Error 2894 RICHED20.DLL GetLastError() returned: 5

When installing a third-party program, you may encounter the error 2895 mentioning riched20.dll. The entire error message is below:

Error 2894.Info 2894. Loading RICHED20.DLL failed.
GetLastError() returned: 5.

For example, the above error may occur when installing these apps:

• H&R Block Tax
• TurboTax
• NVivo
• Retrospect 19

Cause

Error code 5 denotes “ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED.” The above issues occur if the module riched20.dll has lost the NTFS permission entries or ACEs and ownership, making the file inaccessible to users. Based on our observation, this happens for the 32-bit version of riched20.dll located at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Riched20.dll.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, take ownership of riched20.dll and assign the necessary permissions.

Open an admin Command Prompt window.

Execute the following commands one by one:

cd /d c:\windows\syswow64\

TAKEOWN /F riched20.dll /a

ICACLS riched20.dll /reset

ICACLS riched20.dll /inheritance:r

ICACLS riched20.dll /grant "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller":(F)

ICACLS riched20.dll /grant "Administrators":(RX)

ICACLS riched20.dll /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM":(RX)

ICACLS riched20.dll /grant "BUILTIN\Users":(RX)

ICACLS riched20.dll /grant "ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES":(RX)

ICACLS riched20.dll /grant "ALL RESTRICTED APPLICATION PACKAGES":(RX)

ICACLS riched20.dll /setowner "NT Service\TrustedInstaller"

ICACLS riched20.dll /grant "Administrators":(F)

The Advanced Security Settings dialog for Riched20.dll should now look like the following:

(For more information about takeown.exe and icacls.exe, check out the article Take Ownership of a File or Folder Using Command-Line in Windows.)

The above commands give full control privileges to the file for the “administrators” group and the “SYSTEM” account.

That’s it! You should no longer get the “riched20.dll GetLastError” when installing third-party apps.