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Article #25685: Install of InterBase 5.5 on Windows platforms fails with registry error

Problem:
A fresh install of  InterBase 5.5 on NT 4.0 Workstation or 
Windows 95b fails with the error message
"Failed to open registry key", or "Unable to write to 
Registry", or "Unable to set registry value".

This is due to:

1) InterBase 5.5 expecting the registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -->Software --> Microsoft --> Windows --> Current-Version -->SharedDLLs

to exist and it has not yet been created...or

2) Other software has added enough values to this 
key to hit some OS limit to the number of values
that can be registered for this key. (need to test 
further to find the limit)


Solution:
The information in this article applies to:

** InterBase 5.5 for Windows

The work arounds are:

Scenario 1)

Create the missing registrey key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -->Software --> Microsoft --> Windows --> Current-Version -->SharedDLLs

Scenario 2)

Check to see if there are extraneous or duplicate values 
under this key and delete them.

NOTE: CAUTION-when editing the registry it is HIGHLY 
recommended to back up the registry, or at least the keys 
that are being edited.

Added Note:
It's also reported that  uninstalling  a few programs which 
were no longer needed and rebooted will workaround 
the registry limit.

Last Modified: 23-OCT-00