Registry Permissions... wrong?

Not sure this is the right subforum... but it doesn't seem to fit anywhere. Sorry if its the wrong place.

I recently (few days ago) did a fresh install of Windows 7, and today I installed PowerISO which required a reboot... rebooted, and everything was, well, weird. For example:
-Wireless network status appears as disconnected (but its not)
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/253/wifiv.jpg
-Windows Security Essentials doesn't start automatically
-Steam doesn't remember my password
-Audio device appears disconnected
-Event log shows that Windows Media Player network service failed to start with error 0x80070006

Now, this last one was a bit of a hint, as it showed an error message. Some googling suggested it was an access denied message.... and running procmon confirmed this. Changed the registry access permissions to allow NETWORK SERVICE to have write permissions and was able to start WMPNet successfully.

As an example, here is what happens if I try and change the default audio device:
2:43:33.5369250 PM svchost.exe 396 RegCreateKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MMDevices\Audio\Render\{c8213a93-5dc4-40bb-8c4f-75eca559b1c6}\Properties ACCESS DENIED Desired Access: Set Value

Looking at the properties, shows the process has "NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE" permissions.... which seems reasonable should have write access here.

Another example:
2:56:24.5154628 PM svchost.exe 1312 RegOpenKey HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Nla\Wireless\728CCD2905A2242DAF369035F29BFC2AC886E45DBEEA35F5CA2BA5C31 07E10AC ACCESS DENIED Desired Access: Read/Write

svchost.exe here has NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE, which again, seems appropriate, but the access is denied.

Checking the permissions via regedit and the effective permission tool shows that (no suprise) NETWORK SERVICE only has read access.

So, it seems likely all of the problems could be explained by some registry permission issue. But... manually changing registry entry permissions is almost definitely the wrong solution to this problem. Short of a reinstall... any ideas?

ascl said:

Not sure this is the right subforum... but it doesn't seem to fit anywhere. Sorry if its the wrong place.

I recently (few days ago) did a fresh install of Windows 7, and today I installed PowerISO which required a reboot... rebooted, and everything was, well, weird. For example:
-Wireless network status appears as disconnected (but its not)
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/253/wifiv.jpg
-Windows Security Essentials doesn't start automatically
-Steam doesn't remember my password
-Audio device appears disconnected
-Event log shows that Windows Media Player network service failed to start with error 0x80070006

Now, this last one was a bit of a hint, as it showed an error message. Some googling suggested it was an access denied message.... and running procmon confirmed this. Changed the registry access permissions to allow NETWORK SERVICE to have write permissions and was able to start WMPNet successfully.

As an example, here is what happens if I try and change the default audio device:
2:43:33.5369250 PM svchost.exe 396 RegCreateKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MMDevices\Audio\Render\{c8213a93-5dc4-40bb-8c4f-75eca559b1c6}\Properties ACCESS DENIED Desired Access: Set Value

Looking at the properties, shows the process has "NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE" permissions.... which seems reasonable should have write access here.

Another example:
2:56:24.5154628 PM svchost.exe 1312 RegOpenKey HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Nla\Wireless\728CCD2905A2242DAF369035F29BFC2AC886E45DBEEA35F5CA2BA5C31 07E10AC ACCESS DENIED Desired Access: Read/Write

svchost.exe here has NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE, which again, seems appropriate, but the access is denied.

Checking the permissions via regedit and the effective permission tool shows that (no suprise) NETWORK SERVICE only has read access.

So, it seems likely all of the problems could be explained by some registry permission issue. But... manually changing registry entry permissions is almost definitely the wrong solution to this problem. Short of a reinstall... any ideas?

Do you have a backup to restore from prior to the problem?

Do You have a win 7 dvd to do a repair install from?

Ken

The installation is fairly new, so no backup, but re-installing is only a moderate hassle. I do have the DVD, and I can do a repair install... in fact, I will, that seems perfect (I didn't know it was possible). Thanks! I'll report back if I still have problems.