 Regedit Is Not A Valid Win32 Application When Installing |
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 May 9 2006, 07:52 PM
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#16
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Member  Group: Members Posts: 16 Joined: 31-March 06 Member No.: 61,904  |
 and yes it is opening other .exe files.. Thanks for your help on this guys, I appreciate it.. I'm getting rather frustrated with my computer :-|
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May 10 2006, 09:17 PM
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#17
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 Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 2,697 Joined: 23-September 05 From: Michigan, USA Member No.: 34,941 |
Make sure that you can view all hidden files. Instructions on how to do this can be found HERE.
Go to: C: > Windows Look in there for regedit. There should only be one. If you have more than one than let us know. When you type in regedit into the run box, Windows tries to figure out the rest of the name of the file by searching for .com first and then .exe along with other extensions until it finds something. Of course, regedit.com does not exist, so the computer does not find it and keeps looking until it finds regedit.exe and then it runs the registry editor. Well, there is a little virus called W32/Kipis-J that will create dummy files on a computer. It will create things like regedit.com. This way when someone tries to open regedit in order to edit the registry and get rid on this pest the registry editor will not open, because working alphabetically Windows will find regedit.com first and try to run that. But regedit.com is just a dummy 0 byte file. But if someone were to type in regedit.exe then the actual registry editor will run. What you are experiencing is too close to the explanation above to be coincidence it seems to me. So, keep looking for any regedit files on your computer. This virus might also be known under the name mydoom. Have you ever been infected with mydoom before? Get a good anti virus program and run it. See if it finds anything. -------------------- ALBERT FRANKENSTEIN
I'M SO SMART IT'S SCARY! Currently home chillin' with the fam and my two dogs! |
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May 11 2006, 07:53 AM
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#18
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Member Group: Members Posts: 16 Joined: 8-May 06 Member No.: 67,275 |
QUOTE(Romine @ May 9 2006, 08:52 PM)  No Thor... it doesnt not bring up the box... if i type regedit into run it comes up with the same error i get when trying to install cakewalk "regedit is not a valid win32 application".. however if i type in regedit.exe into run it comes up fine. Chris - I already had my hidden files showing.. and I searched again and still did not find any regedit.com.. and yes it is opening other .exe files.. Thanks for your help on this guys, I appreciate it.. I'm getting rather frustrated with my computer :-|So you're saying START->RUN "RegEdit" fails, but START->RUN "RegEdit.exe" works? It's got to be another regedit.* out there somewhere. Look at the link from the last guys post on showing hidden files, and making sure system files are shown too (sorry, I should have thought of that!). |
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May 11 2006, 11:26 AM
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#19
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Distinguished Member  Group: Banned Posts: 880 Joined: 14-January 06 Member No.: 50,692 |
Please take a look at this article for Windows XP it might help solve your problem. suggestion print it out before using it.
You Are Unable to Start a Program with an .exe File Extension http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310585/en-us#appliesto |
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Dec 20 2006, 10:37 PM
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#20
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: 20-December 06 Member No.: 102,273 |
How about regedit.chm
is that another block? I am not sure to delete it or not. |
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Dec 21 2006, 01:16 AM
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#21
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 OBleepin Investigator Group: Moderator Posts: 17,849 Joined: 14-July 06 From: Bloomington, IN Member No.: 76,150 |
regedit.chm should be in the I386 folder and also the WINDOWS\Help folder. All the files I have seen thus far with the chm extension are help files. So, in this case these are the help files for the Registry Editor.
Orange Blossom 
-------------------- Orange Blossom An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ESET NOD32, SuperAntiSpyware Pro, SpywareBlaster, Spybot 1.6.2.46, WinPatrol Plus, Sunbelt Personal Firewall - Full, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, NoScript Firefox ext., Norton noscript |
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Feb 20 2007, 12:19 AM
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#22
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 New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 19-February 07 From: Grand Rapids MI Member No.: 112,816 |
I had the same problem, i was caused by a trojan (cant remember the name)
when you tried to RUN it, when you type regedit it says its not a valid win32 application but type regedit.exe and it works fine. I got the same message when installing some programs fortunately i have several hard drives all with old installs of windows on and i was able to compare the system32 directories. I found my current install was the only one with regedit in along with regedt32. the other directories just had regedt32. Anyway, I deleted regedit and just left regedt32 and all is working fine again.  I also found a second command.exe created at the same time just sitting on my C drive (c:/command.exe) needless to say that was removed as well as it exists in the system32 folder-where it should be. I still think its strange that the actual exe for regedit isnt called regedit at all! TYPICAL WINDOWS! regards Jonny. 
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Feb 20 2007, 08:02 PM
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#23
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 Still visually handicapped, new avatar (a camel) :0) Group: BC Advisor Posts: 16,689 Joined: 2-October 05 From: Southeastern CT, USA Member No.: 35,824 |
regedit.exe is a legitimate Windows application that will launch the Registry Editor in Windows XP.
I seem to remember that regedit32.exe was available in earlier editions of Windows, but cannot remember where. FWIW - regedit.exe and regedit32.exe can both be safe and be a virus - a lot depends on where it's located (for example, the good copy of the file command.com resides in the C:\Windows\system32 sub-directory - so the copy in the C:\ directory is likely to be a virus) -------------------- - John
**If you need a more detailed explanation, please ask for it. I have the Knack. ** |
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Feb 21 2007, 01:58 AM
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#24
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 21-February 07 Member No.: 113,067 |
OK, I just had this exact problem, same software install and same error messages.
 I spent 2 hours trying to figure it out and since this thread is number 3 on Google for "regedit is not a valid win32 application" I thought I'd post solution... giving credit to posters on this thread and other threads I found via Google. I'm not that smart  could not have figured this out on my own...Anyways my problem was the 0 byte regedit.com file, once deleted all was fixed. Finding the file was the hard part.  regedit.com was in my windows/system32 folder However that system32 folder or any file in it will not show up in windows explorer/my computer or a search unless in windows explorer/my computer you go: Tools>Folder Options>View> and do TWO (or more) things: 1. Under "hidden files and folders" click the circle in front of "show hidden files and folders" ("Do not show hidden files and folders" will have an empty circle in front of it) 2. THE PART I MISSED... would have saved an hour of messing around if I would have UNCHECKED the box in front of "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)". This hides the system32 folder, all files within it and other files. 3. For good measure while your there also uncheck the box in front of "Hide extensions for known file types" Then do the search for regedit.* OR find your way to system32 folder and see if you got the regedit.com or other file. Delete the gosh darn thing.  I believe I got into this mess by: Most likely using a p2p share program or less likely another method of non intentionally infecting my computer.  I believe my antivirus got the malware or virus which infected my computer but missed this one file in clean up.  Most important I like to try some things before I buy... slam me down if you want, I am being honest. I did not wait till I married my wife to ____ either. 
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Feb 21 2007, 08:48 PM
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#25
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Still visually handicapped, new avatar (a camel) :0) Group: BC Advisor Posts: 16,689 Joined: 2-October 05 From: Southeastern CT, USA Member No.: 35,824 |
Most of us have learned by trying things that we really shouldn't have - and sometimes things work out. In this case, regedit.com is usually a virus - so deleting it was the right thing to do. And the 0 bytes was a key "tip-off" Good work!
Today I got to see my first computer with a P2P program on it that wasn't infected! And, more significantly, the user relied on the protection that comes with the Yahoo software for her DSL connection! As for "trying before buying" well...BTDT!
-------------------- - John
**If you need a more detailed explanation, please ask for it. I have the Knack. ** |
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