Win 2000 Pro error. 16 bit Windows Subsystem issue...Please help...

[stingbandel]

To all Win 2000 experts, I really need help on this. I always get this error message when trying to install any softwares. The error message is like this:

16 bit Windows Subsystem
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers.VDD. Virtual Device Driver format in the registry is invalid.

Choose 'Close' to terminate the application

and then there are 2 buttons. the first one is Close and the second one is ignore. If I click on ignore, it will continue the installation. Does anybody know what is the problem? Can it be fixed cause I don't want to reinstall my Win 2000 again.

Thanks in advance

Darno

 

[jaywallen]

Well, I dunno if I qualify as a Windows 2000 expert, but I'll pretend to be one for the purposes of this reply.

Did you install a 16 bit application just before you started seeing this issue? The error message means just what it says, that there is a corrupted registry value at the location given.

You need to do two things:

1. Use regedit.exe to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers, and delete the VDD value name in the right pane of the regedit window. Quit regedit.exe.

2. Use regedt32.exe to navigate back to the same location in the registry, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers, and use the Add Value function on the Edit menu to create a value named VDD with a type of REG_MULTI_SZ. When the Multi-String Editor prompts you for a value, DO NOT ENTER ONE. Just click on the OK, then quit regedt32.exe.

It's best to do the safe thing and back up the registry before doing the editing. It is important to use the two different registry editors for the two different purposes. The reason you use regedit.exe for the first edit (the deletion) is that the corrupted value that you need to get rid of may not show up properly in regedt32.exe. Regedit.exe shows corrupted values and also makes it easy to delete them. You need to use regedt32.exe to add the value back to the registry because its little Add Value "wizard" makes it impossible to create another corrupted value.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jim

 

[Quaggoth]

JayWallen MUST be a win2k expert. I had an error like that and had to reinstall.