'm thinking this machine picked up a bug which changed all the permissions,
> rendering all of the administrator accounts on the computer unable to make
> changes.
>
> Any suggestions as to how to fix this (Restarting and selecting "Use last
> known good configuration" didn't work.)? Or would it probably be faster to
> just format the hard drive and re-install from scratch.
>
> I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
>
> Phil
>
>
>