Note: the thread "CRMAP7007 Error reading local file area registry" gives a bit more details:

It is interesting because it reminds you of the debug options that exist with CTE:
To get a better idea of why the error is thrown you can look in the workspace log file.
This file is by default <user home>\.Rational\workspace\.metadata\.log
You can also launch CTE in debug mode by creating a .options
file in the directory that he executable is in. The content of that file should be as below:
# -------------- CCRC Tracing Options File -----------------
# All line preceeded with a # sign are not evaluated.
# ------Server Tracing-------
# subsystems available:
# CCRC - Core general tracing related to CCRC server operations
# CCWEB- CCWeb(CGI operations)
# SUM - UCM specific
com.ibm.rational.clearcase/server_trace=true
com.ibm.rational.clearcase/server_trace/subsys=CCRC:CCWEB:SUM
com.ibm.rational.clearcase/server_trace/level=4
# ------Client Only Tracing-------
# Parameters available:
# HTTP_CLIENT - Tracing specific to HTTP communications
# CTRC_UI - Tracing specific to the user interface
# CTRC_CORE - For client core tracing
com.ibm.rational.clearcase/client_trace=true
com.ibm.rational.clearcase/client_trace/params=HTTP_CLIENT:4 CTRC_UI:3 CTRC_CORE:3
com.ibm.rational.clearcase/client_trace/output=file
com.ibm.rational.clearcase/client_trace/file_name=C:/temp/cte_debug.out
# -------------- END CCRC Tracing Options File -----------------
With that file created, launch CTE from the command line using the -debug
option:
C:\Program Files\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearCase\RemoteClient>ctexplorer.exe -debug