I'm missing a Registration Key used to help install programs

I'm kinda lost in the action of fixing my registration in order to install a new program. The infamous "Error 1606, could not access allusers...etc" was a problem, and I needed to fix the registration to solve the problem. In doing so, I followed an official Microsoft response http://support.microsoft.com/default...en-us%3B315352 although the registration key

Common Administrative Tools

wasn't in the library.

Would it be by any chance my computer, or a corrupted tutorial to fixing a unique problem?

-any help will be appreciated, i've considered creating a key? but, im not willing to take that chance

-thx.

Is it just me being stupid or does this post make absolutely zero sense?

Let me tell u somthin right diddy

Format, reinstall, ...Repeat.


Formating solves ALL :killcompu:

Ok so your missing a registry key? By it isn't in the library do you mean that Common Administrative Tools isn't a key in your registry? As far as how infamous this error is, it's the first I've heard of it but maybe it's more common than I think. And you also mention it says "could not access allusers..", but on the website it says could not access network <Common Administrative Tools>. So if you aren't getting that error then it might not be that problem. Are you using WinXP or Win2K? Because in Win2K that's not an issue, so it may be a different issue all together.

And you could always try to just add the key..

I think Pecosian has hit the nail on the head. What OS are you using?......the MS article is specifically for Win XP Home & Pro.

If you are using Win2k you will NOT find "common administrative tools" in "User Shell Folders". Instead there is an "Administration Tools" entry in "Shell Folders"

As your problem seems to be with installing software, I wonder if it may be as simple as the user profile you are logging on as, does not have local administration rights ? If this is the case, administrative tools will not be loaded when you logon. I must admit I would have expected an authorisation error message, rather than 1606, but you don't always get what you expect with Microsoft :D

You do not say if your machine is on a network or stand alone? If it is on a network, I would talk to your administrator, and get them to set you up with local admin rights. If it is stand alone, make sure you log on as administrator, or a different member of the administrator workgroup. If you already have admin rights, please try another admin profile (if you have one) as it could be that your user profile is corrupted, and all you have to do is create a new one.

Hope this is of some help

I think Pecosian has hit the nail on the head. What OS are you using?......the MS article is specifically for Win XP Home & Pro.

If you are using Win2k you will NOT find "common administrative tools" in "User Shell Folders". Instead there is an "Administration Tools" entry in "Shell Folders"

As your problem seems to be with installing software, I wonder if it may be as simple as the user profile you are logging on as, does not have local administration rights ? If this is the case, administrative tools will not be loaded when you logon. I must admit I would have expected an authorisation error message, rather than 1606, but you don't always get what you expect with Microsoft :D

You do not say if your machine is on a network or stand alone? If it is on a network, I would talk to your administrator, and get them to set you up with local admin rights. If it is stand alone, make sure you log on as administrator, or a different member of the administrator workgroup. If you already have admin rights, please try another admin profile (if you have one) as it could be that your user profile is corrupted, and all you have to do is create a new one.

Hope this is of some help

I think Pecosian has hit the nail on the head. What OS are you using?......the MS article is specifically for Win XP Home & Pro.

If you are using Win2k you will NOT find "common administrative tools" in "User Shell Folders". Instead there is an "Administration Tools" entry in "Shell Folders"

As your problem seems to be with installing software, I wonder if it may be as simple as the user profile you are logging on as, does not have local administration rights ? If this is the case, administrative tools will not be loaded when you logon. I must admit I would have expected an authorisation error message, rather than 1606, but you don't always get what you expect with Microsoft :D

You do not say if your machine is on a network or stand alone? If it is on a network, I would talk to your administrator, and get them to set you up with local admin rights. If it is stand alone, make sure you log on as administrator, or a different member of the administrator workgroup. If you already have admin rights, please try another admin profile (if you have one) as it could be that your user profile is corrupted, and all you have to do is create a new one.

Hope this is of some help

Quote:

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"Is it just me being stupid or does this post make absolutely zero sense?"

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I can't explain things very well, sorry...

Quote:

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"Let me tell u somthin right diddy

Format, reinstall, ...Repeat.


Formating solves ALL :"

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I wouldn't bother to reformat the computer since it's an error Windows XP itself caused...
(It would still be there even if I reformatted...)

Quote:

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"Ok so your missing a registry key? By it isn't in the library do you mean that Common Administrative Tools isn't a key in your registry? As far as how infamous this error is, it's the first I've heard of it but maybe it's more common than I think. And you also mention it says "could not access allusers..", but on the website it says could not access network <Common Administrative Tools>. So if you aren't getting that error then it might not be that problem. Are you using WinXP or Win2K? Because in Win2K that's not an issue, so it may be a different issue all together.

And you could always try to just add the key.."

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I'm using " Windows XP - Professional " as an operating system. A couple people suffer the same problem when trying to install NAV, and other programs...

Quote:

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I think Pecosian has hit the nail on the head. What OS are you using?......the MS article is specifically for Win XP Home & Pro.

If you are using Win2k you will NOT find "common administrative tools" in "User Shell Folders". Instead there is an "Administration Tools" entry in "Shell Folders"

As your problem seems to be with installing software, I wonder if it may be as simple as the user profile you are logging on as, does not have local administration rights ? If this is the case, administrative tools will not be loaded when you logon. I must admit I would have expected an authorisation error message, rather than 1606, but you don't always get what you expect with Microsoft

You do not say if your machine is on a network or stand alone? If it is on a network, I would talk to your administrator, and get them to set you up with local admin rights. If it is stand alone, make sure you log on as administrator, or a different member of the administrator workgroup. If you already have admin rights, please try another admin profile (if you have one) as it could be that your user profile is corrupted, and all you have to do is create a new one.

Hope this is of some help

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Well, that msg x3, since he copied and pasted it 2 more times...

I am logged on as administrator, I will try to install under the other Administrator username. (and anyway, i know becuz i get entry to regedit :-) )

I've found some helpful sites, to search for a particular key (again) which is in the MS-Installer... but I think it's encrypted and kept hidden away from XP users...


I've lost all hope in using Windows XP, I'm hoping to downgrade to 2000 or 98...
Do any of you approve of the idea?......

I would go with mOBSCENE on that one.

Ok, well know that we know more about the system, did you try to manually add the key? I see from your post above that you seem to think it's something like a registration key, it's not, it's a "registry key", just a string of stored info in your registry that got changed, and that website tells you what to put in it. In order to set it you have to go into regedit or regedt32 and find where the key should be and add it or change it if it's not right.

And just so you know, it's under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE so this won't change from user to user, at least it shouldn't.

As for downgrading, I use 2K and it works great, 98 SE was good in its time but it's getting old and getting any kind of support for it will get harder and harder. I've tried XP and didn't care for the extra features they added, and also the fact that it was new at the time so it had some bugs in it, still does... but so does 2K... I've only had 2K crash on me once in 2 years so I can't complain.

[EDIT]Alright I made a .reg file that will set the key back to what it says it should be on the microsoft website. I've renamed it to a text document, to import it just rename to .reg and it should work, though I'm not sure if regedit in XP is the same as 2K or not... It's in hex because of the key type, REG_EXPAND_SZ, but if you convert all the codes to their ascii equivalent you can see that it does just set that key.

Well, as for the registry key that you gave me (Common Administrative Tools)... It was imported after i Saved Target as "administrative tools.reg ", but it still presented the Error 1606: Could not access network location "::\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop" whenever I tried to install various programs. It was worth a try...

Thanks for the help, I think downgrading to Windows 2000 or 98... (not sure yet which to get) would be the best decision to make anyway.

It may probably get rid of my recent virus "system32.exe" (in which files are still trying to navigate to it) my dad recently got in an e-mail and unfortunately downloaded, as well as the "Operating system not found" error I get at random times... (like once every 2-3 weeks..) not to mention to get rid of the CTRL ALT DEL sensitivity (End task) "Do you want to send an error report?" ...

Thanks again, seeya around.

You did reboot after you imported the key right? Windows has a tendancy to need to be restarted for any registry changes that affect Windows itself to take effect.

With the description you gave above with the virus and Operating System not found error it might be better to format and start from scratch, in fact with the OS not found I'd suggest re-partitioning the drive if you know how to just in case it's an error with your partition.

Let me assure you that I DO NOT c &p.....................that is the second time this weird bug has happened...last time it only repeated the message once?????.........I will need to look at that.

I must admit that I got frustrated with XP Pro and sort of gave up on it several months ago.

I would recommend starting from scratch and doing a complete re-install of XP...I guess that you have tried the repair facility and it hasn't worked?

Also, you might like to try the PC-cillin website and run their "housecall", just to be sure you are completely rid of your viral problems (do this first of course).

If you have really given up, then I would not recommend Win98, as it is past its "sell by date", Me is the earliest I would contemplate, but I have been using 2k Pro on several machines for quite a while, and would say that it is pretty good (by MS standards :) )

Cheers!

Well, I'm hoping to just downgrade as it now is my final decision.

IF I DOWNGRADE, Would I lose all saved information including Current installed programs , Media (mp3 songs..), Games and the contents of "My Documents" folder as I revert back to a previous Windows version?

(Windows XP Professional downgrading to Windows 2000, or 98SE [most likely Windows 2000...])

I know I could just back it up... but it would be pretty much well easier (not to mention lazier =] ) if I could do it straight foward without losing any info.

*last post, I think, I hope so... 'cause I feel like i'm bothering the antionline community (well since it's only for Internet Security)

- thanks for all the help pecosian, nihil, mobscene, blue_wolf,neutron...

Unless you upgraded and saved your old OS you will have to format and start fresh to go backwards in the windows timeline. If you want to save you files and they aren't encrypted through NTFS then you can also just wipe your windows folder from dos and should be able to re-install without loosing everything. All your registry entries for games and programs would be gone though so if they're not re-established when you run the program again then you may have to re-install them if something doesn't work quite right.