I'm not entirely sure if all the following issues are related, but I'm willing to bet they are... and I need help fixing them... I was having some issues with a vendor's program. So, they needed to retrieve some files for me to send them to assist with fixing their software's issue. When I tried to get those files from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\[Program Name] as instructed in an email, I realized I did not have access (access denied) to that folder (lock icon was on it). I am the administrator of this machine (I was not using the 'Administrator' account directly, but my user account is in the Administrators group on the machine) and couldn't understand why I did not have access. The I learned that Win7 is like that, where it's not just Administrator privileges that get you access but ownership as well. So, I looked up online how to take ownership of a directory, so I did so for the entire C Drive of my machine and all subfolders (process ran for a few minutes), which I assumed would grant me full access to everything since I am the Admin of this machine and SHOULD be able to do and access what I want/need to do with MY computer. Anyway, since then, I was able to access what I needed from that folder, BUT, now I get errors when Windows tries to perform a Windows Update or when Java tries to update - it can't find a file in a folder that does exist (??), asks for a new location of where to dinf the file but when I do a search for the file, it finds nothing and fails to complete. All Windows updates have failed also, I'm guessing for the same reason - the installation msi files are not found (?). Also, a number of icons on my desktop have been changed to generic Windows icons since this happened, although the programs they link to work fine. What happened and how do I get my computer back to normal again? I need to install updates and I would like to have my icons back. Any suggestions? Anyone else have this problem? {It was not until AFTER all this^^ that I realized they had provided specific instructions for Win7 (as opposed to Windows XP file access instructions above) users to retrieve the information from C:\ProgramData\[ProgramName] instead! I didn't need to access the restricted folder after all... but why would changing ownership of everything cause so many problems? And why don't I have access to everything already as an Administrator?!?}

By the way, the error messages (2) I get after the updates fail are "Windows Update encountered an unknown error" - Codes 64C and 66A.

Sounds like a .net framwork corruption http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2507641/ Windows Updates "fixit" http://support.microsoft.com/mats/windows_update/en-us

One problem is that Win7 doesn't actuall have a C:\Documents&Settings folder - it's C:\Users instead. If you managed to access such a folder, then there is something very wrong.Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth

Sounds like a .net framwork corruption http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2507641/ Windows Updates "fixit" http://support.microsoft.com/mats/windows_update/en-us Apparently there was some kind of corruption within the .NET framework which seemed to fix SOME of the problem when I ran the .NET repair. I was able to download and install 4 of the 5 updates it showed it needed, but then the loast one failed, even after I rebooted and tried again. It seems to have trouble installing Silverlight... and I also tried to update Java on the machine but that too fails. It creates a folder from running the executable that was downloaded, then it stops and asks for an alternate location where to find the msi file to run to continue installation (the default directory either doesn't exist or there is no msi file in it). I'm guessing Silverlight is having the same issue in the background. ALSO, the icon problem is still there. Nothing changed or improved with that. I ran the FixIt program before posting this and it said it fixed the Windows Update, then I ran it again after this .NET fix and it said the same thing - it needed to and fixed Windows Update, but it still failed (error code 64C - Silverlight). Any further suggestions?

ADDITIONALLY: FYI, There's an installation folder for Silverlight named with a bunch of numbers and letters that has the silverlight.msi file and some other files which I guess are for installation. The folder has a small lock icon which I'm assuming has something to do with the Administrator/Owner issues I'm having. When attempting to install Silverlight (and uninstall) it does the same thing Java does and looks for a folder where the msi can be found. Even when I point it to this folder it still can't find the msi.

try registering msiexec service Start - Run type in following command and click on ok msiexec /regserver

try registering msiexec service Start - Run type in following command and click on ok msiexec /regserver