SOLVED: Error while deleting key on Windows 10

Open the program’s ZIP archive in File Explorer, press the Extract all button and select a folder path to extract it to.

Click the program’s exe in the extracted folder, and open the Command Prompt. Then you can delete registry keys by entering this command: regdelnull <key path> -s.

4. Delete the key with Registry DeleteEx

DeleteEx is an alternative program with a GUI that you can erase locked registry entries with.

Press the Download Now button on this website page to add DeleteEx to Windows. When you have the software open, you can enter the path of the registry entry to delete in a text box on the Delete Key tab.

Furthermore, you can also select to erase all the key’s subkeys. As this software includes more settings, DeleteEx might be a better program to delete registry entries with than RegDelNull.

Windows Registry Editor is a nightmare? Choose another registry editing tool!

5. Add Registrar Registry Manager to Windows

The Registrar Registry Manager is an alternative third-party registry editor for Windows. With that you can delete registry keys that you would otherwise need to adjust permissions for as outlined above.

The software also includes additional search, CLSID lookup and registry compare tools. You can add that software to Windows 10 by clicking Advanced Registry Manager on this webpage.

Then you can delete the required registry key in Registrar much the same as in the Registry Editor.

So you can fix the Cannot delete key error in Windows by adjusting the key’s permissions or by utilizing the Registrar, DeleteEx or RegDelNull software.

However, remember to back up the registry before erasing the locked registry keys. Alternatively, you can set up a restore point to roll Windows back to as covered in this post.

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in March 2018 and was revamped and updated in January 2021 for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.