Solved Unable to open any downloaded exe since patching OS

Hi all,

I got a free HP Pavilion dv6000 laptop from my roommate which had Vista Home Premium 32-bit on it and was bogged down with bloat. It also suffers from having a Core Duo CPU & just a gig of RAM. I had a couple of old DDR2 RAM sticks for a laptop which I tried to use to double the RAM, but the laptop only has two RAM slots. :\ I uninstalled a number of useless programs I didn't need & installed a few I thought I would need such as A/V, anti-malware & an updated Firefox. I then installed SP1, SP2, Platform Update & Platform Update Supplement. Then my real problems began.

I wanted to install CCleaner & a defrag program, but have been unable to open any of the programs in my download folder since patching the OS. At first I thought it was a known bug with CCleaner; however I found an article on Microsoft.com regarding this issue & followed the steps to recreate my Temp folder. That article can be found here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/932142

I followed the steps outlined in the article with the end result being I'm now locked out of my Temp folder? I don't know the significance of that or whether further steps need to be taken in this regard.

I have tried several different programs, but am still unable to open the downloaded executable in any way - double clicking, right clicking, run as administrator, using the open command from the shell - nothing works.

So I found another MS article dealing with this problem. It can be found here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2688326

I opened Regedit as instructed by the article, however in Step 6 it states to locate the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile

There is no such key in my registry! So does this mean I have to create it? I also just tried updating Java via the Java Control Panel without saving a downloaded file and it failed as well. I received a message that "something" had closed the Java binary file and the update process would close. Any suggestions?

For whatever reason I am unable to edit my post, but wanted to add a couple of other things I've done. Not sure if they're pertinent, but did a search of the forums for my issue and saw others who had made suggestions to somewhat similar circumstances. I've disabled UAC and Windows Defender. BitDefender A/V and Spybot Search and Destroy have been running. I have tried disabling them while attempting to open downloaded executables with no joy. Running sfc /scannow is not an option since I don't have a Vista disc. I just ran msconfig and disabled a number of startup programs, so we'll see how that goes; but I'm not optimistic..

Ok, so I disabled a number of startup programs. All I am left with are Synaptics driver, 3 instances of Intel Common User Interface, 2 instances of Spybot, Java Auto-update, the OS and the only thing from HP I left on as I don't know what it does: hpwuSchd Application. Still unable to open any of my downloaded execs. =(

What happens when you try to run an installer? Try to reinstall windows installer. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/942288

As for those registry entries I would try to create them.

Thanks for your reply, but this would involve downloading another executable and clicking on it for it to work.. Should I choose Open with instead of Save to?

As far as the registry entry goes, I'm not familiar with Vista at all and the Registry Editor looks foreign to me. Instead of being able to view all entries when clicking on a specific key header, I'm presented with sub folders, So to find the key mentioned in Step 3 of kb2688326 - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe - I clicked on the sub folder named .exe; however since the next key doesn't exist would I have to create a sub folder named exefile & create the key in there?

Did you even try it? It should be an msu file. Do a save as. Use this link. You will need the file Windows6.0-KB942288-v2-x86.msu according to your specs. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8483

So HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile doesn't exist? If so on the left hand side right click on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and then new key. That creates what you called a folder. Rename it exefile. Right click on that and create a new key called shell and then beneath that create one called open. Within each "folder" HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open right click on the main window (right side) and create new string value. Call the new entry (Default), double click on that and change the value as per the instructions. If that doesn't work I can try exporting it from my registry however that entire folder contains more than that and the values are different.

Hi,
You may need to right click the file, click properties, and then "Unblock" in order for it to run.

Good luck,
Josh

That's not likely for every installer.

True, but on my old system, I messed with permissions, and every EXE file refused to run or show anything.

Josh

@it0uchpods: Clicking Unblock did the trick. I don't recall ever having even seen that option much less having to use it. (I went to Win7 straight from XP.)

@townsbg: I created the Registry key as per your instructions just because.

I consider my issue solved, but have another question.. Should I address being locked out of the Temp folder at all? Should I make a new thread re this issue?

What temp folder?

Hi
Glad I could help

What do you mean by locked out of the Temp folder?

Start --> Search Run.

Open Run.

Type "%temp%" (no quotes)

Press OK.

Can you get into the TEMP folder that way? It is usually in %username%/AppData/Local/Temp

Best of Luck
Josh

@townsbg: The Temp folder I mentioned in my initial post.

@it0chpods: I explained how I got locked out in my initial post and yes, your suggestion allows me access to it; but I don't really know what to do with the access other than delete whatever's in there periodically..

@FlynHawn
You can delete everything in the %temp% folder.

If it says a file is in use, push skip.

Good luck,
Josh

Thank you very much for all of your help!