14 DAY TRIAL // An update is available for download from Microsoft, designed to resolve two incorrect 32-bit registry entries in the 64-bit flavor of Windows 7.
According to information provided by the Redmond company, both Windows 7 RTM and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) are affected by the problem.
At the same time, the software giant pointed out that customers with Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 can also experience issues because of the two faulty registry keys.
Here are the two x86 registry entries with incorrect values under x64 Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\currentversion\RegisteredOrganization
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\currentversion\RegisteredOwner
The Redmond company stresses that the values of the 64-bit versions of the registry entries mentioned above are perfectly correct.
Customers might find it very hard to actually tell that the values of the two x86 registry keys don’t match those of the x64 versions on their own.
Microsoft described a symptom that users can come across, related to the license of x86 programs installed on their computers. “This issue may cause 32-bit applications on the computer to display incorrect license information,” the company explained.
As I already said, the company is already distributing an update designed to resolve this glitch. Customers can also download the refresh and manually install in on their machines, making sure to fend off any potential problems.
“After you install this update, the values of the 32-bit versions of the two registry entries are updated to match the values of the following 64-bit versions:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\currentversion\RegisteredOrganization
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\currentversion\RegisteredOwner,” Microsoft said.
The software giant also issued a warning to original equipment manufacturers building new machines preinstalled with Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 not to include KB 2603229.
“Do not slipstream this update into preconfigured operating system images. You must run this update only after the operating system is installed and the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) is finished,” the company said.
Here are the download links for the update:
All supported x64-based versions of Windows 7
All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2
All supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2