The challenge continues. ;-)

Great try Sami, thanks! This is the more complex of the two reg imports I already tried. (Sorry, I should have mentioned them more explicitly).

Error is the same. "Cannot Import (filename). Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes."

I even tried renaming all four copies of zipfldr.dll, to zipfldr_WAS.dll and rebooting since I couldn't reg or unreg the dll. (found an older zipfldr.dll in system32\$NTServicePackUninstall$, dated 2002, the others are all 8/4/2004, so must be an SP2 updated fix).

This is what leads me to believe that the reg fix will have to be imported as a "runonce" sequence at boot time. I've worn out Google looking for anyone else that has seen this, but so far this is a first where the fix couldn't be imported.

My guess is that a recent security update identified the folder/compression system as a potential exploit somewhere, patched it shut by recent hot-fix, making it persistent. But, that's only a guess based on behavior. I suppose a well clobbered registry could possibly cause the same thing, but the system runs without any other issues.

Any other ideas or should I grind XP through a repair? I really hate to do that, if a runonce could work, or I lose all my other reg edits. So, I've been Googling on how to set it up to try that and insert the same fix at boot-time.

Any suggestions on how to approach it that way?

Thanks more

Mike