Computer/Technology => Computer => Topic started by: hmed2390 on March 12, 2011, 09:32:16 PM
Title: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on March 12, 2011, 09:32:16 PM
Hey guys, ok, so after hours of installing windows 7 from new, installing apps upon apps, and tweaking windows 7 to our liking, my sister decides to set restrictions on other users and fiddles with the gpedit.msc option. She enables, and then decides to allow acces to only firefox.exe , then after rebooting she finds out that the change affecting all accounts including her admin account. Now she can't access gpedit or anything other than firefox and is pretty much poo out of luck. I tried emailing this registry to her but she can't even run it either:
So what now? There MUST be a way around this, anybody have anything to add? Thanks in advance. This has been a hell of a night, any help would be very appreciated.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on March 12, 2011, 10:05:04 PM
I'm checking some things out but in the mean time, does she happen to have any restore points from a time before she made the changes?
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on March 12, 2011, 10:13:16 PM
nope, this is literally a first boot minus the relevant reboots for installing her adobe cs5 suite.
we were planning to schedule a restore point after everything was up and running but we made the stupid mistake of screwing things up in the process.
thanks dweez, i really appreciate it. we can't even edit the registry , access the registry, or run script.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on March 12, 2011, 10:42:39 PM
hey Dweez no worries, we're doing another clean install lmao, but thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. We couldn't find a suitable solution.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on March 12, 2011, 11:45:36 PM
Yeah, I found a lot of "similar" situations but all the solutions were very low-level, "dirty hands" type work. I suggest creating a Restore Point of the C: drive immediately after the finished install. This makes recovery a bit easier.
Good luck man.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on March 12, 2011, 11:55:43 PM
yeah, it seemed like less pain to just do it all over again rather than run around ourselves in a circle trying to figure this thing out. Thanks again Dweez, much appreciated. 8)
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on March 13, 2011, 04:26:21 AM
As christ is not here, let me the first to say:
even though I currently also use windows of various varieties.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on March 13, 2011, 01:25:19 PM
I run Windows 7 on this box but have a VM of Ubuntu 10.10 and OS X 10.6.6 so I've got all my bases covered.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on March 13, 2011, 02:23:15 PM
In my searching, even in safe mode, sometimes the registry and/or gpedit.msc was still locked from the admin. I think it was a matter of either resetting some NTFS ACLs (permissions lists) or disabling the group policy service, which also had access blocked in some cases where people had locked themselves out.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on March 13, 2011, 03:29:54 PM
In my searching, even in safe mode, sometimes the registry and/or gpedit.msc was still locked from the admin. I think it was a matter of either resetting some NTFS ACLs (permissions lists) or disabling the group policy service, which also had access blocked in some cases where people had locked themselves out.
that was exactly the case, there was literally no other option other than starting new again. We had no idea that the changes would affect all of the accounts including the admin one. Pretty stupid in my opinion. I've seen fixes where people would use the registry using what I posted above to get out of this mess in windows xp but it wouldn't work with windows 7 ultimate. So i dunno, i'd still like to know the fix for future knowledge and so i can document it and share it with everybody else who might make the same mistake someday.
even though I currently also use windows of various varieties.
I personally don't hate Mac's (I do hate apple as a company though) and I think it's just a matter of preference , and in my case, a matter of what I grew up with. I've tried to switch over to linux and I've tested out many different flavors and by far I've observed it as being a much smoother and stable OS than Windows, however I feel so restricted and limited in terms of what i can do and what I'm used to. For instance, if I want the to play the newest pc game linux falls short and unless it's a really popular or highly anticipated title Mac isn't going to deliver either. Then software, sure there are lots of alternative, but when I google around looking for a certain piece of software tailored to a specific need more than likely it's going to be geared towards windows. I mean there is a reason Windows owns most of the OS market share but aside from that the fact is that it does own most of the OS market share so everyday computing needs is going to take that into consideration. That's why more times than not if unless you're an exclusive Mac user you're going to be dual booting between windows and linux or freebsd or whatever other Unix-like variant.
So i dunno, feel free to debate. :P
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on March 13, 2011, 03:59:34 PM
....I tried emailing this registry to her but she can't even run it either....
I have never tried it with Win 7, but quite often I have edited the registry without booting, using Ultimate boot CD (Hirens may also have a registry editor?). I don't know if you'd be able to load the registry hive, but if you could you should be able to add those edits easily enough, which might get you control back to undo the gpedit.msc changes.
That is certainly a way it could have been approached, and maybe I'll intention bork an W7U installation on an old machine to try it out.
or.. maybe not :)
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on March 13, 2011, 04:06:19 PM
perhaps you should try it. ;)
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on March 13, 2011, 04:15:48 PM
If it didn't work I have found that the 'Win 7 Recovery environment' actually allows you to load the registry hive and edit it. If the edits you first posted would have fixed the problem, then using this method should have fixed it.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on March 13, 2011, 04:22:03 PM
Thanks Smokes, good to know for the future. 8)
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on March 13, 2011, 04:27:02 PM
no worries, this is an open thread. :P Also, my sister and I reinstalled windows and learned our lessons. :D
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: subvinorosa on March 18, 2011, 07:43:43 AM
Thanks all.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on May 15, 2011, 03:26:41 AM
I had a system meltdown on this comp yesterday too. There were virii everywhere and around 30 extra entries in my "run" registry key pointing to them. When I had gotten rid of them (those that I could find) the computer just would not start and hung at the mup.sys stage of startup. Even when I put my windows disk in it went into a spin cycle that wouldn't stop (never had that before?) so it had to get the big wipe and here I am back.
I never have anything but bookmarks and email to restore on this comp as I keep the system really light and easily to restore, all my files and whatnot get tranferred to a sandboxed machine.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on May 15, 2011, 08:39:27 PM
Isn't email server side anyway? Or are you referring to something like Thunderbird or Windows Live Mail?
I've never thought about exporting my bookmarks before and now that I think about it, it would suck grandly if I lost all of the bookmarks I've collected in the past 2 years.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on May 16, 2011, 05:06:06 PM
I use Outlook combined with Microsoft accounting for invoices and customer databases etc. All my important mail is POP and for all my junk I use Webmail. Of course as I host the sites I do have control over the email accounts on the server, but that doesn't give you much in the way of archiving.
Turns out this problem is a faulty drive as it happened again this morning. I have chucked in a different drive and I am back with a decent screen again (Diasfora on my phone just isn't the same) but I am not convinced the issue has gone :-\
Fingers crossed eh.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on May 16, 2011, 11:20:16 PM
My drivers in my external dock (total of 1.6TB) are acting up. I'm gonna deal with it tomorrow.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on May 17, 2011, 09:32:45 AM
My drivers in my external dock (total of 1.6TB) are acting up. I'm gonna deal with it tomorrow.
"Drives" do you mean? If so, good luck with that.
Something is very weird with this comp' since I had to change the system drive? I think I might just get my wallet out and buy something new to build. Triple monitor this time and then do away with the internet comp altogether and just use my laptop for it.
I'm too tired to think about it now though.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on May 17, 2011, 11:42:24 PM
Yeah, I meant "drives".
Well, it seems it's probably the external dock or the USB cable. I have another external dock (single-bay as opposed to the 2xbay of the one that's acting up) and it seems to work fine. Still, it has given me an opportunity and an urgency to clean up my hdds. I want to get off all data I want to keep off the two hdds and then run some diagnostics (off Hiren's) and verify whether or not the drives are still good.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: goldshirt*9 on May 18, 2011, 12:21:27 AM
i regularly back up my bookmarks ,I wouldn't even know where to obtain them again. so you two pc guru's ;D how easy is a sandbox to install and use.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on May 18, 2011, 06:30:33 AM
If you don't care about having your data out there in the cloud, there are several bookmark sync type apps out there (at least for firefox).
I used to use Sandboxie all the time. Made it super easy. Just right click the shortcut and select "Run Sandboxed". On this new computer, I more often just use my Linux VM.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on May 18, 2011, 02:46:19 PM
Firefox backs up your bookmarks automatically. You can retrieve them from (in my XP case):
Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\gdpzjsd4.default\bookmarkbackups
If your system is dead you can use Mini Xp that can be found on Hiren's to boot into, and save the latest bookmark json file to a pen drive or whatever - then just import it when you've re-installed eveything.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on May 19, 2011, 01:56:44 AM
I use Outlook combined with Microsoft accounting for invoices and customer databases etc. All my important mail is POP and for all my junk I use Webmail. Of course as I host the sites I do have control over the email accounts on the server, but that doesn't give you much in the way of archiving.
Turns out this problem is a faulty drive as it happened again this morning. I have chucked in a different drive and I am back with a decent screen again (Diasfora on my phone just isn't the same) but I am not convinced the issue has gone :-\
Fingers crossed eh.
I'm sure you have some sort of RAID configuration though no?
If you don't care about having your data out there in the cloud, there are several bookmark sync type apps out there (at least for firefox).
I used to use Sandboxie all the time. Made it super easy. Just right click the shortcut and select "Run Sandboxed". On this new computer, I more often just use my Linux VM.
Yeah, I've never really used a cloud-based bookmarks service, I know my cousin has been using one for a few years now. I wouldn't mind using it though, it's only bookmarks.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: smokester on May 19, 2011, 01:33:38 PM
I don't have a RAID setup at present, but most of my kit has one problem or another that I just cannot be arsed to sort out, so it's all in limbo so to speak. I find the longer I have away from computers the more I lose my enthusiasm for them, and now I'm starting to pine for the 70's.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on May 19, 2011, 03:48:08 PM
I don't have a RAID setup at present, but most of my kit has one problem or another that I just cannot be arsed to sort out, so it's all in limbo so to speak. I find the longer I have away from computers the more I lose my enthusiasm for them, and now I'm starting to pine for the 70's.
That sucks. Usually when I have pc issues it's also an all day thing for me, I'm a perfectionist so I end up sorting my files or backing stuff up and one thing leads to another and next thing I know hours have passed.
Good luck Smokes.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: dweez on May 19, 2011, 05:08:19 PM
I've never used RAID on my home computers (although most if not all the builds have RAID support on the mobo). For the most part, I don't have anything that I can't live without if an hdd crashes or I have the data duplicated on another system or two). Now that hdds are getting so large, I might end up getting a NAS and using RAID on that but...we'll see.
Title: Re: Huge problem
Post by: hmed2390 on May 20, 2011, 04:56:37 PM
I might end up getting a NAS and using RAID on that but...we'll see.
I've wanted to do something similar to that for over a year now. I don't really have things that would ruin me if my hdds kicked the bucket either, but I take pride in my growing music collection and my media in general(I buy what I can). Plus, companies like amazon are offering cloud services for any digital purchases and I'm sure many others will soon offer the same. I can't see myself really needing so much storage unless I go through with my home studio project (pending) :P