To fix a certain technical problem (an Open NUL error in msiexec), we had users go to the registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Services/Null and change it to 2.
Now in Win11 that Null key does not seem to exist at all, but we have some users getting the same Open NUL error.
I’m hoping we have some brilliant Windows tech here who can find the missing key for us - thanks!
I don’t have any deeper knowledge, but have you tried to create the missing key and set it to 2? Maybe that resolves the issue. Just the first idea I had.
Yeah, I’d suggest exporting the registry key from a Win10 machine and importing it on the Win11 machine. Low risk of anything bad happening from creating a key like this - most likely if it doesn’t do the thing you want, it won’t have any effect at all, but back up any important local documents/files first. (I mean, do that anyway)
Thanks folks! I turns out one of the cases actually has that registry key but changing it does not have the effect it did under Win10. I suspect that Win11 installation was an in-place upgrade from Win10 so that registry entry was just a leftover.
I suspect there must be some other entry that now does the same function in Win11 that the one above does in Win10. I guess I’ll just have to do a registry search for keys called Null and hope I can spot it, if no one knows for sure.
I got sidetracked last night and forgot. I updated my VM of Windows 11 to check and see what was going on. And the key does seem to exist.
(Do note that you have to type it with \, not /, so you type
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Null into the regedit address bar.
I also believe it is the Start setting you’ll need to change.
If you still can’t find it, the fact that I found it on my copy suggests it still works. Here’s the .reg file that represents all the default options, but with Start changed to 2.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Null]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="Base"
"Start"=dword:00000002
"Tag"=dword:00000001
"Type"=dword:00000001
Thanks to you too! But as I say above, even in a Win11 installation that already has that key, changing it does not fix the problem that it used to under Win10.
My guess is the same function is done elsewhere in Win 11.
BTW here is why that function ever gets changed from 2 to usually 4:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/a-non-paged-pool/209717ac-c688-46c0-b8ec-86632cbf63b3
Why that setting has the effect on our app installing via msiexec I have no idea!