Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of exp001
exp001

asked on

Can't edit registry but have admin permissions

Am running Windows XP Home SP2.  Am trying to change a file association in the registry using regedit.  ZIP extention files lost their association when I unistalled winzip and for some reason,

I'm unable to manually edit the registry using regedit.  I get the error message "Cannot Edit.  Error writing the value's new contents"

Have also tried the following from the command line:

"cmd /c assoc .zip=CompressedFolder" but get the error message "DllRegisterServer in zipfldr.dll failed.  Return code was 0x80004005"

Get the same thing when I try:

"regsvr32 zipfldr.dll"

I have admin rights - I installed the OS myself. Any ideas?  Thanks.
Avatar of rpggamergirl
rpggamergirl
Flag of Australia image

Have you tried just running this reg file to fix the .zip association?
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/fileassoc/zipfolder_fix.reg


You can actually open regedit just not able to edit it?

You can edit the file associations in Windows Explorer via the Tools menu > Folder options > File Types tab.
Avatar of exp001
exp001

ASKER

I can open regedit but can't change the variables value.  Almost as if there are selective permissions being applied.  The error message dialog boxes I get are described in the original question above.  I can't change the associations via Win Explorer - the change won't stick.
Have you set up any local policies on the PC? If so I would check them and make sure they are not restricting you in any way.

Do you have a backup of your computer or registry prior to this issue?
You could also try reinstalling winzip or some other compression utility (I recommend izarc from http://www.izarc.org/download2.html).
This will reestablish the associations. You will still have the issue of not being able to edit the registry but the file association should be sorted.
Avatar of exp001

ASKER

Ok, i installed izarc (nice tool btw) and all file extensions and buttons on the file association tab were grayed out.  zip file association didn't work.  but thanks for the lead on what seems to be a reasonably good (and free) zip utility.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Rartemass
Rartemass
Flag of Australia image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of exp001

ASKER

solved the problem.  somehow (not by me), the permissions form the admin account were changed so that edits could not be made to the registry.  in regedit in the permissions menu, i reset the permissions to allow me to edit the entry and it work.  something somewhere changed this setting which concerns me a bit - perhaps one of my many utilities (zonealarm, nod32, spyware dr, etc.)?  anyway, thanks for the suggestions but i'm good to go now.

Rartemass - i'll give you the points since your suggestion is what i determined to be the problem independently.