Microsoft KB Archive/185647

= PRB: Setup Error 168 : Setup Encountered Error Updating Registry =

Article ID: 185647

Article Last Modified on 3/10/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 3
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Visual InterDev 1.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q185647



IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.



SYMPTOMS
The following error might occur during the MSDN Library installation if the registry key that you are trying to modify is locked up or used by other applications or it has reached its limit:

Setup error 168: Setup encountered an error updating your registry.

Subsequently, you might not be able to use the MSDN Library. This error might also show up during Visual Basic 5.0 installation. In that case, follow the resolution given in step 3 below.



RESOLUTION
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

Try one or all of the following resolution methods:  Use ShrDll to evaluate the size of the SharedDLLs registry key and to clean up unused entries.  Versions of the MSDN Library prior to MSDN October 1998 or Visual Studio 6.0 wrote the following keys to the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\InfoViewer\5.0 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ InfoViewer\5.0

Delete these keys. To do so, use the Registry Editor: first, go to the Start menu, click Run, type regedit, and click OK to start the Registry Editor. Then, select and delete the two keys. Next, close all applications and try installing the MSDN Library again.   Open the Registry Editor. Open the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs  Save this key by selecting it and choosing Export Registry File from the Registry menu. Save the file with a name (for example, SaveKey1) in a temporary directory (for example, C:\Temp). In this example, a file named SaveKey1.dat is created.</li> Now, delete the key. Try step 1 again. After a successful install, save this key again with a new name (for example, SaveKey2).</li> Import the saved registry file by selecting Import Registry File from the Registry menu and importing the saved file C:\Temp\SaveKey1.dat. By doing this, you combine the old information and any new information created for that key.</li> Import the saved file even if the error does not appear so that you restore the original key. If installation was successful, import the saved registry file (SaveKey2.dat in this example) in case importing SaveKey1.dat over wrote some key values.</li> If the previous method does not resolve the problem, check the SharedDLLs key entries and see if any junk files with extensions such as .c, .cpp, .rc, and so forth are registered. Note that this key is to be used for registering only DLL files.</li> Delete the junk file entries from the SharedDLLs registry key and try to install the MSDN Library again. If this does not work, then you may have to uninstall some applications from your computer to make room in the registry file.</li></ol> </li> Check to see if the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base is applicable:

163277 OFF97: Setup Error 168 or 'Tahoma Font Is Not Present' Error

</li>  Run the MSDN setup from a DOS command line as follows for MSDN Libraries prior to October 1998: setup.exe /gerrorlog.txt For versions of the MSDN Library October 1998 and later, run: setup.exe /gc c:\errorlog.txt The Errorlog.txt file contains the information recorded when setup failed. Use that information to find the registry key that caused the failure and apply step 3 accordingly. The error log file may provide you with valuable information for trouble shooting this problem. </li></ol>

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STATUS
This problem was partially addressed in Visual Studio 6.0 and related 6.0 products, where Setup.exe checks the available space in the registry near the beginning of setup. If it looks like there might not be enough registry space to install the software, setup will warn you and point you to a Readme file that contains suggestions on how to handle the situation.

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