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I am trying to get into my regedit application but when I launch it as a regular user or as an admin (run as administrator), I get the UAC warning but nothing happens after, at all. Sometimes the computer will linger for a second or two as if it is trying to launch thr program, but nothing ever comes of it.

I have tried verifying that regedit is not disabled in gpedit.msc, I have tried run command line to force HKEY of allowing the use of regedit, used command line to enable a system admin and tried to open regedit with that user, and I even wiped and rebooted my computer, still the same issue. Also tried monitoring the processes in task manager to see if the application would pop up anywhere, but could not find it opening.

I am running windows 7 64bit and the only issue I am noticing is a warning of "group policy service was unable to start" but in my understanding that should not affect the admin (me).

Any suggestions?

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  • Have you tried running a disk check to ensure you don't have file-system corruption? Have you tried using the System File Checker to ensure that your Regedit.exe (and/or other system files) are not corrupted? Apr 17, 2015 at 15:34
  • Have you tried running regedt32?
    – DavidPostill
    Apr 17, 2015 at 15:35
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 I assumed that since I did a complete system wipe and drive format that would remove any possibilities for corruption. The issue came up in my original installation, after trying multiple fixes, I decided to wipe, format and reinstall windows. Unfortunately, that didn't fix the issue. Would the System File check have a different effect than reinstallation of windows? Apr 17, 2015 at 16:19
  • Ahh I wasn't sure what "Wiped" meant in this context, since "Rebooting" a computer doesn't mean reinstalling the OS. Apr 17, 2015 at 16:22
  • @DavidPostill Yes. I tried using regedit.exe in the C:\Windows then tried regedit.exe and regedt32.exe in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and also tried regedt32.exe in C:\Windows\System32. I tried to run them all as a regular user (double click) and "run as admin" by right clicking. Apr 17, 2015 at 16:23

2 Answers 2

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::rename FS:

ren %windir%\System32\GroupPolicy %windir%\System32\GroupPolicy2
ren %windir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers %windir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers2

::rename registry:

reg copy HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies2 /s /f
reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies /va /f

reg copy HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies2 /s /f
reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies /va /f

::Enable regedit:

reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

::Reboot.

::Delete regedit:

del /f /p %windir%\regedit.exe
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  • thank you for the response, but could you please provide some more detail on how to rename the FS and Registry? Thanks!! Apr 19, 2015 at 17:00
  • @cityinbetween Updated. Now your may do at command-line or run it at .cmd script.
    – STTR
    Apr 20, 2015 at 17:57
  • I ran the above in a .cmd script all together and one by one, but I am still unable to open regedit. I am getting the same issue as before; Run as admin, prompt pops up, click yes and nothing happens. Apr 22, 2015 at 4:17
  • @cityinbetween Perhaps regedit.exe file is corrupted. Try to remove it, he will recover from the cache.
    – STTR
    Apr 22, 2015 at 4:29
  • Everyone and STTR, thank you for all your help and replies. A friend of mine had advised me that sometimes when formatting the hdd using the windows setup, it doesn't actually delete everything and sometimes leaves behind crumbs. My friend recommended I use a bootable Linux cd to format the drives and then reinstall windows. Luckily I had a recent copy of Linux Mint, I booted that up, deleted all partitions from the drives and reformatted. Reinstalled Windows and Viola! Problem solved. So maybe windows restore does not actually delete all files as one is lead to believe. Thank you again! Apr 22, 2015 at 11:54
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After trying multiple other fixes, I was advised to try and boot Linux from a CD and use Linux to delete all partitions form the HDDs and format the drives prior to reinstalling Windows.

I used Linux Mint to boot from BIOS, deleted partitions, formatted the HDDs and then reinstalled Windows using the windows CD.

Given that this was my 4th attempt of reinstalling Windows to fix the issue, i am not lead to believe that the Windows setup formatting does not actually remove "All the files" as one is lead to believe... Or maybe it was just my luck of reinstalling Windows a 4th time to fix the issue. :-D

In any case, thought I would share.

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