"Error 1606. Could not access network location <Common Administrative Tools>.AllUsers\."

This happens almost everytime I try to install something thus preventing me from installing anything. Recently my spyware program messed up so I was forced to uninstall it now I can't get it to reinstall due to this error... until now the error was just a minor annoyance but now ... well, you get the picture.

Either that error msg or one telling me I don't have admin rights to install anything even though I'm logged on as the admin and nothing new will install on my comp now.

HELP!, please.

Have you seen THIS.

How did you get on with it

yes, I've seen it and tried it. The only thing that changes is the error msg. It changes to the value I enter for the registry key.

One of the main problems with Windows 2000's regedit is that you can't create REG_EXPAND_SZ, which is what type of key it needs to be.

Save the following text in the code block as "test.reg" and double-click it to import it.
(It is basically saying "Common Administrative Tools" = "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools" but in hex, which contains the flag to make it REG_EXPAND_SZ instead of just REG_SZ)
Then verify with regedit that the key is now of type REG_EXPAND_SZ.
After you import this, if you find that both your old key and this new key exist (one of REG_SZ and one of REG_EXPAND_SZ), then delete the REG_SZ version.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders]
"Common Administrative Tools"=hex(2):25,00,41,00,4c,00,4c,00,55,00,53,00,45,00,\
  52,00,53,00,50,00,52,00,4f,00,46,00,49,00,4c,00,45,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,74,\
  00,61,00,72,00,74,00,20,00,4d,00,65,00,6e,00,75,00,5c,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,\
  67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,73,00,5c,00,41,00,64,00,6d,00,69,00,6e,00,69,00,73,\
  00,74,00,72,00,61,00,74,00,69,00,76,00,65,00,20,00,54,00,6f,00,6f,00,6c,00,\
  73,00,00,00

one small problem... when I double click it, it wants to open in notepad instead of copying it to my registry. how do I get it so it doesn't open w/ notepad?

To permanently make it to where double-clicking on the .reg file tries to import it, do the following:
Start > Run > cmd.exe
Then type each line:

assoc .reg=regfile
assoc regfile="Registration Entries"
ftype regfile=regedit.exe "%1"
exit

To just import this .reg and leave the notepad association alone, do the following:
Start > Run > regedit.exe
Registry > Import Registry File... > (browse to and choose the .reg you saved)

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