Disk Management In All Accounts & Explorer.exe in LUA Fail

I removed Power Users from the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key's permissions in
Windows XP Pro's registry with regedit.exe and changed the Everyone group in
the permissions for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS keys to
Authenticated Users, thinking that would make the registry more secure.

But it messed up the Network Connections interface, Disk Management and the
Start/Taskbar and desktop icons in my Limited User Account. explorer.exe
won't run in the LUA in Safe Mode either, nor in the two new LUAs I created
- it stops almost immediately, even after multiple logons and trying to run
it from Task Manager, which works fine, but it still works in my admin
account, so it's not corrupted.

So I added Power Users back and changed the other two keys back to the
Everyone group, all with the exact same settings they had before, which I
wrote down before making the changes. But unfortunately, that didn't fix the
problems.

And believe it or not, I didn't back up the registry before making those
changes, and I have System Restore turned off for privacy, since it's on a
laptop, so now I'm unable to restore it, and loading the Last Known Good
Configuration didn't fix the Disk Management and LUA desktop interface
problems. But on the 3rd or fourth try registering netshell.dll, netcfgx.dll
and netman.dll fixed the Network Connections interface.

The first few times I thought Windows Installer was hanging/freezing when
registering netshell.dll and netman.dll, but on the last try with netshell.
dll I just happened to leave WI running for several minutes while I did
something else, and it finally registered netshell successfully. So then I
let WI take it's time with netman.dll, which also finally registered
successfully. But the network properties dialog is still taking several
minutes to appear.

But I need to get Disk Management working again 'cause I need to change the
drive letters after installing Linux on another partition on the same hard
drive so my apps'll work again. (I installed Linux so I could go online to
find out how to fix the Network Connections problem.) And I'd rather not go
through the hassle of reinstall 'em, and avoid adding to the mess in the
registry.

I get a "Server Execution Failed" error even though the Logical Disk Manager,
Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service, Plug and Play, Remote
Procedure Call, DCOM Server Process Launcher and Windows Management
Instrumentation services are all set to Automatic and started/running (some
just in case).

After stopping LDMAS and setting it to Manual, Disk Management starts it,
but still can't connect to it. Same with running diskmgmt.msc. I tried
checking the permissions in dcomcnfg > Computers, but when I left or
right-click Computers, the dcomcnfg window closes/disappears.

I also need to get explorer.exe working again in my LUA to avoid going
online in the unsecure admin account. By the way, is the HKEY_CURRENT_USER
key supposed to have the Users group in its permissions? If it did before, I
didn't remove it, but I added it - also without backing up the registry
first...hey, I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess...or crazy - to see if it
would fix the explorer problem, and it didn't. Now watch it cause more
problems when I remove it, if it's not supposed to be listed in that key.

If you're an MS-MVP I would really appreciate it if you could help me fix
these problems without repairing or reinstalling Windows on top of itself,
both of which made it unusable the last times I did them. I also want to
avoid having to reinstall and reharden Windows and reinstall and reconfigure
my apps, if I can help it.

I wouldn't think running sfc /scannow would fix 'em (would it?), since it
seems to me to be a permissions problem. I also seem to remember the scan
corrupting Windows instead of fixing it. Would deleting the COM3 key,
running "rmdir /s Registration" and reinstalling COM+ - the main parts of a
10-step solution I found in another forum?

My system doesn't have any malware or adware, or at least any that the
antimalware/adware and AV scanners can find. And I didn't install any
updates, software, hardware or drivers shortly before or after making those
changes to the registry. So they're not the cause, especially since all 3
problems happened right after restarting my system after making those
registry changes, and explorer works fine in my admin account.

There's no Explorer subkey in the policies key in my registry, or I'd try
this solution:

Explorer.exe repeatedly quits unexpectedly in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883791

And I wouldn't think these keys would fix the explorer problem, since it's
working fine in my admin account:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/nodesktop.reg

I tried pressing CTRL + ESC, but the Start menu appear.

I wouldn't think starting Windows with a minimal set of drivers would do any
good, since explorer works fine in my admin account and Disk Management
doesn't work in any account, even in Safe Mode, which doesn't load most
drivers, right?

As I said...I tried creating a new LUA account, and that didn't fix the
explorer problem, so the original LUA profile isn't corrupted. And I don't
want to do an in-place repair of Windows, or I would try those methods in
this solution:

Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318027

This solution doesn't apply, since explorer's working fine in my admin
account:

Start Menu and Windows Task Bar Are Missing After You Upgrade to Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818150

This solution doesn't apply, since explorer won't run and the desktop icons
are gone too:

In Windows, why do my Start button and Taskbar seem to be missing?
http://kb.iu.edu/data/abhv.html?cust=838017.91984.30

I wouldn't think the xp_taskbar_desktop_fixall vbs script or TaskbarPlus
solutions would fix it either, since explorer's working fine in my admin
account:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

mIRC isn't installed on my system, or I'd remove it as recommended in this
solution, even if it is for Windows 2000:

No desktop or a blank desktop appears after you log on to Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/836417

I have the Welcome screen turned off and the wallpaper remains visible after
logging on to my LUA. Plus all the profiles are on the Windows partition, I
don't have any cloned or shadow drives or networked computer, and my boot
partition's letter is still C. So I wouldn't think this solution applies
either.

Should I do it anyway? Or do you recommend reinstalling my apps? Wouldn't
that leave a mess in the registry, all the keys with the old paths, and slow
down my system? Before the change the two removable drives were E and F and
the logical drives in my extended partition were G, H, I and J. Now they've
switched places. The removable drives are now I and J and the logical drives
are now E, F, G and H.

Unable to log on if the boot partition drive letter has changed
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249321

Here is the error I get after Disk Management fails:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 6/20/2007
Time: 9:50:51 PM
Description:
The server {4FB6BB00-3347-11D0-B40A-00AA005FF586} did not register with DCOM
within the required timeout.

And here are some other DCOM errors I get:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 6/20/2007
Time: 9:01:42 PM
Description:
The server {8BC3F05E-D86B-11D0-A075-00C04FB68820} did not register with DCOM
within the required timeout.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 6/19/2007
Time: 8:36:33 PM
Description:
The server {BA126AD7-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E} did not register with DCOM
within the required timeout.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 6/19/2007
Time: 8:26:32 PM
Description:
The server {000C101C-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} did not register with DCOM
within the required timeout.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: EventSystem
Event Category: (50)
Event ID: 4610
Date: 6/19/2007
Time: 9:50:51 PM
Description:
The COM+ Event System detected a bad return code during its internal
processing. HRESULT was 80040154 from line 44 of
d:\qxp_slp\com\com1x\src\events\tier1\eventsystemobj.cpp. This may indicate
that the COM+ Event System is not properly installed. Please try
reinstalling the COM+ Event System.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: COM+
Event Category: (117)
Event ID: 778
Date: 6/20/2007
Time: 2:28:02 PM
Description:
Application image dump failed.
Server Application ID: {01885945-612C-4A53-A479-E97507453926}
Server Application Instance ID:
{90A8E3F5-61EA-42E8-BA7E-5409650CE92E}
Server Application Name: COM+ Explorer
Error Code = 0x80004005 : Unspecified error
COM+ Services Internals Information:
File: d:\qxp_slp\com\com1x\src\shared\util\svcerr.cpp, Line: 1259
Comsvcs.dll file version: ENU 2001.12.4414.258 shp

Event Type: Error
Event Source: COM+
Event Category: Unknown
Event ID: 4689
Date: 6/20/2007
Time: 2:28:01 PM
Description:
The run-time environment has detected an inconsistency in its internal state.
This indicates a potential instability in the process that could be caused
by the custom components running in the COM+ application, the components
they make use of, or other factors. Error in
d:\qxp_slp\com\com1x\src\comsvcs\package\cpackage.cpp(1184), hr = 8000ffff:
InitEventCollector failed

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: EventSystem
Event Category: (54)
Event ID: 4353
Date: 6/19/2007
Time: 9:07:44 PM
Description:
The COM+ Event System attempted to fire the
EventObjectChange::ChangedSubscription event but received a bad return code.
HRESULT was 80040201.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: EventSystem
Event Category: (52)
Event ID: 4356
Date: 6/19/2007
Time: 9:07:44 PM
Description:
The COM+ Event System failed to create an instance of the subscriber
partition:{41E90F3E-56C1-4633-81C3-6E8BAC8BDD70}!
new:{D3938AB0-5B9D-11D1-8DD2-00AA004ABD5E}. CoGetObject returned HRESULT
80040154.

So what can I do to fix Disk Management in all accounts and the explorer
problem in all LUA accounts? And maybe also the delay in network properties?
.

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