oleaut32.dll won't register

[AltatemTC]

I can't get oleaut32.dll to register. I get a return code of 0x80070005 (Access denied).

My system is:
NT 4.0 Service Pack 6
Pentium II 400

I ran RegClean, no help.
I ran the new RegEdt32 and checked the permissions on all the references to oleaut32.dll and the Administrator (of which I am one) had "full control" permissions on all references. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[BFlurie]

That's a tough one. Can you successfully register ANY .dll or .ocx? Try registering any .ocx file to see. I've never seen an "Access Denied" on an attempt to register a .dll, so I would lean toward it being an NT security thing. If memory serves, there may be an "advanced" permissions for administrators somewhere -- tho I'd think "installation" permission would be sufficient.

[AltatemTC]

BFlurie,
I can register any other .dll or .ocx that I have tried. I had a problem with one .dll and went thru the same exercise and found one instance where it I didn't have permissions and deleted the reference and was able to register. One thing I found "odd" was that there are probably 75 references to oleaut32.dll in my registry. Thanks for the response.

[BFlurie]

Try another, fresh copy of oleaut32.dll -- it might be corrupted. Or an incompatible version? Does W2K have some kinda "Safe" mode? Might try registering it from there. Search http://www.google.com with keywords & see if you get any hits. Like this:
oleaut32.dll register fail access denied W2K

Also, try unregistering it, THEN registering. To unregister, go to Start/ Run & type:
Regsvr32 /i /u oleaut32.dll

Type Regsvr32 /? in the Start/ Run box to get a list of optional command switches.

[This message has been edited by BFlurie (edited 12-30-2000).]

[AltatemTC]

BFlurie,
Thanks for all the suggestions but "Been there, done that" http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif. Thanks again.

[socalgal]

I think a typo of http://www.google.com for the search engine.

I'm kind of surprised BFlurie's suggestions didn't work.

Have you tried the MS DLL DB (http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/dllinfo.asp?fr=0&sd=tech) for the correct DLL?

Maybe you need to clear the registry of previous registration entries?


Not sure if this default version is the one you'd want to check against, but maybe you could compare the registry keys in Windows NT Workstation Registry Keys (http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/winnt/appendix.asp) against yours, using the Ctrl+F on that page to easily find the file entries. Maybe it will give you a clue...

Just some thoughts.

Edited out irrelevant.



[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 12-30-2000).]

[AltatemTC]

socalgal,
Thanks for the help. I do find it interesting that the list of "Windows NT Workstation Registry Keys" from the link you provided has only 4 or 5 entries for oleaut32.dll. I have approximately 75 in my registry. I will compare my registry to their listing and see what happens.

I will also check the file for corruption.

Thank you. All the help is greatly appreciated.

[BFlurie]

Something more drastic for the strong-stomached ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Copy oleaut32.dll to a safe folder, then delete it from c:\winnt\system32 -- DON'T move it. Then run Microsux RegClean.exe to clean out the entries, KEEPING the resulting .reg file for restoration if necessary. Then copy oleaut32.dll back & try registering it. If no joy, then d-click (merge) Regclean's .reg file & you're back to square one.

[AltatemTC]

BFlurie,
Excellent! I was dreading the idea of walking thru and deleting all the references to it. This is a short and sweet way of that process in 2 minutes when I was figuring 2 hours. Wonderful idea! Thank you.

[BFlurie]

One thing to keep in mind. When a self-registering .dll is registered, it writes a BASE info about itself into the registry. Other programs that you install later that need to use that .dll may very well write more references to it during IT'S install or simply when it is first run. This would explain your situation. You should try running all your progs to see if there's any problem, but I doubt there will be. Seems most modern programs will write their needed registry entries when you run them (if the entries are not already there).

The reason to copy, then delete the file was that, believe it or not, if you MOVE an important .dll file, Windoz will watch and then CHANGE all the registry references to it to the new location! This is also the case if you rename an important .dll -- Winders will change all the registry keys referencing it to the new name.

[This message has been edited by BFlurie (edited 12-31-2000).]

[AltatemTC]

Latest news on this ongoing saga.

First the bad news.I ran RegClean but was still unable to register oleaut32.dll version 2.40.4514. And evidently when RegClean ran it did something to eliminate all my ActiveX controls. I am a database program developer and as you can imagine this was a nightmare. I attempted to merge back in the changes RegClean had made but "It ain't happenin'". I think the oleaut32.dll I have must be corrupted.

Now the good news. I happened to have oainst.exe that came with RegClean. It contained a version of oleaut32.dll. I ran the installation, let it overwrite my newer version of everything involved and IT WORKED! I also got all of my ActiveX controls back (thank goodness). I am going to try to find a version of oleaut32 that I can install (came with Office 2K SR-1).

BFlurie and socalgal, I really appreciate all your suggestions. I will continue working with this and let you know what happens. Thanks.

[BFlurie]

My oleaut32.dll version is 2.40.4277
I think that's up to date, probably from IE5.01. NT/2K's newest version might be different from W9X's, tho.

[AltatemTC]

From my research, which socalgal pointed me to it, is from Office 2000.

[BFlurie]

If you "merge" the .reg file generated by Regclean's actions, it SHOULD return everything to the previous condition -- it always does w/W9X. However, Regclean's actions on NT might be fuzzier -- tho I used the latest version w/o any problem (earlier versions did cause problems). Does your copy of Oleaut32.dll happen to be marked read-only?

[AltatemTC]

My oleaut32.dll is not marked read-only but I think the problem of not being able to merge the undo file is it has references to oleaut32.dll and may have some references to the corrupted (I am guessing it's corrupted) version.