A friend encounterd this very same "RegOpenKeyEx: The
handle is Invalid" glitch that you're getting.

He posted in google groups seeking advise and received
this in answer to his post:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22The+handle+is+invalid%22&start=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=OclNnjbwDHA.2080%40TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl&rnum=14

or shortened
http://tinyurl.com/38bxs

Basically, this was the advise he was offered:

"Sounds like some thirdparty shell extension is putting
up a rather unhelpful message.

Under regedit look at

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers

you will find a few entries

{1F2E5C40-9550-11CE-99D2-00AA006E086C} - this is the
Security page; normal
{3EA48300-8CF6-101B-84FB-666CCB9BCD32} - this is the
Summary page; normal
{883373C3-BF89-11D1-BE35-080036B11A03} - this is
another Summary page;
normal
CryptoSignMenu - this is the cryptography page; normal
anything else is suspicious. For each suspicious entry,
note the {...} thing and go to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\clsid\{...}\Inprocserver32

this will give you the name of the program that is
attaching itself to the Properties dialog. Repeat for
each suspicious entry - maybe one of them will
ring a bell."


BTW, he resolved this glitch by uninstalling a recently
added program. Doing so restored his right-click
properties functions in his XP(home) box to normal.

HTH,
Tomas Santos
------------------------------------
On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 00:04:52 -0500, in PCBUILD's List
digest processor Alex Khouri <alekh@xxxxxx> wrote:

> Subject: Need advice
>
> Dear Sirs:
>
> I have a problem getting to the "Properties" in any
> file or folder on my =
> Windows XP Pro.=20
> When I click on "Properties" I get the following
> message:
> "RegOpenKeyEx : (0x00000006) The handle is invalid"
>
>                                   "OK"
>
> The "Properties" window opens only after I click on
the
> "OK",=20
>
> It seems to me that it has something to do with the
> Registry.
> Of course I  will not dare tweaking with the registry
> without very =
> specific instructions.
> Thanks for your help
>
> Alex

               The NOSPIN Group Promotions is now offering
              Mandrake Linux or Red Hat Linux CD sets along
             with the OpenOffice CD...  at a great price!!!
             http://freepctech.com/goodies/promotions.shtml