I have been getting a really annoying problem on my home machine, trying to install the latest patch to iTunes. The install seemed to go fine, until Windows XP was installing the QuickTime specific files, at which point I would get error
Could not open key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Classes\ QuickTimePlayerLib.QuickTimePlayerApp\ CLSID. Verify that you have sufficient access to that key, or contact your support personnel
at which point the install rolled back, and failed.
Being my own support personnel I spent considerable time running regedit to look at this registry key. Even though I was logged in as an administrator, I could see a whole list of QuickTime keys, but when I clicked on any of them I get an “error while opening key” message.
I tried all the usual steps suggested on the Google to find a way around this but nothing. Nothing on Windows support forums either. A lot of them suggested changing permissions on the key. To do this, you would right click on the key and select Permissions… then add users and the permission levels, but when I clicked OK, I got an “access is denied” message.
Then, tonight, success!
Here’s the fix, buried at the bottom of this forum:
1. Download and install subinacl, which is a Microsoft command-line tool that enables administrators to obtain and update security information about files, registry keys, and services.
2. Create a file named reset.cmd in C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools folder.
3. Edit the reset.cmd file with the following content.
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=systems=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=system=f
4. Back up your Windows registry (just in case)
5. Enter into CMD prompt (click Start, Run…, enter “cmd” and click OK).
6. Enter the following commands one at a time and click Enter.
cd\
cd "C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
reset.cmd
The tool took a few minutes to run – I tried not to freak out about all the text zooming by. Once the utility had completed, I went back to regedit and saw that the QuickTime keys which had had no information now had key values and permissions. I re-ran the iTunes installer, and everything worked smoothly.
You’re welcome.