Communication tool dialogue box missing…AGAIN (weird cause)

I have for some time come across Vida installation where the communication tool dialogue box is missing, but none of the usual fixes seem to work. It was not down to IEmode in Edge, it was not down to enableiehosting, it was not down to having the wrong browser, it was not down to .netframework.

It got to the point where the only fix was to reinstall/refresh windows.

Nothing would fix it. Believe me I had tried everything I could think of, even removing later versions of net frame work (which didn’t help).

Even with all devices having full drivers happily installed not even Vdash could detect the devices…..now that is a red flag and then the Eureka moment…I have seen this before when the “PassThruSupport.04.04” registry key was corrupt or security permission for the key were incorrect.

So i loaded up Regedit and went looking and found the Key.

For 64bit windows it is “\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\PassThruSupport.04.04”

For 32bit computers it is

“\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PassThruSupport.04.04”

I tried to make a change to one of the entries to be told I didn’t have permission. I tried to delete the key to be told I didn’t have permission. I tried to set the security to be told I didn’t have permission . I tried to take ownership of the key to set the security to be told I didn’t have permission.

Eventually with enough farting about i was able to get enough permission to delete the registry key and then import a backup from a working computer and Hey presto its fixed.

Always make a backup of the registry before making any changes! especially if you are new at this.

So if you confirm this is your issue what do you do?

  1. Fart about until you can delete the registry key
  2. Import a working registry key (see below)

You can download a 64Bit passthrough registry key HERE or 32Bit HERE

This working registry key is pre loaded with Dice 206751, Mongoose, SM2, SweedeSource CFE and some others. once you have imported it you can delete the tools you do not ACTUALLY have from the registry, or edit the reg file with notepad before importing it.

Here is a YouTube video on how to take ownership of registry keys.

Always run regedit as Administrator (as in Right click, run as administrator) .

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