RegOpenKeyEx + RegDeleteKey on Vista

[some1uk03]

I'm having an issue with Vista and being able to delete a key from HKCR.

I've been having some trouble for quite some time on this but no matter what I try, it just wont delete the Key.

It works on HKCU & HKLM, but not with HKCR (Hkey_Classes_Root)... I'm logged in as an Admin, Running Vista.
The App has an asInvoker Manifest (tried with requireAdministrator) but same thing..

I've tried KEY_READ, KEY_QUERY_VALUE, KEY_ALL_ACCESS, but it either returns 0 or 5 (Access Denied)

Note: This is the UniCode aware version RegOpenKeyExW

  Private Const KEY_QUERY_VALUE As Long = &H1
  Private Const KEY_SET_VALUE As Long = &H2
  Private Const KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY As Long = &H4
  Private Const KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS As Long = &H8
  Private Const KEY_NOTIFY As Long = &H10
  Private Const KEY_CREATE_LINK As Long = &H20
  Private Const KEY_ALL_ACCESS As Long = &H3F
  Private Const KEY_WOW64_64KEY = &H100
  Private Const KEY_WOW64_32KEY = &H200
  Private Const READ_CONTROL As Long = &H20000

  Private Const STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED As Long = &HF0000
  Private Const STANDARD_RIGHTS_READ As Long = READ_CONTROL
  Private Const STANDARD_RIGHTS_WRITE As Long = READ_CONTROL
  Private Const STANDARD_RIGHTS_EXECUTE As Long = READ_CONTROL
  Private Const KEY_READ As Long = STANDARD_RIGHTS_READ Or KEY_QUERY_VALUE Or KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS Or KEY_NOTIFY
  Private Const KEY_WRITE As Long = STANDARD_RIGHTS_WRITE Or KEY_SET_VALUE Or KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY

 Private Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyExW" _
        (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As Long, ByVal ulOptions As Long, ByVal samDesired As Long, _
        phkResult As Long) As Long



  If regDoes_Key_Exist(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath) Then    

      m_lngRetVal = RegOpenKeyEx(lngRootKey, StrPtr(strRegKeyPath), 0, KEY_READ, lngKeyHandle)

      'MSGBox the result for testing purposes
      MsgBox strRegKeyPath, vbOKOnly, m_lngRetVal
      
      If m_lngRetVal = ERROR_SUCCESS Then
        m_lngRetVal = RegDeleteKey(lngKeyHandle, StrPtr(strRegKeyName))
      
        If m_lngRetVal = 0 Then regDelete_A_Key = True

        m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)
      End If
  End If

[some1uk03]

*bump*

[some1uk03]

*Quite an old thread, but still haven't figured this one out...*

Any Ideas?

*BUMP*

[some1uk03]

*BUMP*

This is almost a few months old. Someone must have any clues?

[schoolbusdriver]

Do you have the relevant permissions to access this subkey? Sometimes Admin privileges aren't good enough. In regedit, right-click on the subkey and click "Permissions".

In any case you should use KEY_SET_VALUE.

[isnoend07]

i googled this: "HKCR vista" and got a lot of results

[Garrcomm]

From what I've read @ http://www.vistax64.com/vista-accoun...rmissions.html :

Note that HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes combined together, with entries in
HKCU taking precedence.

If it's combined, I can only guess that it's read-only and you should try to one of those other two paths.

[some1uk03]

Thanks for the suggestions guys...

The whole process here is that I'm doing a registry utility which scans & fixes corrupt paths etc...

Do you have the relevant permissions to access this subkey? Sometimes Admin privileges aren't good enough. In regedit, right-click on the subkey and click "Permissions".

In any case you should use KEY_SET_VALUE.

Manually right-clicking in regedit is not an option really, because I can't expect the end user to manually go and do this.

Garrcomm

How would you check if they're combined or not?

I'm thinking, shall I scan
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes instead or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes instead or
HKCR

[schoolbusdriver]

Manually right-clicking in regedit is not an option really, because I can't expect the end user to manually go and do this.

Obviously. However, if YOU can determine it's a permissions issue, you may be able to write code to compensate.

[some1uk03]

That link seems quite interesting actually. It says:

"If you write keys to a key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, the system stores
the information under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes. If you write
values to a key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and the key already exists
under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes, the system will store the
information there instead of under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes."

So, in theory, I should be scanning in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes in Vista & Windows 7, but HKCU in XP

------------------EDIT-------------------
Actually no, my theory is corrupt. It is still HKCR that needs to be scanned!

Is there a way to check the security permissions of a key in VB? If that's possible, then I think problem sorted!

[some1uk03]

Ok I've found out a way to check for a RegistryKey Owner Info from here
But it only tells me the owner of a key, if its Admin or User.

I've also managed to narrow down the issue. The image below shows:

Whilst scanning, it should check If the permission of a KEY is CREATOR OWNER, then I can use it.
However, if the permission is SYSTEM then ignore it.

Can this API; RegGetKeySecurity return that info?

[some1uk03]

*bumpy bump*