Homegroup and Windows FW problems solved but now I can't play L4D2

[LolosArt]

So First I want to say thank you!
I discovered my PC's original problem when I performed a fresh install of Windows on my HTPC and I wanted to join the network Homegroup for sharing. My HTPC wasn't picking up on the Homegroup even though I could see my PC in the network. Then, from my PC I  tried to leave the old Homegroup to create a new one, but windows was not having it. Each time I tried I got a message saying Windows will not let you leave this homegroup.. or something like that. I then discovered that the problem was somehow tied to windows firewall. I tried to start Windows FW, but it wouldn't and neither would it's dependencies BFE and something else. So Homegroup and WinFW were all busted.
I'm not too savvy about these things, but when I run into PC problems I usually have good luck finding solutions. I looked a whole lot before I found Tweaking.com - Windows Repair.
It was the only thing that fixed my problem, but in fixing the WinFW and, more importantly, my sharing capabilities, it created a new one. One that is equally as elusive as the previous problem, but with no solution yet. I've even found others with the same problem online that all resort to reinstalling Windows to fix it. Apparently the new problem has affected all of Valve's Source games (according to this guy http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3017913) , but I wouldn't know because of my 14 games currently installed L4D2 is the only Source game.
So yea, L4D2 doesn't start and the only other sign of the problem i have found is when using RegCure Pro and perform a scan. The app crashes when it gets to the second step in the scan of searching for malware. Funny thing is that it's the only app crashing when performing a scan from these: SpyBot, Malwarebytes Anti-malware and Anti-Rootkit, and Norton360.
So, I'm here because I wanted to say thank you, because your program saved my Sharing capabilites and I really don't want to reinstall windows on my PC. At one point I even restored the old registry to see if I can find a fix again, only to be defeated again by the Homegroup/WinFW thing. I performed the Twaeking.com Window's Repair again and got the same outcome.
I'd greatly appreciate some more help for the new issues generated by Windows Repair's fixes if possible.

Thank you,
Lolo

[Shane]

Very odd, I play on steam all the time and never had any problems.

You said when you restored the registry from before the repairs it started working again correct?

If so then at least that tells us that it is something in the registry and not any files, so that will at least point me in the right direct on what to have you try next

Shane

[LolosArt]

Right, Steam support even asked me to unsinstall Steam manually to  see if the problem was with Steam. I deleted it completely from registry before reinstalling and still the problem persist.
You said you play on steam, but have you played any of the source games lately? L4D 1 or 2, portal 1 or 2, HL2, etc.

[Shane]

Haven't played them in a while, was playing the new thief game though. I do have the new counter strike source.

OK so good, we now know it is something in the registry and not any files or something like that. We know this because you can restore the registry and it works.

So now the fun part, finding out where in the registry that is causing the problem.

Most of the repairs that deal with the registry are permissions and registering files. Some replace core services. So now to help lower the search range of where to look we need to find out if the problem is in the registry for the whole computer or just the current user profile.

hkey_current_user is a registry that is custom for each user account on the system. While the rest of the registry is system wide.

So if you create a new Windows account, login with that account and test the game that will tell me if the problem is under the hkey_current_user or not

Shane

[LolosArt]

I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but after creating a new user account I restarted to logon as the new user and I got this message:
The User Profile Service service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

[Shane]

Odd, go ahead and restore the registry and try it again. Lets make sure we dont have something going on with it as well.

Before you do check the event viewer and see if you find any information on that error.

Shane

[Shane]

I did find this if you want to give it a go as well.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/38838-user-profile-service-failed-sign-fix-windows-8-a.html

Shane

[LolosArt]

I restored the registry to it's state from 5 days ago when this all started. Oops, i didn't check the event viewer, how do I do that?

Now that I've restored everything, things are back to the way they were. I can play the game, RegCure Pro completes the scan, I can't share anything over my network ( I get a window asking me to Enter Network Pasword to connect to my HTPC, when there is none), and Windows Firewall is busted again (Error code 0x8007042c). The small difference is I am now allowed to leave and create Homegroups, but still can't share.

[Shane]

OK see if you can create and use a new local user account. I want to see if there was a problem in the registry for it.

I tested on my Windows 8 machine I run all the repairs on and had no trouble making and logging into a new local account, but I just want to make sure

Shane

[LolosArt]

I created a new standard user account and got the same message:
The User Profile Service service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

[Shane]

OK then it wasn't related to the repairs.

I wonder if all of this is linked to something messed up in the system.

OK so we will do this another way. Go ahead and run the repairs again, when all done and the game wont load I want you to restore the registry for the current user profile only and not the rest of the system.

That will give us the result I am looking for to see if the problem is in the current profile registry or not

Shane

[LolosArt]

Hey Shane,
So now that I have restored the registry for the current user profile only.
I was able to get the network Sharing working and the WinFW is working as well. But the problems with L4D2 and RegCure is now happening in this restored state.

[Shane]

Ok good, that means that the problem isnt under the hkey_current_user. So now we know we dont need to check there.

Do other games run fine? And do you get any error messages or anything in the even viewer after you try to run the game?

Shane

[LolosArt]

All my other games and apps run fine. I havent discovered any problems except for the same 2, RegCure Pro crashes on scan and L4D2 doesn't even launch.

This is the error message for L4D2:
Faulting application name: left4dead2.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x52af61b1
Faulting module name: shaderapidx9.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x52bdc38d
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00036606
Faulting process id: 0x1464
Faulting application start time: 0x01cf52a1dfc2f9b9
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\bin\shaderapidx9.dll
Report Id: 1da60e5e-be95-11e3-a1ad-00e04c3f30ff

And the error message for RegCure Pro:
Faulting application name: RegCurePro.exe, version: 3.1.0.0, time stamp: 0x4ef2543d
Faulting module name: msvcrt.dll, version: 7.0.7601.17744, time stamp: 0x4eeaf722
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000a078
Faulting process id: 0xedc
Faulting application start time: 0x01cf52a1c1f10642
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\ParetoLogic\RegCure Pro\RegCurePro.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\syswow64\msvcrt.dll
Report Id: 07cf1191-be95-11e3-a1ad-00e04c3f30ff

[Shane]

Looks like that dll file that is causing the crash is related to WMI.

I found this

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1100021

1. Gain ownership of C:\WINDOWS\SYSWOW64\WBEM\FASTPROX.DLL and assign yourself Full control of the file if necessary.
2. Rename FASTPROX.DLL at this location to FASTPROX.DLLOLD

My repair program does register that file during the Repair WMI.

See if renaming that file does the trick for you (Reboot after). I am going to find out exactly what that file is used for.

Shane

[Shane]

That file is in both
C:\WINDOWS\SYSWOW64\WBEM\
and
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WBEM\

I wonder if the dll file is accessing the wrong file.

When you register a file it writes itself to the registry, which would explain why the game works after you restore the registry.

Shane

[LolosArt]

Whenever I try to rename Fastprox.dll in both SYSWOW64 or SYSTEM32 folder I get message: You require permission from TrustedInstaller to make changes to this file.

I've tried changing the permission settings but haven't been able to. I don't know how to.

[Shane]

OK then try this. Lets make sure it is the WMI repair that is causing it.

Restore the registry again. Then run the repairs but skip the Repair WMI.

Let me know how it goes. If this does work then the trick maybe for me to have the syswow64 folder register before the system32 folder.

Shane

[LolosArt]

My friend you are a genius. Everything is now working as it should.
Thank you very much for your help!
I will make sure to donate a lil' something to you.

Also, check out my work at www.LolosArt.com and I can send you a high res file or two of your favorite pieces.

Thank you,
Lolo

[Shane]

Good to hear

Ok so the Fastprox.dll was the problem, and when that file got registered it wrote itself to registry, which much have changed something.

In the next update I will have the syswow64 fold register first and then the system32 folder register after it. Right now it does system32 first. Then we can see how that does.

Out of all the files that are in both folders this is the first time I have ever seen a problem with registering a file, if the swapping doesnt work I may just need to have that file skipped.

Shane

[LolosArt]

Ok, I'm not really sure what registering a file means.. But how would you know if swapping the order of the folders work?
Would you need me to try and recreate that whole mess again to test it? I really wouldn't want to mess with all the fixes, but let me know if I can help in any way.

Lolo

[Shane]

When you register a dll or ocx file with the regsvr32.exe it writes the file information to the registry. This is how Windows knows where the file is and other information.

I checked and my repair does the syswow64 folder first then the system32 folder. I had it backwards from what i told you before.

Normally this isnt ever a problem as the 64bit and 32bit version get written, normally, to different areas in the registry.

Never seen a problem with any other program, and looks like it is only the steam dll that flips out. I have a feeling it was loading up the wrong version. But without more testing I wont know.

I dont want you to have to go through it again. I have L4D2, I just have to download it again. I can test on my system, and I can trace which file it is trying to hit and hopefully find what is going on :-D

Shane

[Shane]

Ok so I got the game, I am on Windows 8.1 and ran my repair wmi, rebooted and the game loads to the main menu just fine.

I am using a ATI 7970 HD card with their latest drivers. Not sure if that would have any effect on it.

What video card and drivers do you have? And did the game at least make it to the main menu for you?

Shane

[LolosArt]

Hey Shane,
I have gtx 680 with latest drivers and no, it never would get as far as actually launching. The small steam window that indicates that the game is launching would disappear quickly. On the friend's list my screen name would turn green and say I was in game for like 7 seconds before it went back to turning white and saying I'm online.
Maybe the game not launching problem may have been somehow connected to my initial problem of losing access to network sharing capabilities and windows firewall being unresponsive.

[Shane]

Hard to tell. If I could replicate the problem i could trace it down. But I cant.

When the game loaded I went back to the desktop and opened up processexplorer and looked at the dlls loaded by the game and shaderapidx9.dll was in there.

I ran the same repairs as well. Only difference is I have ATI drivers while you have nividia. Maybe that has something to do with it.

But for now you are working and that is what counts

Shane