Regedit opens with "Open With" box

[Ty909]

When I goto 'run' and type 'regedit' it opens a "open with" dialog box. If I type 'regedit.exe' it runs regedit. The file is in its right place (c:\windows) and has not been modified.

No other regedit files are located on the drive apart from regedt32 which works fine. This is on winxp sp2/3 computers on a network. No viruses and spyware found.

The policies show regedit is enabled and I have admin rights to box and network.

I can assume this might have something to do with the registry that maybe spyware has corrupted in the past. But like I said, all is clean now.

Also, if I run regedit from the cmd prompt it runs fine. How can I get regedit to work by just typing regedit in the run box?? Any ideas?

[NooNoo]

click here then on the page click Security from the left menu.. and on the right column download the script that sorts out regedit.

[Ty909]

That did not work. The 'disableregistrytools' is set to '0'. But I type regedit.exe and it works. It's only when I type regedit.

[Niclo Iste]

Just a thought, but do a search for regedit in the entire pc. I'm curious if maybe there is another file that's named regedit for some reason that's being accessed.

[NooNoo]

That and the exe association is screwed up... if you launch any other exe using the run dialogue, do you get the same problem?

[slgrieb]

One of the common symptoms of various pieces of malware is an inability to open Regedit and/or Task Manager. If your machine shows other symptoms consistent with a possible infection, you might have a pest to swat.

[Niclo Iste]

Good call SL I didn't even consider the possibility it was that.