HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32\SOFTWARe\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs

Hi rondondo,

Welcome to Microsoft Windows Vista Community site.

Solution 1: When you are uninstalling a program, and if the un-installation suddenly fails. Now you are left with a partly installed program. When you try to un-install the program again, you are unsuccessful. Download the cleanup utility from the link below, it will remove the installation files so that you can start the installation, upgrade, or uninstall all over.

I’ve used it quite a few times myself with great success when I’ve had “unruly” programs that won’t go away. Download Windows Installer CleanUp Utility form the link below and run the setup file. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Solution 2: You can also download the latest version of Windows Installer 4.5 form the link below:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5A58B56F-60B6-4412-95B9-54D056D6F9F4&displaylang=en

Solution 3: The issue may be caused also by your security program such an anti-virus or a Windows Firewall /Defender which might have conflicting settings as to not to perform certain tasks. I suggest that you temporary disable the anti-virus and firewall and check the result again. You would need to turn on the security programs again which you had disabled

Solution 4: You might need to set permissions to their defaults in the registry.

I would suggest you to login as an Administrator and check if this can resolve the issue. If the issue persists modifying permissions is the way out so that standard users can edit the shared key is sometimes necessary to fix the problem.

1. If you absolutely must change permissions or auditing controls, locate the desired key or value, right-click it, and select Permissions.
2. The Permissions dialog box looks just like the comparable dialog box for files and folders and lets you set read, write, and modify rights for specific groups and users. You'll find a corresponding set of audit settings.

In most cases, a software vendor supplies precise instructions for making changes necessary to work around an application problem. Here, I describe a general procedure to make a given key readable and writeable by all users. You might do this to make a key capable of sharing information between users, or to repair an alternate Windows installation, as mentioned in the previous section. To set more generous permissions, follow these steps:

3. Locate and select the key in the left pane.
4. Right-click it and select Permissions.
5. Select the Users entry in the top Group or User Names section. If Users is not listed, click Add, type Users, and press OK.
6. In the lower section, check Full Control and then Apply. If this is successful, click OK.
7. If you are unable to make the changes even though you're running the Registry editor as an Administrator, click Advanced and select the Owner tab.
8. If the Current owner is listed as unknown, select Administrators in the lower list and click OK.
9. Click OK to close the Advanced Security Settings dialog box, and return to Step 3.

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756  How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Solution 5: It's possibly your Windows Profile is corrupted.  I would like to suggest that you create a "New User Profile (account)" and restart the computer and login with the newly created user profile (account) and see if the issue still persists.  Follow the Windows Help & How to Reference Link to create a New User Profile (account)

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Create-a-user-account

Let me know if that does or does not work. Good luck!
Hope this is helpful.

Thanks and Regards,
Vijay K - Microsoft Support
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