Error - Access Denied when acessing HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

Are you on a domain?
Are you an Admin on that domain?
 

No, this is an XP Home machine.

I tried logging on as Administrator in safe mode with the same result.

Any ideas??

Everything else on this PC works. It's only when you try to install some apps, they won't install and I get a permission error with this key.

I can't do a restore because they had it turned off.

I don't want to do a reload for such a small issue.

I have also tried using subinacl as per the following link. http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/reset-the-registry-and-the-file-permissions-in-windows-xp/

Any ideas would be helpful.

The account that you are logged in with, is it an administrator's account?
It appears to me that the account that you are logged in with is not an administrators account.
If it is and you can't install or make changes then you need to verify that you have a legal copy of windows.
Can you verify that you are using "Genuine Windows Software"?
 

Try by taking the ownership of that key
right click and choose permission, then click Advanced. from the advanced window click on the owner tab. you should see some names including the administratos local security gorup. select the user or group that you want and and check the Replace ownership on subcontainer and click apply.
let me know if it works for you

Thank you for your replies.

OK.. I logged in as Administrator in safe mode. In safe mode I can see the permissions.

I changed the owner of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows to "Administrators". I even gave "Everyone" full control.

The Key is empty except for "Default". If I try to add a DWORD I get "Access Denied".

I tried going back to the Key permissions and "Replace permission entries on all child objects...". Again I get "Access Denied".

I'm just running subinacl with the reset script again and the Key Owner set to Administrators. Hopefully this will do something.

Thanks again.

OK.. The script just finished and it is still the same.

Have you tried this:
 
right click and choose permission, then click Advanced. from the advanced window click on the owner tab. you should see some names including the administratos local security gorup. select the user or group that you want and and check the Replace ownership on subcontainer and click apply.

Yes...

I can take ownership of the Key. However, if I select "Replace ownership on subcontainer" I get access denied when I apply.

By the way, I have just tried a windows repair installation with no success.  

AHHHH Stupid Windows!  looking like a reload!

Also, I just tried to export the key and I get an error saying "The selected branch does not exist".

If you continue to get access denied errors then the account you are logged in with just doesn't have sufficient permission to make the changes.
Continuing to attempt to take control of keys and/or folders may make this situation worse and in the end you'll need to re-install anyway.
So i agree that starting from scratch with a fresh install is the way to go...
 

For what it is worth, I was able to get the permissions to work on this key by doing the following:

Right-click the key and add the local admin account not the domain admin account.
So if your local computer name was COMPUTER1 then type in COMPUTER1\Administrator.

Once that was added, all the other permissions repopulated (Everyone, User, etc) and now I can do whatever is needed. The items in that folder also reappeared (7 items total for me). Hope this helps someone to not have to reinstall Windows!!!

Hi All

I had a similar problem and found that I had two deny entries for Everyone in Right Click -> Permissions -> Advanced -> Permissions

I believe these entries were added by Malware that I had cleaned off of the system.

Another thing to look for is, which can be easily overlooked, is once you have taken ownership do the following steps:

This should resolve your problem without the need to rebuild the computer.