Unable to delete a registry key in Windows 7 even as Administrator? Getting error "Access denied.." or "cannot delete… .Error while deleting key."

Symptoms

1.     User is log-in to Windows 7, and windows account is having administrative privileges. When user opens windows regedit (C:\windows\regedit.exe) or regedt32  by Run As Administrator and try to delete some registry keys, a error message pops-up, saying “Access denied.." or "cannot delete… .Error while deleting key.":

On selecting Yes, a error message pops-up:

2.     When trying to assign Permissions, Full Control  or trying to add an user using Advanced options, it gets error “Access Denied” :

3.     User has tried to activate the default Administrator account on Windows 7, using following command at cmd.exe (Run as Administrator):

net user administrator /active:yes

But, the Administrator account is also facing the same errors.

Solution

A simple solution is, download free utility PsExec from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897553.aspx

Open cmd.exe (Run as Administrator), and type following command to get Full Control of registry:

Now, user should have Full Control of registry and the registry keys can be deleted easily. The PsExec tool should be used carefully, it is a system utility.