How do you delete protected keys in XP Registry?

[Bubba]

While reviewing my registry looking for something that was causing Msinfo32
not to report cd-rom information, I came across
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\IDE].
I found many entries listed in this key. Some of the entries refer to an
ASUS cd-rom drive that is no longer in the PC, and there are entries for
obsolete firmware versions
for current cd-rom and dvd drives. Is there a way to clean up and reduce the
number of entries for this registry key? XP will not permit me to delete any
of the entries even in Safe Mode.

 

[Guest]

Try exporting the entire registry, do

 

[Michael Martis]

k....I will finish, got a little type happy. Try
exporting the registry to a txt file, open it and do a
search for the keys and remove them. Import registry.
Just make sure you have a backup registry before you
start hacking away.

 

[John]

While reviewing my registry looking for something that was causing Msinfo32
not to report cd-rom information, I came across
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\IDE].
I found many entries listed in this key. Some of the entries refer to an
ASUS cd-rom drive that is no longer in the PC, and there are entries for
obsolete firmware versions
for current cd-rom and dvd drives. Is there a way to clean up and reduce the
number of entries for this registry key? XP will not permit me to delete any
of the entries even in Safe Mode.

Select the key you want to delete. Click on edit and then permissions.
Change the permissions to a level that will permit deletion.
Be careful, you can cause yourself lots of problems if you delete
a key that is required for the OS to continue working.

 

[Torgeir Bakken (MVP)]

k....I will finish, got a little type happy. Try
exporting the registry to a txt file, open it and do a
search for the keys and remove them. Import registry.
Just make sure you have a backup registry before you
start hacking away.

Hi

Deleting keys in a registry file and then importing the file will not
delete the keys in registry...

 

[Lurker]

Don't you have to 'right click' to get the box which shows permission?

Lurker

While reviewing my registry looking for something that was causing Msinfo32
not to report cd-rom information, I came across
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\IDE].
I found many entries listed in this key. Some of the entries refer to an
ASUS cd-rom drive that is no longer in the PC, and there are entries for
obsolete firmware versions
for current cd-rom and dvd drives. Is there a way to clean up and reduce the
number of entries for this registry key? XP will not permit me to delete any
of the entries even in Safe Mode.

Select the key you want to delete. Click on edit and then permissions.
Change the permissions to a level that will permit deletion.
Be careful, you can cause yourself lots of problems if you delete
a key that is required for the OS to continue working.

 

[Bubba]

Thanks to all that replied. I exported the Enum key, and I changed the
permissions and removed the unwanted registry entries. So far all is
Ok.