Cannot delete HKEY_...Error while deleting key in Vista Home Premium on an OEM (Dell) computer

[Bill Haught]

I had a problem uninstalling McAfee so I could try reinstalling (which I was
also having trouble with). Since I had a problem deleting a registry key
they suggested I contact my OS vendor. My OS vendor (Dell, I believe) only
supports hardware issues.

OS: Windows Home premium
Error: Cannot delete
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{A3CCEDF3-2DE2-11D0-86F4-00A0C913F750}; Error
while deleting key.

Command-line regedit seems unavailable in Vista (at least the Home Premium
or Dell provided Home Premium). The same seems true of recovery console. I
wonder if there would have been permission errors there too. Any
suggestions beside "backup data and reinstall Windows"?

 

[Bill Haught]

PS:

The Windows CD/DVD boots to a graphical interface and a window for
installing Windows.

Even the boot menu accessed with F8 doesn't let you boot to a command
prompt.

I tried System Restore. I get McAfee back, but when I try to update I get a
blank window.

On second thought, you probably can forget about solving my problem unless I
am missing something here, although I would like to know if the command
prompt and tools such as regedit import/export, and Recovery Console have in
fact disappeared. From what I've read in this forum so far, it sounds like
repair tools in non-OEM versions and ultimate/business/enterprise editions
aren't available to us OEM Home Premium and down end-lusers.

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Bill--

You aren't clear * what problem you had uninstalling McAfee.

Did you try from Add/Remove and Fail? Did you try downloading and using the
Windows InstallerCleanup Utility from MSFT first?

Is the reg key mentioned because it was part of a manual uninstall so
frequently needed with McAffee and Symantec products?

Why would you need command line regedit if it exists?

Why not use regular regedit and why is it even needed here? Is it one of the
steps in a manual uninstall?

Maybe you need to take posession of the key because of some UAC block by
rt.clicking it and going to the security tab.

CH

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

The OEM disk that Dell supplied you with is probably a simple recovery disk
which means that it will not have the repair tools available that a retail
disk has. FWIW, Dell IS responsible for supporting this OEM version of
Vista. This is why they get a deep discount on these versions.

The recovery console has been removed in the Vista retail disk, but it does
have a command prompt where most of the recovery console commands are still
available. Regedit and all of the other options can be accessed form the
command prompt.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I had a problem uninstalling McAfee so I could try reinstalling (which I
was also having trouble with). Since I had a problem deleting a registry
key they suggested I contact my OS vendor. My OS vendor (Dell, I believe)
only supports hardware issues.

OS: Windows Home premium
Error: Cannot delete
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{A3CCEDF3-2DE2-11D0-86F4-00A0C913F750}; Error
while deleting key.

Command-line regedit seems unavailable in Vista (at least the Home Premium
or Dell provided Home Premium). The same seems true of recovery console.
I wonder if there would have been permission errors there too. Any
suggestions beside "backup data and reinstall Windows"?

As Chad said you need to change the security for registry key. Click on the
Security tab, then Advanced and take ownership of it. Once you have
ownership change the permissions so you have full control and delete it.

 

[Guest]

You can try mcafee removal tool, I've searched for you.
http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/displaydoc.asp?frames=1&docid=408302&CategoryId=107187

 

[Jay Somerset]

Regedit is still available in Vista. Try Start|Run|Regedit. Works
fine on every Vista Home Premium system that i have seen.

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Ronnie--

You make your point well.

I don't know what he got; and I don't know what Dell buyers are all getting.
I did see this promise which made me happy. I'm going to try to find out
directly from Roundrock how they are handling this explicit promise this
week, but the OP should be able to clarify this fast by reading off the DVD.
From the Dell Blog Direct2Dell which has a lot of good hdw information that
can be extrapolated to any pc maker:

Bloatware, Operating System Discs and Dell Software Support
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2006/10/17/3132.aspx

This was written at the link above in Feb. 2007:

"Update: Thanks to Direct2Dell reader Steven and a couple of Dell employees
for pointing out a mistake I made in my original post. When I wrote this,
the OS media was listed as an option in the configurator for $0. I mis-read
the number, and for that mistake, I apologize. Also, though this been in
the works for some time before now, it's now official. For U.S. consumer
and small business customers, all systems will now ship with an operating
system disc. This change will take effect in Europe by later next month. In
Asia, things are unchanged—we've always shipped OS discs with systems
there."

CH

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Chad

Thanks for that link.

I would be very interested in what you find out this week.

 

[Bill Haught]

You can try mcafee removal tool, I've searched for you.
http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/displaydoc.asp?frames=1&docid=408302&CategoryId=107187

There is a lot I didn't get into for the sake of breivity and relevance. I
tried the removal tool and by now I forget what else off-hand/don't care. I
just reinstalled Windows, Acrobat Reader, Investor's Business Daily's
DGOControls, a few other programs, and then McAfee. I made sure the graphs
worked in the IBD web site. The very next day it was screwed up again.
First getting the paper in Internet Explorer on that particular computer
gave an error, the web site didn't recognize that my father was registered
for the service in question. However, I could log in from my computer using
IE or use Firefox on his and get the service in question. No sooner was
that working graphs (DGOControls) were screwed up, even in the
administrative account before long. I have no idea what could be causing
such bizarre problems. Drive failure? I decided to repartition the drive
so there would be the option of installing other OSes in the future only to
find that cfdisk (Linux partioning tool) complained about a partion not
ending on a cylinder boundry (or something like that). I ended up
installing Fedora right were Vista went next. It looks like yet another
reinstall of Windows.

 

[Bill Haught]

Hi Bill--

You aren't clear * what problem you had uninstalling McAfee.

Did you try from Add/Remove and Fail? Did you try downloading and using
the Windows InstallerCleanup Utility from MSFT first?

I'll have to look into that.

Is the reg key mentioned because it was part of a manual uninstall so
frequently needed with McAffee and Symantec products?

Why would you need command line regedit if it exists?

I was thinking of exporting the registry and recreating the files during
import. I suppose I could export the registry, delete the registry files,
rename the *.sav files, then import.

Why not use regular regedit and why is it even needed here? Is it one of
the steps in a manual uninstall?

Maybe you need to take posession of the key because of some UAC block by
rt.clicking it and going to the security tab.

Didn't know about that, but since I was in an account with Administrative
privledges, isn't the system jacked up if such a change is necessary? I've
created a shortcut to regedit in the Quick Launch toolbar. How about
right-clicking on it and selecting "Run as Administrator"? It seems to me
that of the two equal adminstrative accounts -- the administrative account I
create and the embedded, hidden, hard to access one -- one is more equal
than the other.

 

[Bill Haught]

I had a problem uninstalling McAfee so I could try reinstalling (which I
was also having trouble with). Since I had a problem deleting a registry
key they suggested I contact my OS vendor. My OS vendor (Dell, I believe)
only supports hardware issues.

OS: Windows Home premium
Error: Cannot delete
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{A3CCEDF3-2DE2-11D0-86F4-00A0C913F750}; Error
while deleting key.

Command-line regedit seems unavailable in Vista (at least the Home Premium
or Dell provided Home Premium). The same seems true of recovery console.
I wonder if there would have been permission errors there too. Any
suggestions beside "backup data and reinstall Windows"?

What actually started this was trouble accessing Investor's Business Daily's
web site.

Turns out that a driver/utility was needed that is available by Windows
Update in order for an ActiveX control to work. I was/am reluctant to
install things I don't think I need.

Another issue was caused by having the site in Trusted Sites. Since IE7
must open a new window, it forgets I'm logged in making the PDF files
difficult or impossible to access. The solution (to me) seems to be to use
IE when necessary and Firefox/SeaMonkey/other otherwise.