Windows 7 Issues with System32 folder

Cyberin

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2009
I was adding something to my hosts file yesterday and in order to do so I removed the read-only from the entire system32 folder and all contents. After restarting the computer it wouldn't boot up so I figured this was the problem. I booting with the Win7 disc, and put read-only on the entire system32 folder.

Now I've got windows defender saying it needs to start from the action center, but every time I click start it just opens the system32 folder. I've also tried starting AVG, but the action center keeps saying it's still off (though it is started).

Is this a result of the entire system32 folder being read only?...of so, any easy way to fix it?
 
Folders, especially system32 should not be read only. When you changed it, was the read only box checked or filled in.
Filled in is normal and does not mean read only.
 
I was adding something to my hosts file yesterday and in order to do so I removed the read-only from the entire system32 folder and all contents.

There is a reason these files are set to read only by default... when / if you "add something" it is probable/likely that "something" replaced Win 7 .dll files with the .dll (or whatever file) of their own... maybe from Vista or XP or who knows.

If you are lucky the "something" you added just confused the registry and you can restore a backed up registry and fix it. If you overwrote system files you'll probably have to install windows again. It will be most difficult to figure out what was overwritten.. and even if you do, it would be extremly difficult to find a copy of the original and replace it.

Didn't back up your registry?

Press Winkey + R and enter "regedit /E c:\RegistryBackup.reg"

I made this into a shortcut and it only takes about 5 seconds to finish. Of course I'm overwriting the previous
backup so it's a good idea to increment the name of the backup file. To restore it simply click on the "RegistryBackup.reg" file and allow it to "Merge." Then reboot.
 
no files were removed, replaced, or overwritten other than the single hosts file. My only problem that may exist would be files in the system32 folder being marked as read-only when they shouldn't be. The only thing that was done was to select the system32 folder and change all files and folders within to read-only.

Is there a list somewhere that shows certain files within system32 that should not be read-only?
 
The attributes really don't make any difference...except they help prevent getting written over. Something else must have happened.

Here is what confuses me.... if you only needed to overwrite a single "host" file... why did you change the attributes on ALL the files? Why not just the ONE that you were trying to replace. Always, rename, rather than overwrite anything that there is the slighest chance windoz may need. Then you know what to undo.
 
The attributes really don't make any difference...except they help prevent getting written over. Something else must have happened.

Here is what confuses me.... if you only needed to overwrite a single "host" file... why did you change the attributes on ALL the files? Why not just the ONE that you were trying to replace. Always, rename, rather than overwrite anything that there is the slighest chance windoz may need. Then you know what to undo.

I tried a few times to rename and save and it wasn't working, so I just set the entire folder to non read-only. There is no possibility that anything else got changed, all I did was open up the single file, add one line, and then mark the entire folder read-only again...so it has to have something to do with that.

Will startup repair change settings in system32 to what they are supposed to be?
 
I've never had any luck with the repair feature but I don't think it will hurt anything to try. If you had your system backed up you could copy over the folder you modified and probably fix it. I would try a registry restore first. Whatever you did may have modified your registry.
 
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