Disabling the Windows 2000 File Protection System

Windows 2000 has a "special" feature on it that prevents users from damaging critical .dll files and other system files. This is great for your average user, but when you are a programmer with a machine that isn't working right, this can be a problem. I have come across fixes in the Microsoft knowledge base that say the fix will NOT work on Windows 2000 machines because of the file protection. I find this very frustrating. Luckily, our network admin has come across a registry key that can be changed to disable the file protection. BE WARNED THAT YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO EDIT THE REGISTRY UNLESS YOU ARE SURE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING....

Open regedt32, navigate to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Change the value of SFCDisable to the hex number ffffff9d

Reboot the W2K box and look in the event log. You should see an entry with a source of Windows File Protection and the description stating:
Windows File Protection is not active on this system.

If not, you did not enter the registry information correctly.

It might be a good idea to write down the value of SFCDisable before you change it so you can change it back! (I can't remember what it is right now)