Guest Harris Posted July 28, 2007 Posted July 28, 2007 Help! I was working with the registry file and managed to disable my computer. I searched this site and all related posts I found point to KB 307545. Problem is I have an OEM operating system installed and the KB warns against restoring hive files in this case. Moreover, my copy of XP is on a DVD and I am not sure I can boot to this drive anyway. Prior to editing the registry I saved a copy to another folder. My question is is there any way to get to this backup version of the registry and restore it without using hive files? Would booting to DOS allow for this? I understand sysinternals has an NTFS add-on for DOS. Otherwise, could I somehow use the recovery console to restore the registry from the saved copy (assuming I can start the console from the XP DVD)? Thanks in advance, Harris
Guest John John Posted July 28, 2007 Posted July 28, 2007 Re: Corrupted Registry and Unable to Boot The problem may or may not affect your installation. You can use the 6 floppy diskette set and boot to the Recovery Console with those. The floppy set has been fixed to work around the OEM password problem that you mention. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308402 Now, I suppose you will post back saying that your pc doesn't have a floppy drive... ;-) John Harris wrote: > Help! > > I was working with the registry file and managed to disable my computer. I > searched this site and all related posts I found point to KB 307545. Problem > is I have an OEM operating system installed and the KB warns against > restoring hive files in this case. Moreover, my copy of XP is on a DVD and I > am not sure I can boot to this drive anyway. > > Prior to editing the registry I saved a copy to another folder. My question > is is there any way to get to this backup version of the registry and restore > it without using hive files? Would booting to DOS allow for this? I > understand sysinternals has an NTFS add-on for DOS. Otherwise, could I > somehow use the recovery console to restore the registry from the saved copy > (assuming I can start the console from the XP DVD)? > > Thanks in advance, > > Harris
Guest Pegasus \(MVP\) Posted July 28, 2007 Posted July 28, 2007 Re: Corrupted Registry and Unable to Boot "Harris" <Harris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:2998F1A9-6C45-46A8-84C9-41663D98BAFE@microsoft.com... > Help! > > I was working with the registry file and managed to disable my computer. > I > searched this site and all related posts I found point to KB 307545. > Problem > is I have an OEM operating system installed and the KB warns against > restoring hive files in this case. Moreover, my copy of XP is on a DVD > and I > am not sure I can boot to this drive anyway. > > Prior to editing the registry I saved a copy to another folder. My > question > is is there any way to get to this backup version of the registry and > restore > it without using hive files? Would booting to DOS allow for this? I > understand sysinternals has an NTFS add-on for DOS. Otherwise, could I > somehow use the recovery console to restore the registry from the saved > copy > (assuming I can start the console from the XP DVD)? > > Thanks in advance, > > Harris Saving a copy of the registry was a good idea. Unfortunately you only went half the distance by not considering how to restore the backup copy. I also wonder what exactly you mean by "saved a copy". How did you get around the fact that the registry is locked while Windows is active? There are several ways to restore a registry file: - Use John's method, involving 6 floppy diskettes. - Boot the machine into the Recovery Console, using a WinXP CD. - Connect the disk as a slave disk to some other WinXP PC. - Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD.
Guest Harris Posted July 28, 2007 Posted July 28, 2007 Re: Corrupted Registry and Unable to Boot Thanks guys. John- I have neither the floppy diskettes nor a drive... Pegasus- Where do I find a WinXP CD? I only have an XP DVD. The slave disk is a good idea but I will have to find another computer first (this process sounds painful but a good last resort). Finally, what is a Bart PE boot CD? I will Google for additional info. To answer your question, I exported the entire registry with regedit as a ..reg file. Harris "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote: > > "Harris" <Harris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:2998F1A9-6C45-46A8-84C9-41663D98BAFE@microsoft.com... > > Help! > > > > I was working with the registry file and managed to disable my computer. > > I > > searched this site and all related posts I found point to KB 307545. > > Problem > > is I have an OEM operating system installed and the KB warns against > > restoring hive files in this case. Moreover, my copy of XP is on a DVD > > and I > > am not sure I can boot to this drive anyway. > > > > Prior to editing the registry I saved a copy to another folder. My > > question > > is is there any way to get to this backup version of the registry and > > restore > > it without using hive files? Would booting to DOS allow for this? I > > understand sysinternals has an NTFS add-on for DOS. Otherwise, could I > > somehow use the recovery console to restore the registry from the saved > > copy > > (assuming I can start the console from the XP DVD)? > > > > Thanks in advance, > > > > Harris > > Saving a copy of the registry was a good idea. Unfortunately > you only went half the distance by not considering how to restore > the backup copy. I also wonder what exactly you mean by > "saved a copy". How did you get around the fact that the > registry is locked while Windows is active? > > There are several ways to restore a registry file: > - Use John's method, involving 6 floppy diskettes. > - Boot the machine into the Recovery Console, using a WinXP CD. > - Connect the disk as a slave disk to some other WinXP PC. > - Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD. > > >
Guest Pegasus \(MVP\) Posted July 28, 2007 Posted July 28, 2007 Re: Corrupted Registry and Unable to Boot See below. "Harris" <Harris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:90322DA9-4C48-4DEE-8555-596826E24B6F@microsoft.com... > Thanks guys. > > John- I have neither the floppy diskettes nor a drive... > > Pegasus- > Where do I find a WinXP CD? I only have an XP DVD. This is news to me. I thought all WinXP installation media are CDs, not DVDs. Still, if you can boot your machine with it then it's fine. > The slave disk is a > good idea but I will have to find another computer first (this process > sounds > painful but a good last resort). > Finally, what is a Bart PE boot CD? I will > Google for additional info. A Bart PE boot CD is a very powerful tool for administrators. Unfortunately it takes another PC to make one, plus several hours of solid effort. > To answer your question, I exported the entire registry with regedit as a > .reg file. This type of backup is of very limited use. A proper registry backup involves taking copies of the various registry files. > Harris > > "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote: > >> >> "Harris" <Harris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message >> news:2998F1A9-6C45-46A8-84C9-41663D98BAFE@microsoft.com... >> > Help! >> > >> > I was working with the registry file and managed to disable my >> > computer. >> > I >> > searched this site and all related posts I found point to KB 307545. >> > Problem >> > is I have an OEM operating system installed and the KB warns against >> > restoring hive files in this case. Moreover, my copy of XP is on a DVD >> > and I >> > am not sure I can boot to this drive anyway. >> > >> > Prior to editing the registry I saved a copy to another folder. My >> > question >> > is is there any way to get to this backup version of the registry and >> > restore >> > it without using hive files? Would booting to DOS allow for this? I >> > understand sysinternals has an NTFS add-on for DOS. Otherwise, could I >> > somehow use the recovery console to restore the registry from the saved >> > copy >> > (assuming I can start the console from the XP DVD)? >> > >> > Thanks in advance, >> > >> > Harris >> >> Saving a copy of the registry was a good idea. Unfortunately >> you only went half the distance by not considering how to restore >> the backup copy. I also wonder what exactly you mean by >> "saved a copy". How did you get around the fact that the >> registry is locked while Windows is active? >> >> There are several ways to restore a registry file: >> - Use John's method, involving 6 floppy diskettes. >> - Boot the machine into the Recovery Console, using a WinXP CD. >> - Connect the disk as a slave disk to some other WinXP PC. >> - Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD. >> >> >>
Guest Nightowl Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Re: Corrupted Registry and Unable to Boot Harris <Harris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on Sat, 28 Jul 2007: > Finally, what is a Bart PE boot CD? I will >Google for additional info. > >To answer your question, I exported the entire registry with regedit as a >.reg file. Hi Harris I doubt you'd be able to use the .reg file you made to restore your registry. Importing it won't delete any new entries added since you made the export and you could end up with an absolute mess. As Pegasus said, a .reg file isn't really much use as a backup. However, don't despair :-) If you had System Restore turned on you can retrieve copies of working registry files from a restore point with a bootable "live" CD such as Bart PE, Ultimate Boot Disk for Windows or Knoppix and you don't have to worry about using the Recovery Console or what type of XP installation you have. Can you get a friend to let you use his/her computer to make one of these? I've used the following method twice recently to rescue a friend's PC and it worked beautifully. This is what you need to do: Once you have your bootable CD: 1) Boot the non-working machine from the CD and use its file manager to create a temporary working folder. The navigate to the folder System Volume Information in your HD root directory. This will contain one or more folders called "_restore {a lot of letters and numbers in here}". If you have more than one, choose one that was created before you had the problem. 2) Double-click to open your chosen folder and you should see several subfolders with names of the form "RPnnn". Again, be sure to choose one with Create and Modify dates before the problem arose. Open this and you'll see another subfolder named Snapshot. This is where copies of the registry files are stored. 3) Copy these 5 files (usually the first 5) to the working folder you made at step 1: _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT In the working folder, rename the copies respectively SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM and DEFAULT. 4) Navigate to the folder C:\Windows\System32\config and delete the existing files called SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM and DEFAULT. Now copy the new files from your working directory here. Close all windows, shut down and remove the boot CD from the drive. 5) You should now be able to boot the PC. Once you get into Windows, I'd strongly recommend a final step -- do a System Restore, obviously choosing a restore point from before you had the problem (a day or two before is good). The reason for this is that registry information on other users won't have been replaced yet, and also System Restore will roll back drivers etc. if one of those has caused the PC not to boot. Good luck! Let us know how it goes :-) Oh and P.S: once you have your computer up and running again, may I recommend ERUNT for registry backup and recovery? Then you'll never have to go through this again! http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ -- Nightowl
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