I couldnt get it to stop, so I just click ok

klondon101's directions worked for me, thank you!

Another problem appeared after I installed hp's photosmart software. This happened on two systems, so I know it's due to that. Formerly when I booted, the machine would just come completely up. Now it stops midway and requires that I click on the icon displaying my username (there is no other username icon visible, no password is asked for) before it continues with the boot. A bit of a nuisance to have to hang around instead of just doing something else and coming back to find it completely booted.

I looked in user accounts and that says I am the system administrator, there is an "off" guest ccount, and an account which I know nothing about called asp.net.

Any idea how to fix this? Thanks.

the accounts you show are all normal and should not be messed with!
Have a look in msconfig (Start > Run [msconfig] OK > startup and see if you can identify the line that asks for the logon. If not, disable the lot and restart. If it does not appear, it is one of them so restore them one at a time until you find the cause.
You may then find that something else doesn't work now you have disabled the logon - you can take a view about whether you need it or not.

I have tried all of the above and still have the problem. I have an C6180

I gave up trying to understand. Just go with it

One day I will sit down and check it out. Next time I load the OS I will leave HP off and see if I still get it. I can live with it too. Bruce

Just for reference, I began recently to recieve the same ...."An Access Denied error was returned while attempting to change a service. You may need to logon using an Administrator account to make the specified changes.".... message, whenever I attempted to change any items in my "startup tab' in MSCONFIG.

I have spent numerous hours searching for a fix for this error, because I am using the Administration account. I have read all the messages on this board regarding the issue and didn't find any help. I don't have Zone alarm, I never have. I don't have a HP printer, I never have. However, if it may help anyone else, the message for me stopped immediately after I decided to get other virus protection program other than McAfee. I uninstalled McAfee, rebooted, and before installing another virus program and tested MSCONFIG. I haven't seen the error appear since.

Thanks for letting us know. I have MCafee and do still have that problem. I will get hold of McAfee. Thanks Bruce

I did exactly what klondon101 said and I finally was able to get rid of this "msconfig access denied error" nuisance, I am running windows xp professional on a Dell INSPIRON 6400, crossing my fingers that this nightmare never re-occurs...

Solving this problem was the reason why I joined this site, credit goes to you Klondon101...Keep up the good work and thanks once again!

I do use McAfee and as soon as I get a chance I will try removing it. I still believe that I have seen this message on computers that don't run McAfee. Thanks Bruce

can u pls be more specific for the steps need to take for the explanation you gave. I'm not that savy to enough. can u give step by step in how to arrive to those steps u gave.
tks!

can u pls be more specific for the steps need to take for the explanation you gave. I'm not that savy to enough. can u give step by step in how to arrive to those steps u gave.

Hello, I just wanted to let everyone know klondon 101's solution (setting value in regedit for PML Driver HPZ12) worked for me - the second time!

I have a Dell 8300 with XP home SP2, an HP PSC 1610 all-in-one, Mcafee Virus Scan 12, and Zone Alarm pro. This problem came to light when SP3 failed to install. I soon discovered the "msconfig access denied problem". I tried all of Microsoft's suggestions including running subinacl and reset.cmd. No luck. I found many posts in various forums relating to this problem and HP, McAfee, and Zone Alarm. First, I uninstalled Mcafee, no luck, then I set the value of PML HPZ12 to 3 (manual start) no luck, then I uninstalled all hp software using add/remove and their cleaner - no luck. Then, looking over services, I noticed HPZ12 was still there. So I went back in and changed the value to 4 (disabled), and it worked!!

Now I don't know what to do about the printer. Maybe HP will come out with a fix or patch. There must be hundreds of people with this problem.

Anyway, thanks, Klondon.

I also run mcafee and have this issue. Just ran Ghost to recover from an lol.exe infection but apparently didn't go back far enough to solve the MSCONFIG issue. Did anyone get a useful response from Mcafee?
No never had an HP printer.
Running XP SP3
No virus found and have tried to replace msconfig.
Turned off Ad-Watch.
Nothing seems to make a differnce. Everything else is working fine it seems.
Thanks

Two morals here are

- never install any HP printer monitoring software, it has been a load of rubbish for years. Just install the driver and nothing else.

- do not use any form of 'registry booster' software, ever. Far too many are malware themselves or downright extortion attemps, or are honest attemps which cannot keep up with the pace of change imposed by MS constant updates aka foul-ups.

Thanks for that. Good advice I would say.
Unfortunately I haven't done either of those and still have the same problem. Spoke to mcafee and they quoted from this board and told me it wasn't them but the HP printer software trying to access the web and getting stopped by the firewall??
Once more Mcafee--I do NOT have any HP software on this machine of mine.
Oh and no registry boosting software either so there must be some other reasons for this sort of issue

This annoying message. My problem started the first time I tried to change my startup configuration in msconfig after I had upgraded to the McAfee firewall version. Still can't get rid of the message, and I get the message at restart too. However, the changes I made in msconfig-startup worked. I have no HP printers attached.

McAfee told me "they were looking into it". I think they were stringing me along. Might help them believe the issue is real if more people complain to them.

Like you---still have the annoying message and can't help thinking its the tip of a nasty iceberg but the changes I put in seem to work.
WE have no choice but wait for someone to discover the cause

This is the most logical explanation I have found during my three day search. It comes for McAfee people posting in forums:

This alert is due to registry permissions on an entry created for McAfee
applications. There appears to be a bug in msconfig that causes it to
attempt to modify registry keys that it isn't directly editing, which
results in the error message.

We have contacted Microsoft about this issue, but for security are keeping
the permission on the key the way it is.
wiedmann
McAfee Development Engineer

This is a security feature and there is no option to disable it. MSConfig
reports error but you can ignore it.
arevashe
McAfee Development Engineer

To clarify, when you modify anything in MSConfig, Windows attempts to change
the registry settings for everything in the MSConfig list. When Windows
reaches the McAfee items and attempts to change them, McAfee prevents this
from happening and Windows shows an error. This is a good thing from a
protection standpoint, as malware could otherwise use the same mechanism to
shut down your McAfee protection.

I would have expected that when I make a change in MSConfig, Windows would
only change the settings for the application I tried to change. But that's
not how it works. MS apparently doesn't want to modify MSConfig to do so.
Hence, the error.

In the end, even if you see this error, whatever changes you made will be
saved, unless you tried to turn off a McAfee product. If that's your goal,
it's best to do this within SecurityCenter.
trombs
McAfee Development Engineer

So, to sum up, to get rid of this error we will have to get rid of McAfee. However, I have read the same problem happens when using Zone Alarm. I guess it is just an unintended result of Microsoft Windows programming clashing with our Firewall software. Good thing it's just an annoying pop-up instead of a true security risk or registry error.

I will keep on looking for a solution and checking back to this forum, but I am not going to drive myself nuts over it.

Hey thanks for that!! You are right its a very logical explanation and takes away the fear that it might be an iceberg.
Thanks for your hard work.