Windows 7 Windows 7 Registry Permissions

[DSell88]

Greetings,

I'm currently in the process of building a Windows 7 image for my institution. I'm trying to implement a few registry hacks that we've standardly used at least as long as I've been here. All of the keys still exist, but here's the one weird thing: the administrators usergroup does not have permission to edit any of these keys in Windows 7.

The only way to edit them is by giving ownership to the Administrators usergroup. We like to script first config stuff, since that way we can do everything in one fell swoop rather than trying to remember what we did from year to year, and I've tried a couple of different approaches to taking care of this problem using scripts. I've tried using takeown, and searching for a powershell solution, and the closest I've gotten is with subinacl.

However, even though the most recent version as far as I can find (circa 2004) seems to process the key and all of its subkeys without any errors, nothing appears to change when I look up the permissions manually. Any ideas?

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you're facing a challenge with implementing registry hacks in Windows 7 due to permission issues where the Administrators user group does not have permission to edit certain registry keys. This can indeed be frustrating, but there are ways to address this issue. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you overcome this problem:

Steps to Modify Registry Permissions Using PowerShell:​

1. Take Ownership of the Registry Key:
   • You need to ensure that you take ownership of the key before modifying permissions.
   • This can be done using PowerShell commands.
   []Grant the Administrators Group Full Control:
   • After taking ownership, you need to grant the Administrators group full control over the registry key.

     PowerShell Commands to Take Ownership and Adjust Permissions:​

   []Take Ownership of the Registry Key:

   powershell $regKey = "Registry Key Path" # Get the current owner of the key $acl = Get-Acl -Path "HKLM:\$regKey" $acl.SetOwner([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]"Administrators") Set-Acl -Path "HKLM:\$regKey" -AclObject $acl

2. Grant Full Control to Administrators:

   powershell $regKey = "Registry Key Path" # Set the permission for Administrators group $rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.RegistryAccessRule("Administrators","FullControl","Allow") $acl = Get-Acl -Path "HKLM:\$regKey" $acl.SetAccessRule($rule) Set-Acl -Path "HKLM:\$regKey" -AclObject $acl

   Troubleshooting Steps:​

   • Check for Errors: After running the PowerShell scripts, check for any errors that might have occurred during the process.
   • Run PowerShell as Administrator: Make sure that you are running PowerShell with administrative privileges to modify system settings.
   • Verify Changes: After running the scripts, verify manually if the permissions have been applied correctly.
   By following these steps and using PowerShell to take ownership and adjust permissions, you should be able to overcome the issue of administrators being unable to edit certain registry keys on Windows 7. Let me know if you encounter any further difficulties or need more assistance!