"Failure Writing to the System Registry" Error Message When Running Setup Program Created Using Application Setup Wizard (247497)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 95
This article was previously published under Q247497
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe.

SYMPTOMS

When you run a Setup program that is created using the Application Setup Wizard, you may receive the following error message:
Failure writing to the system registry. The registry may be corrupt, or you may not have the required permissions to write to the registry.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur on computers running Windows 95 when the Setup program tries to add an entry to a registry key and the key size exceeds 64 KB as a result.

The size of a registry key is limited to 64 KB in Windows 95. If the behavior occurs on a computer running Windows 95, it usually happens when Setup tries to add entries to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe). Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

To determine if the SharedDLLs key is approaching the 64-KB limit, use the following steps to export the key to the desktop and look at the size of the exported file:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
  3. On the Edit menu, click Find.
  4. In the Find What box, type shareddlls.
  5. In the Look at section, click to select only the Keys check box, and then click Find Next.
  6. On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
  7. In the Save In list, click Desktop.
  8. In the File Name box, type myshareddlls, and then click Save. This saves a copy of the SharedDLLs registry key to a file called MySharedDLLs.reg on the desktop.
  9. On the desktop, right-click MySharedDLLs.reg, and then click Properties.
  10. Note the size of the file. If the file size is approximately 64 KB, the error message is being caused by the size limitation in Windows 95.
    To work around the 64-KB limit, open the MySharedDLLs.reg file you created in step 8 using Notepad or WordPad. Find programs that have entries in the SharedDLLs key. If you see file names from programs that you are no longer using, you may want to remove (uninstall) these programs to free up space in the registry key. If you have entries for files that no longer exist on the hard disk, you can directly remove the entries.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/11/2002
Keywords:kbenv kberrmsg kbprb KB247497
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.