[wix-users] HKEY_CURRENT_USER32 - Error 1402. Could not open key - System error 1018.

[Shannon Cornish]

Hi,

I’m trying to troubleshoot an error in our installer, dealing with an upgrade that fails. 

The upgrade fails when removing the existing version, when it’s trying to remove the registry key (which exists only for the purpose of a start menu shortcut - http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/howtos/files_and_registry/create_start_menu_shortcut.html <http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/howtos/files_and_registry/create_start_menu_shortcut.html>)

Product: PRODUCT NAME -- Error 1402. Could not open key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER32\Software\COMPANY\PRODUCT. System error 1018. Verify that you have sufficient access to that key, or contact your support personnel.

The account running the upgrade is a local administrator account on a Windows Server 2012 R2 x64 machine. The installer was built using Wix 3.7.

From my research, System error 1018 means the Registry key has been marked for deletion. 

Has anyone had any experience this, or a similar error?

Thanks in advance,
Shannon