Cannot Load Local Users and Groups

[Guest]

The Local Users and Groups on my system (Windows XP Pro) -- accessed either through the MMC snap-in or through Advanced User Management -- gives the following error: "Unable to access the computer <computer name>. The error was: Error loading type library/DLL>." I have seemingly exhaused all of my options to debug and fix this error. I have run sfc with with the /scannow and /scanonce options. I have copied the DLL from another machine (localsec.dll), purged the DLL cache and installed the copied DLL. I have reverted back to the original DLL. I have registered the DLL. None of these have fixed the error.
Is there any way to trace this error to debug it further? Are there any other solutions to this problem? I have done extensive research over many days on the Internet and the only solution seems to be to run sfc /scannow. Since this did not fix the error, what else can be done. I MUST be able to fix this as it prevents the installation of other software that requires access to Local Users and Groups to set up users. Please offer debugging and other fixes besides running sfc. All suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Guest]

This is what I love about Windows. When you have a problem, even the 'experts' can't solve it.

 

[Guest]

I wanted to post a final follow-up on the solution to this problem. It turned out I had a missing file, activeds.tlb (this is the type library that was causing the error), in the C:\Windows\System32 directory. I discovered the missing file with the help of a tool called filemon from Sysinternals (www.sysinternals.com). I do not work for Sysinternals and have no monetary relationship with them. However, in my attempts to debug this problem I found that they had very good tools for the job. I found out about this particular tool and my missing file from a post on another web board at www.computing.net (I have no relationship with them, either).

In my opinion this problem took far too long to solve. I literally spent days researching and attempting fixes for the problem. This should have been about a five minute exercise. But, and this is why I dislike Windows so much, the help message sucked and there were no further tools or logs to show me what had happened. “Error loading type library/DLLâ€â€¦what the hell is that? What type library? What DLL? Tell me what the %*&# you were trying to do and I’ll fix it! Neither the Application Log nor System Log showed any error. I found no way to turn any kind of tracing on. Only the filemon tool actually showed me what the system was actually attempting to do. Once I saw that I had a missing file, boom, I copied the file to my system and, bam, everything OK! If XP had given me some sort of log or good error message this problem could have been fixed in minutes instead of days. I was determined not to reinstall the OS for what I figured was a small problem (which it was).

I also thought XP had file protection. I guess it’s just for DLL’s and OCX’s and not the files they may also depend on. If a TLB is protected than the protection didn’t work. And I don’t think I’m the only dummy out there, I came across many on the internet who complained about the same problem. That is why I am posting the fix, so the next one to come across the problem and perform a search will actually find the answer in a timely manner. I saw far too many posts with no responses on XP ‘expert’ web boards!

 

[Guest]

I wanted to post a final follow-up on the solution to this problem. It turned out I had a missing file, activeds.tlb (this is the type library that was causing the error), in the C:\Windows\System32 directory. I discovered the missing file with the help of a tool called filemon from Sysinternals (www.sysinternals.com). I do not work for Sysinternals and have no monetary relationship with them. However, in my attempts to debug this problem I found that they had very good tools for the job. I found out about this particular tool and my missing file from a post on another web board at www.computing.net (I have no relationship with them, either).

In my opinion this problem took far too long to solve. I literally spent days researching and attempting fixes for the problem. This should have been about a five minute exercise. But, and this is why I dislike Windows so much, the help message sucked and there were no further tools or logs to show me what had happened. “Error loading type library/DLLâ€â€¦what the hell is that? What type library? What DLL? Tell me what the %*&# you were trying to do and I’ll fix it! Neither the Application Log nor System Log showed any error. I found no way to turn any kind of tracing on. Only the filemon tool actually showed me what the system was actually attempting to do. Once I saw that I had a missing file, boom, I copied the file to my system and, bam, everything OK! If XP had given me some sort of log or good error message this problem could have been fixed in minutes instead of days. I was determined not to reinstall the OS for what I figured was a small problem (which it was).

I also thought XP had file protection. I guess it’s just for DLL’s and OCX’s and not the files they may also depend on. If a TLB is protected than the protection didn’t work. And I don’t think I’m the only dummy out there, I came across many on the internet who complained about the same problem. That is why I am posting the fix, so the next one to come across the problem and perform a search will actually find the answer in a timely manner. I saw far too many posts with no responses on XP ‘expert’ web boards!