HowTo delete a ghost registry key

Hi all,

I have a problem with the windows registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MMDevices\Audio\Render\{fe982967-a45b-4e24-afda-1e1705aa99a"}

this key appears only when enumerating the child keys of its parent, but I fail to:

- Open the key (I get the "file not found" error both in regedit and in code)
- Change the key's ACL
- Take ownership of the key

The OS is Windows 7 x64 and I'm trying to perform the above actions with the administrative rights. I would like to delete it!
Does anybody have an idea about how to deal with this issue?

thanks!
Francesco

Hi OS,

thanks for your fast reply!
I tried to use the built-in administrator user but I get the same errors.
May the registry be corrupted?

thanks
Francesco

Some registry keys use null characters etc which make then impossible to delete through the registry editor. For those types of keys, you can use: RegDelNull

It worked for me after I removed a Sony program (the thing left a un-deletable null key behind.)

Yethie said:

Hi OS,

thanks for your fast reply!
I tried to use the built-in administrator user but I get the same errors.
May the registry be corrupted?

thanks
Francesco

Try the CCleaner's Registry tab first as it cleans out registry shells.

How is that key hurting you?

Orbital Shark said:

gregrocker said:

Try the CCleaner's Registry tab first as it cleans out registry shells.

As handy as that is I'd also advise that if it finds the exact key required then only delete that key

A lot of registry cleaners can pick up false information about the registry and could delete valuable keys required by key system resources.

I've seen Ccleaner pick up errors on a 100% (only Ccleaner installed, nothing else) clean system so caution is advised :)

CCleaner should not be confused with "a lot of Registry cleaners" which are nothing more than sales operations with no genius applied.

CCleaner is a genius app perfected by geniuses over 10+ years to where it simply doesn't make mistakes. It offers to back up any registry keys it cleans which are never active keys, as confirmed by the same algorythm used by Revo Uninstaller which was only made possible by CCleaner's genius.

I haven't had any issues from CCleaner in ten years on hundreds of installs representing thousands of uses. The few issues reported here upon inspection were all attributable to other obvious causes.

CCleaner is perhaps the most highly respected app in the tech world. It has earned this title and doesn't deserve being sold short. For freeware it's value is priceless.

Spot on Gregrocker! Its one of the most useful tools in the arsenal.