Registry Editor has been disabled by administrator

[sankur]

Hi all. I tried to run regedit in Win98 and it gives me the error message: "registry editor has been disabled by your administrator". I dont know who did this on my machine, i also don't think Windows 98 has administrator account. Can anyone help.

 

[ski]

Update your antivirus program with the latest files, and do a virus search.
If none is found, then remove all spyware with either Ad-aware or Spybot.

 

[cdogg]

It is possible to setup policies in Windows 95/98/ME to restrict access to certain elements. The best solution is to contact the person who set this machine up. Let them handle it.

If that's not an option, look here for some help:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Win98/Q_20720957.html

You can also search out at Microsoft's website for the error message.


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein

 

[ski]

If regedit worked previously, then you have a virus.
If you cannot get rid of it, then you may have to reformat and reinstall.

 

[cdogg]

ski,
Have you ever setup a policy in Windows 98? It is possible to do so after the OS has been installed. Someone could have easily did this to restrict access to various items like the control panel, network neighborhood, DOS prompt, etc. It's not uncommon.

Yes, it could be a virus causing the problem. But even if it worked before, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a virus infection.

Unless Sankur is the administrator of this PC, he or she is talking to the wrong person. Tek-Tips is not supposed to be a helpdesk, but instead serve as a forum for professionals to communicate with each other.


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein

 

[kcostain]

This is generally caused by a policy restriction in Windows 9x. The registry key involved in causign this restriction is the following:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

THere is a DWORD value in this key named "DisableRegistryTools" that is set to the decimal value of 1.

More then likely the quickest way to fix this is to:
1. Run Notepad in Windows
2. Paste these lines into Notepad:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableRegistryTools"=dword:00000000

3. Save the file as "regfix.reg" (the quotes are needed) - possibly on the desktop or somewhere that you can get to it.

4. Double click on the regfix.reg file and agree to importing the information - you should then try to run regedit.

Good Luck,
Kevin

 

[sankur]

Thanks to all. For your information, the machine is mine and i am not trying to circumvent any administrative restrictions. I will try Kevins solution.

shivaz

 

[cdogg]

Don't forget to check the URL link above...


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein