registry corrupt, need help to recover

[Guest AmyNY]

Hello everyone. I've been reading the internet and this forum for 2

days now and need some help.

 

Error message on Dell laptop:

c0000218 registry file failure

....\systemroot\system32\config\software

 

 

and the blue screen of death. Can't start in safe mode or last good

configuration. I purchased a hard drive enclosure and hooked up the

drive to another computer so I can see the drive and copy, move, delete

any files.

 

BTW, a few days ago the program registry fix was used so I'm guessing

that's what caused this problem. It made a backup but I don't see how

to utilize the file.

 

I looked at the help here and Microsoft page. This version of windows

xp is oem and has only a recovery disk. I've renamed the 5 files in

windows\system32\configure to .old. I see under windows\repair their

replacements. 2 of them are dated 2006. I assume I loose any installed

software after this date. Do just overwrite these files (system,

software, sam, security, default). Is it an issue that this machine is

oem?

 

Thanks.

Amy

[Guest AmyNY]

Re: registry corrupt, need help to recover

 

 

So I copied from windows/repair the software and system files. Now I

can log in but for all users can only see the wallpaper and nothing

more. If I do alt,ctrl.del I can see the processes running. What

should I do next?

[Guest Nightowl]

Re: registry corrupt, need help to recover

 

AmyNY <AmyNY.2v1kog@no.email.invalid> wrote on Wed, 8 Aug 2007:

>

>So I copied from windows/repair the software and system files. Now I

>can log in but for all users can only see the wallpaper and nothing

>more. If I do alt,ctrl.del I can see the processes running. What

>should I do next?

>

>

Hi Amy

 

The registry files in \Repair are the original ones made when XP was

first installed, so that's why you're not seeing your familiar desktop.

Did you have System Restore enabled before the trouble started? If so,

you need to now run a restore, obviously choosing a restore point from

before the registry fixer was used! That should restore your settings to

normal. The way I read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article on this,

having an OEM installation is only an issue if you're having to use the

Recovery Console to access the files. I recently rescued a friend's Home

OEM installation with no problems after booting from a "live" CD.

 

Just out of interest, it's possible -- if you can access the drive from

one of these CDs or by hooking it up to another computer, as you did --

to replace recent registry files directly from the system restore

folders, so you don't have to use the virgin ones from \Repair. If

anyone wants more info, there's a step-by-step in my post at:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/43c2080973c0fdb4

 

But hopefully you won't have to do this again! I'd strongly recommend

that once you have everything working again you install ERUNT, a

marvellous free program that will make daily backups (or however often

you want) of your registry files and replace them for you. Get it here:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

 

As for registry fixers/cleaners -- most here advise against using them

for just this reason. I can't go that far because I do use one

occasionally, but usually only to search for any remnants of unwanted

programs left behind after uninstall. If you do use one, my golden rules

are: do *not* let the program "fix" any "problems" it might find

automatically (most of time these entries are harmless); do *not* remove

anything unless a) you know exactly what it is and what it does (Google

is a great help here); b) you are *sure* your system doesn't need it,

and c) you have a current registry backup and a way to restore it

(ERUNT) :-)

 

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

--

Nightowl

[Guest AmyNY]

Re: registry corrupt, need help to recover

 

 

Thank you Nightowl for your response.

 

The registry files in the repair folder were actually dated one year

ago and the computer is about 4 years old. It seems that after I

changed to the old registry, I did see my old wallpaper but could only

run programs after bringing up task manager and typing in the name.

Explorer.exe would not run after typing it in. System restore would not

run either. As much fun as it is trying to figure out how to solve the

problem, 2 days wasted was more time that I could spend so we backup up

the data and reloaded. Unfortunately, it will take one or 2 days to

reload old programs. Ugh!

Amy

[Guest Nightowl]

Re: registry corrupt, need help to recover

 

AmyNY <AmyNY.2v4pss@no.email.invalid> wrote on Fri, 10 Aug 2007:

>

>Thank you Nightowl for your response.

>

>The registry files in the repair folder were actually dated one year

>ago and the computer is about 4 years old. It seems that after I

>changed to the old registry, I did see my old wallpaper but could only

>run programs after bringing up task manager and typing in the name.

>Explorer.exe would not run after typing it in. System restore would not

>run either. As much fun as it is trying to figure out how to solve the

>problem, 2 days wasted was more time that I could spend so we backup up

>the data and reloaded. Unfortunately, it will take one or 2 days to

>reload old programs. Ugh!

 

Hi Amy

 

You're very welcome :-)

 

Just for info, you don't need to be able to run System Restore to get

the recent registry files from it as I mentioned -- you just need to be

able to access the hard drive either with a "live" CD or by hooking it

up in another machine. But still, I'm glad you're on the way to getting

your computer back :-) Good luck with the reloading, and do consider

installing ERUNT just in case :-)

 

--

Nightowl

[Guest Thufir]

Re: registry corrupt, need help to recover

 

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:49:01 -0500, AmyNY wrote:

> So I copied from windows/repair the software and system files. Now I

> can log in but for all users can only see the wallpaper and nothing

> more. If I do alt,ctrl.del I can see the processes running. What

> should I do next?

 

 

Arbitrary, I know, but logout? then, if it brings you to a login screen,

login. Try several users. This is just a "magical" solution -- as in it

might work, might not.

 

 

-Thufir