On a Workgroup peer-to-peer network have one Dell Desktop running XP Pro SP3 and a Dell Laptop in a docking station running Win7 Ultimate. File shares work between the machines and can run Remote Desktop from the XP machine onto the Win7 desktop. However when I run regedt32 and Connect Network Registry to the Win7 machine, I can see HKLM and HKU hives but get 'Cannot open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: Error while opening key.' on attempting to open the HKLM hive. Using Remote Desktop I can confirm that the Remote Registry service is running. What other information do you want?

I think you have to enable that feature in one of the firewall inbound rules. Or try to start the remote registry service from the services.msc. Try disabling the windows firewall service. But it would be better to find and enable the rule in the firewall.

Hi, Thanks for posting in Microsoft TechNet forums. Please refer to the following KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892192 Although it applies to Windows XP professional, you can check the permission on your Windows 7 system first. Best Regards Magon Liu TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.comPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, Thanks for posting in Microsoft TechNet forums. As this thread has been quiet for a while, we assume that the issue has been resolved. At this time, we will mark it as ‘Answered’ as the previous steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios. If the issue still persists, please feel free to reply this post directly so we will be notified to follow it up. You can also choose to unmark the answer as you wish. BTW, we’d love to hear your feedback about the solution. By sharing your experience you can help other community members facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding and efforts. Best Regards Magon Liu TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Apologies for the delay in checking out the KB892192 (I didn't receive any notification, I need to check). I have now checked it and found that LOCAL SERVICE existed already and did have Read permission on winreg. When I used regedt32 to connect to the registry I still can't open HK_LOCAL_MACHINE and can open HK_USERS and its hierarchy. I have turned the firewall off (it's not Windows Firewall but Sophos) so it doesn't interfere in any of these results. I also have a Win7 Professional test machine that has exactly the same problem when accessed from the XP Pro machine. I have tried accessing the Win7 Pro test machine from the Win7 Ultimate machine and get the same problem, 'Access is denied' on HKLM. Hence I can't open the Win7 Registry remotely from XP Pro or Win7. Sorry silence didn't mean success, just I couldn't get all the machines together. Thanks for the help so far, John

Hi John, Thank you for your reply! From your description, I understand that you can't open the Win7 registry remotely neither from XP Pro nor another Windows 7 test. Given this situation, please make sure you have obtained the latest security update for the Win 7 system. Meanwhile, in case this issue is due to conflict with certain thrid party software, to troubleshoot the issue, I suggest prepare clean boot on the Win7 remotely to check the result. To place the computer in a clean boot state, follow the steps below: 1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue. 2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup. 3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box. 4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All. 5. Click OK. 6. When you are prompted, click Restart. 7. After the computer starts, start the installation and check whether the problem is resolved. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Magon, On a clean boot, I still can't open the HKLM hive and can still see the contents of the HKU hive. I then rebooted, ran Windows Update, installed all important updates and reran a clean boot, still getting 'Cannot open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: Error while opening key.'. Regards, John

Hi, Please click Start, type servies and press Enter. Locate the Remoter registry service to check if it is disabled. If so, please start it and set the startup type to Automatic. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Did so (assuming you meant Remote Registry, which was already started with type Automatic), on clean reboot still can't open HKLM hive.

Hi Magon, Is there no solution? What should I do? John

I'm gonna bump this topic, as I am having the exact same issue. I am on a closed network with up-to-date computers. I have a Win7 computer with correct permisisons listed in this thread and have followed the reccomendations in this thread. I am able to successfully navigate HKEY_USERS remotely from a XP SP3 machine but am unable to navigate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, I get the same error. Any suggestions? I'm trying to do a Retina network scan that requires registry access :-(

Hi, Thanks for posting! Please understand to avoid confusion and keep track on the topic, we usually focus on the initial poster's issue. It is suggested to create a new thread in Windows 7 forum. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/w7itpro Regards, Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.