Common file and registry virtualization issues in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

When you use the virtualization feature of Windows Vista or of Windows 7, you may the experience file and registry virtualization issues that are described in the following scenarios.

Scenario 1: You receive error messages when you install, upgrade, or use an application

When you install, upgrade, or use an application, you may receive various error messages that indicate that access was denied. For example, you may experience one of the following symptoms:

• After you install an application in a folder other than the %programfiles% folder, you receive "access denied" error messages. Additionally, the application does not function as expected.
• You receive application error messages that resemble the following:

  Cannot create folder under C:MyAppTemp

  Cannot create file under C:MyAppTempoutput.dat

• You receive error messages that resemble the following:

  Error Writing to MyFile.exe

  This issue may occur when you perform any of the following actions:

  • You create links in virtualized locations.
  • You use the Encrypting File System (EFS) to encrypt files.
  • You try to view compressed files.
  • You use the command prompt to copy an .exe, .sys, or .dll file into a virtualizable location.
• Parts of the application that require file input or output no longer work correctly.

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Scenario 2: You cannot find the file or the folder that you just created

When you use an application for which virtualization is enabled, you create data files in virtualizable locations of the file system. When you use another application or Windows Explorer to access these newly created files, you cannot find them. For example, if you save a file in a photo editing application in the %programfiles%, %systemroot%, %systemdrive%, or %programdata% folders, you cannot locate this file.

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Scenario 3: You upgrade an application and then experience unexpected program behavior

After you upgrade an application, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Error. Please upgrade your application

Additionally, the application does not work as expected. The application appears to be using incorrect or pre-upgrade data.

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Scenario 4: After you uninstall an application, the application’s files are still present on the computer

In this scenario, you experience one of the following symptoms:

• In another application, you notice that file and folder information for the uninstalled application still exists in the %programfiles%, %programdata%, %systemdrive%, or %systemroot% folders.
• The %userprofile%AppDataLocalVirtualStore folder is larger than you expect. When you uninstalled the application, the virtualized files that were created during the application’s runtime were not removed.

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CAUSE

These issues are caused by one or more of the following conditions: The applicat…

These issues are caused by one or more of the following conditions:

• The application tries to create files or folders outside certain specified virtualized folders.
• Files that are saved by an application in the %programfiles% folder may be directed to a folder other than the user’s virtual store folder.
• The application uses a file that is not supported for virtualization.

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RESOLUTION

Scenario 1 To determine whether you have the issue that is described in Scenario…

Scenario 1

To determine whether you have the issue that is described in Scenario 1, look in Event Viewer for FileCreateVirtualExclude events. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start

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   , type eventvwr in the Start Search box, and then click eventvwr.exe in the Programs list.

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   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

2. Expand Applications and Services Logs, expand Microsoft, expand Windows, expand UacFileVirtualization, and then select Operational. If the event ID is 5000, a FileCreateVirtualExclude event has occurred.

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods:

• Reinstall the application in the %programfiles% folder if the program is not already installed in the %programfiles% folder.
• Use an account that has administrative credentials to run this application. To do this, locate and then right-click the application shortcut, and then click Run as administrator.

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  If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

• Run the application at an elevated command prompt. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start

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     , and then type cmd in the Start Search box, and then click cmd.exe in the Programs list.

  2. In the Programs list, right-click cmd, and then click Run as administrator.

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     If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

  3. Type MyAppsPath/MyApp, and then press ENTER. MyAppsPath/MyApp represents the path and the name of the application.
• Change the security settings on the application’s folder. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Log on as a user who has administrati
     ve credentials, and then use Windows Explorer to open the application’s folder.
  2. Right-click the application’s folder, and then click Properties.
  3. On the Security tab, click Edit.

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     If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

  4. Under Group or user names, click your user account.
  5. Under Permissions for Users, click Allow for the following permissions:
     • Modify
     • Read & Execute
     • List Folder Contents
     • Read
     • Write
  6. Click OK.

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Scenario 2

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods:

• Click the Compatibility Files button that appears on the Explorer bar to view virtualized files in the folder. The Compatibility Files button appears only if there are virtualized files in the folder.
• Look in the C:UsersUser_nameAppDataLocalVirtualStore folder to locate files and folders.
• Save your application’s data in a folder under your user profile.

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Scenario 3

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods:

• Run the application at an elevated command prompt. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start

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     , type cmd in the Start Search box, and then click cmd.exe in the Programs list.

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     If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

  2. Type MyAppsPath/MyApp. MyAppsPath/MyApp represents the path and the name of the application, and then press ENTER
• Open the virtual store, and then delete the old application data files. To do this, use Windows Explorer to open the C:UsersUser_nameAppDataLocalVirtualStoreProgram Files MyApp folder, and then delete any files that are not your documents or data files.
• Delete the virtual store from the registry.
  To locate the virtual store in the registry and to remove any unnecessary keys, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start

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     , type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.

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     If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

  2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesVirtualStore

  3. For any application registry keys that are no longer needed, right-click the key, click Delete, and then click Yes.

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Scenario 4

To resolve this issue, use Windows Explorer to open the C:UsersUser_nameAppDataLocalVirtualStoreMyApp folder, and then delete any obsolete application data.

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MORE INFORMATION

File and registry virtualization helps users who have restricted access to the r…

File and registry virtualization helps users who have restricted access to the registry and to the file system write to these protected areas. Virtualization creates a "per user" copy and then redirects successive data operations. For example, assume that an application is running under a Limited User Account or under accounts that require User Account Control permissions. When this application writes to a system location, such as to the %programfiles% folder, Windows Vista and Windows 7 redirect write operations and read operations to a user-specific location in the user’s profile folder (%localappdata%VirtualStore). By default, this location is C:UsersUser_nameAppDataLocalVirtualStoreProgram FilesApplication_name. Registry virtualization works similarly but applies to registry keys under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE subtree. The keys and data under this subtree are redirected to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesVirtualStore subkey.
For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480150.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480150.aspx)