how to get permission to delete in registry

P

philo

Debbie Graham said:
There are some files in the registry that belong to programs I no longer
have installed but it won't let me delete them. It says I have no access.
I tried giving permission but when I click apply, it still says it can't
give permission to give permission.............

Why did they have to make Vista so hard with stuff like that. This is one
feature that really turns me off to Vista and I will stick to XP on my pc
until the end. My laptop, unfortunately is stuck with Vista
Debbie

Heck, there are quite a few things you can't delete in the registry...
and that goes back to both XP and Win2k.
 
D

Debbie Graham

There are some files in the registry that belong to programs I no longer
have installed but it won't let me delete them. It says I have no access.
I tried giving permission but when I click apply, it still says it can't
give permission to give permission.............

Why did they have to make Vista so hard with stuff like that. This is one
feature that really turns me off to Vista and I will stick to XP on my pc
until the end. My laptop, unfortunately is stuck with Vista
Debbie
 
M

Michael Walraven

In general
run regedit as an elevated command (right click, run as administrator)
right click on the item that your are having problem with. Take ownership of
that item (advanced - owner tab). Assign full permission to yourself. Now
you should be able to delete.
You might find it necessary to take ownership to the containing item.

Be really sure that you want to bypass Vista security!
Backup the registry first!!

Michael
Vista Home premium
 
M

Michael Walraven

start orb
type in white search box
regedit
right click on the regedit.exe entry (should be at top)
select run as administrator
continue through user account control
navigate to the item you are having trouble with
right click the item
select permissions
click on the Advanced button
select owner tab
in the change owner to: box select the user (yourself) that you want to
become the owner.
There are items that you cannot take ownership of this way, you will need
to reveal the path/key that you are having the problem with if that is the
case so that someone with a more knowledge can show you how to take even the
ones you cannot take.

Michael
 
A

AlexB

This is one of the features that make Vista so attractive to the users who
can appreciate security. Recall how just a few years ago the newspapers were
going bananas a dozen times a year because of a new computer virus spreading
over the corporate networks. When was the last time did you hear that?

Vista is hard on the users if they do not want to spend time and learn its
secrets and they are very simple.

What the other poster meant was not the ownership of the registry key but
the complete ownership of the program you want to delete if it is still
there in some folder somewhere.

If you have problems deleting the keys from regedit.exe (I would rather
recommend regedt32.exe) then you can try a simpler and perhaps more
promising approach. Run Command Prompt as Administrator and use Reg.exe
/DELETE

You can get all info on this command by typing reg.exe /DELETE /?

If it is possible to delete a registry entry this is the way. However, the
ownership of the item (executable or whatever) must be secured.
 
A

AlexB

The best way to do it I found out is to go thru all the menu you recommended
and after you clicked Advanced you will see a window with all listed Owners.
There might be quite a few of them: SYSTEM, Administrators, etc, etc, etc.

DELETE all of them and put yourselves as the only owner. Now, the delete
could be done only after you first clicked Edit and you will get another
screen.

That may not be the end of the "nightmare." I mean the nightmare for the
original poster. He may try to delete the darn key (program) at that point
but there is a chance that the Inheritance issue will get on the way. There
is a checkbox down there and it has to be toggled since I do not remember
which position is logically what is required to get rid of inheritance.
 
D

Debbie Graham

Thanks I'll try all that tomorrow.

Debbie

AlexB said:
The best way to do it I found out is to go thru all the menu you
recommended and after you clicked Advanced you will see a window with all
listed Owners. There might be quite a few of them: SYSTEM, Administrators,
etc, etc, etc.

DELETE all of them and put yourselves as the only owner. Now, the delete
could be done only after you first clicked Edit and you will get another
screen.

That may not be the end of the "nightmare." I mean the nightmare for the
original poster. He may try to delete the darn key (program) at that point
but there is a chance that the Inheritance issue will get on the way.
There is a checkbox down there and it has to be toggled since I do not
remember which position is logically what is required to get rid of
inheritance.
 

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