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Error: 'Error 1402 Could Not Open Key: UNKNOWN\Components\' When Installing GFI MailEssentials

Author: Luis Fernandes Updated

Overview

GFI MailEssentials fails to install with the following error:

Error 1402. Could not open key: UNKNOWN\Components\

Note that after the "\Components\", there will be a registry key and subkey listed, which will appear as a long string of characters signifying the GUID of the installation component. This component can change depending on which one has broken permissions that are referenced during the installation.

Environment

  • GFI MailEssentials
  • All supported environments

Root Cause

Certain registry keys may have lost the correct permissions for the GFI MailEssentials installer to make changes to the keys.

Resolution

Note: It is very important to make a backup of the registry before editing. Make sure you export a version of it in a secure location on your server before editing any keys.

  1. Open the registry. Choose Start > Run. Type regedit.
  2. Search in the registry for the key and subkey.
  3. Right-click the parent container registry key. Choose Permissions.
  4. On the Permissions for the dialog box that appears next, press the Add button and add in Administrator, Administrators, and System accounts.
  5. Back on the first Permissions for dialog box, click each account in the top list and make sure each has the Full Control = Allow and Read = Allow permissions.
  6. Click the Advanced button so that the Advanced Security Settings dialog box appears.
  7. On the Permissions tab, enable the checkbox named 'Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object'. Press the Apply button.
  8. On the Owner tab, highlight the Administrators name in the lower list box. Enable the checkbox called 'Replace owner on subcontainers and objects'. Press the Apply button.
  9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 once more. This time around you should not get any errors about not being able to update the permissions on the child keys.
  10. Exit these dialog boxes by pressing the OK button. This will return you back to the main registry editor.
  11. Re-run the installer.