Vista - Device Manager Link Broken In System

Yeah

It's been broken since the first Beta I tested.

I now have Vista Home Premium with SP1 installed, (techNet RC release), and
it still doesn't work. Kinda annoying. Also does not work on friends Ultimate
Version.

When you click "System Propeties" in "My Computer" it opens the
ControlPanel/System window; the first link in the Upper Lefthand Corner of
the window leads to Device Manager. It does not work, and never has.

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http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/com....vista.general

Hi,

Click Start_Run and type: devmgmt.msc /s
Does it open? and if so does UAC prompt you before opening?

--
All the best,
SG

ALEX NICHOL
(1935-2005)
http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm
You will never be forgotten my friend

"PsychoRich" <PsychoRich@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news77AEBBA-9D56-412B-A057-0D0EA6A625F6@xxxxxx

I regret to inform you that it does, and always has, worked on my system.

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"PsychoRich" <PsychoRich@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news77AEBBA-9D56-412B-A057-0D0EA6A625F6@xxxxxx

"Richard G. Harper" wrote:
It used to work at the begining,but after one reinstall and SP1 installed
,Don't know which one to blame,or both,it is not working now!Not to mention I
couldn't boot Windows at all after SP1....

Hello,
Corner ofI've had this problem and solved it after reading this link:

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=361952


The article says to carefully check what registry entries you have in
the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers tree

compare the keys you see on your computer with those from another clean
installation of Vista.

I've found a difference in the ContextMenuHandlers tree, I had a
registry key referring to a file named CopyPathExt.dll and after I
removed the registry key, the Device Manager link in the System dialog
box has begun to work again!!

Attached is an image of the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers tree after removing the
CopyPathExt.dll mentioned above.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: CleanDevmgmt.png |
|Download: http://forums.techarena.in/attachmen...chmentid=6763|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Addendum:

It could be any other shell extension causing the problem. You may use the ShellExView tool to determine the culprit. See "Method 2" in the following page.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowrightclick.htm

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog: http://www.winhelponline.com/blog
Windows® Troubleshooting: http://www.winhelponline.com

"mateia" <mateia.39xd7d@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:mateia.39xd7d@xxxxxx

Hello,
Corner ofI've had this problem and solved it after reading this link:

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=361952


The article says to carefully check what registry entries you have in
the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers tree

compare the keys you see on your computer with those from another clean
installation of Vista.

I've found a difference in the ContextMenuHandlers tree, I had a
registry key referring to a file named CopyPathExt.dll and after I
removed the registry key, the Device Manager link in the System dialog
box has begun to work again!!

Attached is an image of the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers tree after removing the
CopyPathExt.dll mentioned above.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: CleanDevmgmt.png |
|Download: http://forums.techarena.in/attachmen...chmentid=6763|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

--
mateia
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Hello Ramesh ,

- I will check if the bug is still present in Vista SP1. If it still
is, why can't Microsoft fix the bug forever ?


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Hi mateia,

It's not a bug in the Operating System afaik, and I can't replicate the problem here in my Vista SP1 systems. This is just another third-party shell extension problem.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog: http://www.winhelponline.com/blog
Windows® Troubleshooting: http://www.winhelponline.com

"mateia" <mateia.3a12je@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:mateia.3a12je@xxxxxx

Hello Ramesh ,

- I will check if the bug is still present in Vista SP1. If it still
is, why can't Microsoft fix the bug forever ?


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Hi to everybody with this particular problem.
Apart from the device manager not opening I also had problems with
opening certain applications from the start menu. I tried shellexview as
suggested in other forums to no avail.

I have finally solved my problem by deleting this context menu handler
{FFFFE5C1-34AF-4d4d-B3D3- 5BB86A2BAA7B} which seems to belong to
Virgin Broadband PC guard.
The full path here:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{FFFFE5C1-34AF-4d4d-B3D3-
5BB86A2BAA7B} = C:\Program Files\Zero Knowledge\Freedom\AVContextR.dll
...

I'm sure I don't need to remind anybody to back up first but I don't
know yet what repercussions I might get by deleting this value. If i get
any I will post back
Hope this has been some help


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Previous Post.

Hi to everybody with this particular problem.
Apart from the device manager not opening I also had problems with
opening certain applications from the start menu. I tried shellexview as
suggested in other forums to no avail.

I have finally solved my problem by deleting this context menu handler
{FFFFE5C1-34AF-4d4d-B3D3- 5BB86A2BAA7B} which seems to belong to Virgin
Broadband PC guard.
The full path here:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{FFFFE5C1-34AF-4d4d-B3D3-
5BB86A2BAA7B} = C:\Program Files\Zero Knowledge\Freedom\AVContextR.dll
...

I'm sure I don't need to remind anybody to back up first but I don't
know yet what repercussions I might get by deleting this value. If i get
any I will post back
Hope this has been some help

Just to update this post I have since found no reference to the above
files on my laptop.It seems that the context menu handler was left over
from a previous version of PC Guard.

After some research I have found that Zero Knowldge have ceased to
exist.
Here is a bit more info I have come across.

AVContextR.dll file information
The process Freedom belongs to the software Freedom by Zero-Knowledge
Systems Inc (www.zeroknowledge.com).

Description: File AVContextR.dll is located in a subfolder of
"C:\Program Files". The file size on Windows XP is 73728 bytes.
A .dll file (Dynamic Link Library) is a special type of Windows program
containing functions that other programs can call.
This .dll file can be injected to all running processes and can change
or manipulate their behavior.
The program is not visible. You can uninstall this program in the
control panel. There is no detailed description of this service.
It can change the behavior of other programs or manipulate other
programs. It is not a Windows system file. Therefore the technical
security rating is 52% dangerous.

If anybody has any extra info please post.


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