VB6 error : Error accessing the system registry

Question

In visual basic 6, when I attempt to access Project > References, it throws an error

"Error accessing system registry"

I'm logged in as the local computer administrator running windows XP professional and I can execute regedt32.exe and access all the registry keys just fine. VB6 was installed as the local administrator.

any ideas why this happens?

thanks in advance

-Phill

Answer 1

Have you tried this? Basically, it seems that it is a crystal reports issue. Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I have have already visited that posting before. I'm running crystal reports 8.5 and it supposed to already have fixed that issue but apparently I still have the issue with 8.5 installed. I have also made the attempt of reinstalling crystal reports with no luck on the issue.

Answer 3

You could try Process Monitor to see which registry keys are accessed.

Answer 4

do you mean regmon? I tried that and everything seems to be ok. Maybe i'm just not using the filtering correctly.

Answer 5

I got this on a machine that I was using for VB6 development. I had been building a lot of COM DLLs from VB6 (without binary compatibility) and the cruft that had built up in the registry eventually got too much.

Have a look at what size the registry is and what limit you have set. I doubled the registry size and then went looking for a good registry hoover.

Answer 6

Check on the following website http://www.danoyuga.net/vb6vista.html

Answer 7

Depending on the Windows OS you have (I have Windows 7 Enterprise), you might want to try giving administrator rights to the REGTLIB.EXE (located in C:\Windws). Right click on the REGTLIB.EXE file. Select Properties from the pop-up menu. Then select the Compatiblity tab. On the Compatiblity tab, check/select the Run this program as Administrator checkbox. Click OK to save your changes. It might take take care of the problem for you. It worked for me. Good luck.

Answer 8

If you're running Office 2010 (Beta) Word (apparently) writes a restricted registry key. VB throws the error when scanning the registry. The key I have is: HKCR\TypeLib{00020905-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\8.5

For Regmon - Filter for Process Name -> "vb6.exe" and Result -> "ACCESS DENIED". Helps find it very quickly.

Fixed it with PSToosl (PSEXEC) to run registry editor (command line was psexec -i -d -s c:\windows\regedit.exe from a Run-As-Administrator command line. HTH Jim. edit / ps - I'm on a Windows 7 (x64) box. Elevated permissions require the PSTools solution. XP can get away with a little less.

Answer 9

Here is a solution from Microsoft. It references the Crystal Reports problem, but the solution just uses regedit32 to walk the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID registry branches for dimmed keys and correcting the security on those keys. There are also instructions to fix the security if regedit32 is unable to access the key. Article ID: 269383