Access registry on non-boot disk

[MPBrede]

I installed a new HD and reinstalled my Windos XP from scratch. I still
have the old HD in my computer as a secondary drive.

I'm trying to migrate all my Outlook Express settings etc over to the
new drive and it turns out that some of those settings are in the
registry.

Is there a way that I can access the registry of my old System (now on
the secondary drive) so that I can copy the relevant keys? Or is my
only alternative to open up my machine, swap the drives around, reboot,
export the keys, swap the drives again, reboot and then do the import?
Please tell me there is an easier way.

Thanks
MikeB

 

[John Wunderlich]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in

I installed a new HD and reinstalled my Windos XP from scratch. I
still have the old HD in my computer as a secondary drive.

I'm trying to migrate all my Outlook Express settings etc over to
the new drive and it turns out that some of those settings are in
the registry.

Is there a way that I can access the registry of my old System
(now on the secondary drive) so that I can copy the relevant keys?
Or is my only alternative to open up my machine, swap the drives
around, reboot, export the keys, swap the drives again, reboot and
then do the import? Please tell me there is an easier way.

In Regedit, try using File->Load Hive...
See the Regedit Help under "Hive" for more detailed instructions.

HTH,
John

 

[MikeB]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in


In Regedit, try using File->Load Hive...
See the Regedit Help under "Hive" for more detailed instructions.

Hey, thanks for the pointer. I loooked at it, but it doesn't seem to do
the trick. first off, the load/unload hive is grayed out and from what
I understand I have to unload a hive first before I can load it. The
Load Hive command doesn't let me point to the inactive registry on the
inactive disk.

I think I've found what I'm doing Saturday...

 

[John Wunderlich]

Hey, thanks for the pointer. I loooked at it, but it doesn't seem
to do the trick. first off, the load/unload hive is grayed out and
from what I understand I have to unload a hive first before I can
load it. The Load Hive command doesn't let me point to the
inactive registry on the inactive disk.

I think I've found what I'm doing Saturday...

You didn't read the help screen.

Start Regedit.
Do: Help -> Help Topics -> Index Tab -> Hives - Loading into
Registry

Hint: You must select "Hkey Users" or "HKey Local Machine" before you
can load a hive.

HTH,
John

 

[MikeB]

You didn't read the help screen.

Start Regedit.
Do: Help -> Help Topics -> Index Tab -> Hives - Loading into
Registry

Hint: You must select "Hkey Users" or "HKey Local Machine" before you
can load a hive.

You're right, I didn't read carefully enough. So I went back, reread
and then went through the Load hive. In the open dialog, I navigated to
my old system disk (D: drive) and looked in d:\windows\profiles\ for
the user profiles - nothing, nada. So I guess %sysroot% must have been
something other than C:\WINDOWS\. I'm at least getting somewhere, I'll
hunt this evening for the profiles on that drive.

Thanks again.

 

[John Wunderlich]

You're right, I didn't read carefully enough. So I went back,
reread and then went through the Load hive. In the open dialog, I
navigated to my old system disk (D: drive) and looked in
d:\windows\profiles\ for the user profiles - nothing, nada. So I
guess %sysroot% must have been something other than C:\WINDOWS\.
I'm at least getting somewhere, I'll hunt this evening for the
profiles on that drive.

Was the old system WindowsXP? If you are looking for the User Hives,
you need to look in:
\Documents and Settings\[username]\ntuser.dat
This may be a hidden file.

HTH,
John

 

[MikeB]

You're right, I didn't read carefully enough. So I went back,
reread and then went through the Load hive. In the open dialog, I
navigated to my old system disk (D: drive) and looked in
d:\windows\profiles\ for the user profiles - nothing, nada. So I
guess %sysroot% must have been something other than C:\WINDOWS\.
I'm at least getting somewhere, I'll hunt this evening for the
profiles on that drive.

Was the old system WindowsXP? If you are looking for the User Hives,
you need to look in:
\Documents and Settings\[username]\ntuser.dat
This may be a hidden file.

HTH,
John

Sorry. es, my old system was also XP. XP Pro with SP2.

I managed to navigate to the NTUSER.DAT file, but when I open it, I get
asked for the Key name. Any idea how/where I can find this?

MikeB

 

[John Wunderlich]

Was the old system WindowsXP? If you are looking for the User
Hives, you need to look in: \Documents and
Settings\[username]\ntuser.dat This may be a hidden file.

HTH,
John

Sorry. es, my old system was also XP. XP Pro with SP2.

I managed to navigate to the NTUSER.DAT file, but when I open it,
I get asked for the Key name. Any idea how/where I can find this?

It will mount this hive under HK_Users.
It needs a name to mount it as.
Pick any unique name.
Then open HK_Users and look for that name.

HTH,
John