Can't acsess add/remove programs

[Guest]

When I click on add/remove programs I get a message saying "Windows cannot
access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate
permissions to access the item." I get the same message when clicking on User
Accounts and several other functions in Control Panel. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Keredh,

Open %Systemroot%\System32 folder from Start, Run dialog:

Right-click the mshta.exe file and choose Properties. Note down the
following items:

- File Description
- File Version
- File Size

Post the information here.

--
Ramesh, MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User

Windows XP Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com

Windows XP Newsgroup Setup Instructions for Outlook Express:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroupsetup.mspx

 

[Guest]

Ramesh

File Description: Microsoft (R) HTML Application host
Version: 6.02600.0
Size: 23.5KB

Hope this helps!!

keredh

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Keredh,

The file description/size looks ok. Inspect the .hta association settings.
Open Regedit.exe and navigate to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.hta
In the right-pane, set the (default) to "htafile"

Navigate to:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htafile\Shell\Open\Command
In the right-pane, set the (default) to the following, exactly as given
below:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshta.exe "%1" %*

Note: To determine if this is a file association problem, call User
Accounts explicitly using mshta.exe command-line. Type in Start, Run
(exactly as given below):

mshta.exe "res://C:\WINDOWS\system32\nusrmgr.cpl/nusrmgr.hta"

The above examples assume that Windows is installed in C:\. If not, alter
the drive-letter / Paths accordingly.

--
Ramesh, MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User

Windows XP Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com

Windows XP Newsgroup Setup Instructions for Outlook Express:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroupsetup.mspx