Registry Cleaner - "Failed to remove" items

tullik

Registry Cleaner - "Failed to remove" items -- from a run on Vista (SP1)

Using the most aggressive settings, I consistently get two "Failed to remove" situations:

: Failed to remove "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectInput\MostRecentApplication : Id"! Windows core returned the following error: "Access denied or invalid key"

: Failed to remove "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectInput\MostRecentApplication : Name"! Windows core returned the following error: "Access denied or invalid key"

: All done! 1.09 KB of data was removed (9 registry entries and 0 keys).

: All done! 2.86 KB of data was removed (5 registry entries and 5 keys).

: All done! 6.08 KB of data was removed (11 registry entries and 17 keys).

: Failed to remove "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VirtualStore\MACHINE\Software\Adobe"! Windows core returned the following error: "The data area passed to a system call is too small."

: All done! 0 B of data was removed (0 registry entries and 0 keys).

There's more information about the "Access denied …" situation here: http://www.macecraft.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=17499#p17499

The keys causing the "data area too small" message are:


"Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00















"

All those keys are empty (i.e., (value not set)).

Adobe Reader 9.0.0 is on the Vista SP1 system.

Although removal failed, correct backups were created for both situations.

medion

Neither dose mine. This 2009 seems very bugy and not yet ready for release.

tullik

medion wrote
Neither dose mine. This 2009 seems very bugy and not yet ready for release.

Not a big deal. Until the developer fixes this very minor issue, I simply use a couple of "Ignore words" -- namely:

CHESS

\VirtualStore\MACHINE\Software\Adobe\

siliconman01

This problem is much more severe in Vista 64-bit. In aggressive mode, there are some 400+ keys that it cannot fix or remove. Most of them appear to be invalid detections by PT 2009.

software

That`s my problem,too. I start jv16 Power Tools 2009 1.9.0.528 as administrator. Some registry-files can`t be deleted. If I start windows vista 32 "regedit", I `ve no problem and can delete the files finally.

amelia97

Running Vista Ultimate SP1 32 bit. Have used jv16 for a number of years and this is the first time I have experienced the "access denied" issue. Looking forward to a quick resolution of the problem. It is frustrating to have eagerly paid for the upgrade and be considering reverting to the 2008 version.

tullik

For some unknown reason, this key, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectInput\MostRecentApplication, had no full control permissions on either of my Vista systems. This is not likely due to anything in PowerTools. Using regedit to give the "Interactive" user full control made the CHESS items removeable by Registry Cleaner.

However, the Windows core returned the following error: "The data area passed to a system call is too small." item is likely a PowerTools issue.

software

That is the resolution of the problem from the french member JB (http://www.jimmah.com/vista/content.aspx?id=47)

Alternatively, you can download the following tool from microsoft to open an

instance of regedit as system:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/psexec.mspx

The following command line will open a \"system\" regedit:

psexec -s -i regedit

(Note: You have to execute this command line from an \"administrator\" command

prompt )

I hope that Macecraft can use this Microsoft tool in a further update of jv16.

software

PS. You can read in the "Microsoft Discussion Groups" the answers of Jimmy Brush:

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?query=psexec&dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.security&cat=en_US_9CA88DDB-D18D-FA0E-A366-6E527B0FBA67&lang=en&cr=US&pt=&catlist=&dglist=&ptlist=&exp=&sloc=en-us

tullik

tullik wrote
For some unknown reason, this key, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectInput\MostRecentApplication, had no full control permissions on either of my Vista systems. This is not likely due to anything in PowerTools. Using regedit to give the "Interactive" user full control made the CHESS items removeable by Registry Cleaner.

However, the Windows core returned the following error: "The data area passed to a system call is too small." item is likely a PowerTools issue.

I now think the "data area too small" symptom is not a PowerTools issue either.

Here's why:

1. The owner of the empty VirtualStore key structure was "System".

2. RegEdit could not delete the keys either. It got an unspecified error, even when using Mark Russinovich's PsExec tool.

3. So I took ownership of the structure as "Owner."

4. RegEdit still could not delete any level of the structure, except at the bottommost level.

5. Starting with a bottom key, RegEdit could delete the keys one at a time going up the tree.

6. After they were all deleted, I restored the structure and returned ownership to "System."

7. Then RegEdit and PowerTools Registry Cleaner could delete any of the keys with no problems.

8. It is most likely that this is a case of some rarely encountered hole in the windows permissions logic that is corrected just by removing and reloading the key/permissions situation that triggered it.

9. I would call this a rarely encountered windows bug. In any case, I can no longer make it happen.