They don't touch the VPS after it's set up.

Something changed on the OS. Something I did, but I've no idea what.

- - - Updated - - -

This took me many hours to figure out, but, I fixed it.

It was something I did. It took some time for me to actually remember what I did that caused this.

I wanted to put a "Take Ownership" context menu on my system. So I used this reg file (from here).

This does the * class which is supposed to include all files, but it actually doesn't include .exe files.

It also doesn't include drives. So I modified it to the following:

Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

My MISTAKE:

Under Classes: *, Directory, and Drive does not have anything for "runas", so the above reg file works fine by adding those keys for Take Ownership.

However, for exefile, there IS a default value for "runas". That ***HAS*** to be there, or exe fileswill break. That's what was causing my problem.

When I modified the .reg file, I also created an uninstaller for it:

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\runas]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\runas]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\runas]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\runas]

I had run that when troubleshooting, but didn't think anything of it. Again, I did not realize that "runas" under exefile is CRUCIAL to have. But Windows 10 does not recreate the "runas" key for exefile if it's deleted. But it did change the behavior. It made Winaero Tweaker display the "No application is associated..." error message instead of "doing nothing".

I believe Winaero Tweaker is using "Run as administrator" when it runs. When it was "doing nothing," it was actually doing the "Take Ownership" funtion on WinaeroTweaker.exe.

So, I restored HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile to defaults with the help of this reg file from here. In my case, I only needed to reset "runas" as that's all my incorrect reg file touched.

It IS actually possible to do what I wanted, by using a different registry key name instead of "runas". So I did "takeown":

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\takeown]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\takeown\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

...and the uninstall:

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\runas]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\takeown]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\runas]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\runas]


I apologize for all of my insane ranting and rambling. I still can't stand Windows 10.