Microsoft KB Archive/189625

= PRB: Error 168 When Installing or Running Visual Basic =

Article ID: 189625

Article Last Modified on 11/18/2003

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q189625



SYMPTOMS
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

During Visual Basic setup, the following error may be received while the system registry is being updated:

Setup error 168 : Setup encountered an error updating your registry

This problem occurs on Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me.



CAUSE
On Windows NT or Windows 2000, this problem frequently occurs when a user attempts to install or use Visual Basic without having the necessary access rights.

On Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, this problem frequently occurs when registry keys being updated are locked, are used by another application, or have exceeded their size limits. See the MORE INFORMATION section to follow.



RESOLUTION
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

This article provides workarounds for Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me.

Resolution for Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0
NOTE: The procedures shown here must be performed by a person with Administrator rights for the machine.

Step-by-Step Example

 * 1) From the Windows Start menu, choose Run.
 * 2) Type in the path to the Registry Editor (for example, C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\Regedt32.exe ), and then click OK.
 * 3) From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on Local Machine window, select the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools registry key.
 * 4) Choose Permissions from the Security menu.
 * 5) From the Registry Key Permissions dialog box, click Replace Permission on Existing Subkeys.
 * 6) From the Name text box, select Everyone, and then choose Full Control from the Type of Access combo box.
 * 7) Click OK.
 * 8) From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on Local Machine window, highlight the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib registry key.
 * 9) Repeat steps 4 through 7.
 * 10) From the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT on Local Machine window, highlight the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib registry key.
 * 11) Repeat steps 4 through 7.
 * 12) Try to reinstall Visual Basic.

Resolutions for Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me
NOTE: Four possible resolutions for Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me are provided here.

Resolution 1
Remove erroneous entries from the SharedDLLs registry key

Step-by-Step Example

 * 1) From the Windows Start menu, choose Run.
 * 2) Type the path to the Registry Editor (for example, C:\WINDOWS\Regedit.exe ), and then click OK to open the Registry Editor.
 * 3) Locate the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
 * 1) Examine the SharedDLLs key entries to see if any files with extensions such as .c, .cpp, or .rc are registered. Note that you should use this key when registering only DLL files. Delete any file entries from the SharedDLLs registry key that contain extensions other than .dll or .exe.
 * 2) Install Visual Basic again.

Resolution 2
Replace the existing SharedDLLs registry key

Step-by-Step Example

 * 1) From the Windows Start menu, choose Run.
 * 2) Type in the path to the Registry Editor (for example, C:\WINDOWS\Regedit.exe ), and then click OK to open the Registry Editor.
 * 3) Locate the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
 * 1) From the Registry menu, choose Export Registry File to save the existing registry key.
 * 2) Name the exported registry key file and save it in a temporary directory (for example, C:\Temp\OldKey.dat ).
 * 3) Delete the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
 * 1) Install Visual Basic again.

NOTE: Whether installation is successful or unsuccessful, perform steps 1-2 above again, then continue to step 8.
 * 1) Save the new SharedDLLs registry key as described in steps 4-5, assigning it a new name (for example, C:\Temp\NewKey.dat ).
 * 2) From the Registry menu, choose Import Registry File. Enter the name of the original registry key (in our example, C:\Temp\OldKey.dat), then click Open. This important step restores SharedDLLs registry key information that would otherwise be lost.
 * 3) If the installation in step 7 was successful, import the second saved registry file (in our example, C:\Temp\NewKey.dat) in the event that importing OldKey.dat wrote over some key values. See step 9 for this procedure.

If the installation in Step 7 was unsuccessful, it may be because you have exceeded the size limit of the Registry. See Resolutions 4 and 5 for workarounds for this problem.

Resolution 3
Reduce registry size by temporarily deleting fonts

Step-by-Step Example

 * 1) From the Windows Control Panel, select Fonts.
 * 2) Check the number of fonts loaded on the machine: the number of fonts appears at the bottom of the Fonts window. If you have more than 800 fonts on your system, move some fonts from the Windows\Fonts folder to a temporary location.
 * 3) Install Visual Basic again.
 * 4) Move the fonts back after Visual Basic has been successfully installed.

Resolution 4
Reduce path size to allow for more registry entries

Step-by-Step Example

 * 1) Examine the directory structure into which you have loaded applications on your system. The full directory path for DLLs is entered into the SharedDLLs registry key and the number of characters in the path reduces the number of entries in a registry key.
 * 2) In order to allow for more Registry entries, you may wish to uninstall particular applications and then reinstall the applications closer to the root directory.
 * 3) Install Visual Basic again.



STATUS
Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.



MORE INFORMATION
This problem occurs on Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows 95. This article provides additional information and workarounds for all platforms.

Windows 2000 or NT 4.0

 * 1) If you do not have Administrator rights on a Windows 2000 or Windows NT machine and try to install Visual Basic as a regular user, you will get error 168 while the system registry is being updated.
 * 2) If you do have Administrator rights and some of the subkeys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools are owned by someone else or do not have an owner (they appear dimmed), you will also get error 168.
 * 3) If you don't have access to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools and HKCR and HKLM\Software\Classes\TypeLib subkeys, you will get "Unexpected error quitting" when you try to start Visual Basic. This usually happens when you are a regular user and the administrator did not grant you access rights.

Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me
Windows 95 and Windows 98 appear to have a registry key size limit beyond which it will not respond to the RegistrySizeLimit value. If this size limit is exceeded, Visual Basic may not be able to update the registry and complete setup.

