Media Center vanishes with worrying message

My occasional use of Media Center in Ultimate was interrupted when I
tried to start it and its icon had vanished.

I dug down to c:\...\ehome and tried to run ehshell.exe and was shown
the message
"Windows cannot open this program because it has been prevented by a
software restriction policy." How did that get there??

I then ran the Group Policy Object Editor (I have the default admin
privileges) and found the policy "Do not allow Windows Media Center to
run" not configured. I disabled it to make sure and restarted Vista.
Ehshell.exe would still not run for the same reason.

This seems the right direction to take... but is it? Is there another
policy or two that I should fiddle with?

I would love to System Restore to a happier time but I found myself
'upgrading' my machine instead! Don't ask. So I have no where back
to go to now.

Thanks in advance,
Hil

 

Group Policy settings most likely aren't the solution to your problem.
The default setting in the Group Policy Object Editor for "Do not allow
Media Center to run" is "Not configured" and the explanation for the
setting indicates "If you disable or do not configure this setting,
Windows Media Center can be run."

Have you checked the permissions on ehshell.exe? Minimally it needs to
be set to "Read & execute". Check the Local Security Policy also for
any entries under Software Restriction Policies.

 

Thanks, TonyV, for your response. Ehshell is indeed 'read & execute'
and there are no local Security S'ware Restriction policies defined.
I dread it but this looks like a re-install - a sign of failure
amongst the tougher nuts, as I recall. Sigh.

Any other suggestions, folks?

Hil