Error Attempting to Save System Policy File

ID: Q167900

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you use System Policy Editor and attempt to save a policy file on a computer running Windows NT, you may receive the following error message:

An error occurred writing the registry. The file cannot be saved.

CAUSE

To save a policy file using System Policy Editor on a computer running Windows NT, you must be a member of the administrators group. The reason for this limitation is that, even when you are only saving a .pol file to the local system, you need to access registry settings to complete the operation.

MORE INFORMATION

The specified policy file will be saved to the system. The size of the file will be 0 KB. If you attempt to open this file you receive an error message similar to the following:

Unable to open c:\ntconfig.pol:
A required privilege is not held by the client.

When you try the same procedure using an administrator-equivalent account you will receive an error message similar to the following:

Unable to open c:\ntconfig.pol:
The configuration registry database is corrupt.

Additional query words: system policy editor save as rights poledit

Keywords : kbenv kbnetwork kbother ntdomain ntsecurity NTSrvWkst ntutil
Version : WinNT:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb