Endless reboot - how to restore registry files

[Guest]

Hi,

My computer booted endlessly because of a corrupt registry. I followed the
steps described in this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545 to
repair the registry. I succeeded in replacing the corrupted system,
software, sam, security and default registry files by those located in
c:\windows\repair (as described in part 1 of the article). I was then able
to boot and login using the account Administrator.
However, there are several limitations:
1) Despite its name, the user Admin does not seem to have admin rights. For
example, I'm not able to execute any program (.exe file), Windows displays a
message I'm not allowed to execute the program. I'm able to delete and
write files though
2) Part 2 of the article could not be carried out because there were no
snapshots of the registry in C:\System Volume Information. Apparantly the
feature System restore had been turned off...

However, there is still hope imho. A couple of days ago (before the crash!)
I made a copy of the entire registry using the program Regedit. This got me
a 96 Mb .reg backup file. Now I'd like to know if there's any utility that
can split this .reg file into system, software, sam, security and default
registry files (of course, I don't want the 5 registry files of the computer
I'm using not be affected!) . I could then use the recovery console to put
these 5 newly created registry files into c:\windows\system32\config.
Now does this make any sense? And is there such a utility? Do you have any
more suggestions?

 

[John7]

Hi Eric,


First, the administrator default name is not Admin but

administrator

default without password.
Try logging into this account and go from there.
This account has administration rights allowing
program installation and registry modification.


HTH,
John7

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply.

Hi Eric,


First, the administrator default name is not Admin but

administrator

default without password.
Try logging into this account and go from there.
This account has administration rights allowing
program installation and registry modification.

The strange thing is I'm using the account called Administrator. I also had
to enter a password I could luckily recall, so I was able to login.
BTW, I've got another thought as well: isn't it possible to check and repair
the 5 registry (hive) files? I googled but couldn't find an utility able to
fix a corrupt hive file.

 

[Guest]

The strange thing is I'm using the account called Administrator. I also had

to enter a password I could luckily recall, so I was able to login.

Another thing: I am not able to select any other user other than
Administrator... I used to be logged on as the user Shiva2, but this account
cannot be selected by the login screen. I am desperate!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

My computer booted endlessly because of a corrupt registry. I followed the
steps described in this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545 to
repair the registry. I succeeded in replacing the corrupted system,
software, sam, security and default registry files by those located in
c:\windows\repair (as described in part 1 of the article). I was then able
to boot and login using the account Administrator.
However, there are several limitations:
1) Despite its name, the user Admin does not seem to have admin rights. For
example, I'm not able to execute any program (.exe file), Windows displays a
message I'm not allowed to execute the program. I'm able to delete and
write files though
2) Part 2 of the article could not be carried out because there were no
snapshots of the registry in C:\System Volume Information. Apparantly the
feature System restore had been turned off...

However, there is still hope imho. A couple of days ago (before the crash!)
I made a copy of the entire registry using the program Regedit. This got me
a 96 Mb .reg backup file. Now I'd like to know if there's any utility that
can split this .reg file into system, software, sam, security and default
registry files (of course, I don't want the 5 registry files of the computer
I'm using not be affected!) . I could then use the recovery console to put
these 5 newly created registry files into c:\windows\system32\config.
Now does this make any sense? And is there such a utility? Do you have any
more suggestions?

My experience in such cases is that you would spend much more
time in trying to patch up the damaged system than you would in
rebuilding in from scratch, with no guaranteed outcome. If your
data is saved elsewhere then you should bite the bullet and start
afresh. If it is not backed up then you have to back it up first.

Your method of backing up the registry from within regedit won't
help you in most cases. If you're serious about backing up your
installation then you should take one of these approaches:
- Create an image of the system drive with an imaging tool
such as Acronis TrueImage. This requires a split disk: Drive C:
for Windows and Applications, drive D: for your data.
- Back up the registry using regback.exe, invoked every
week via the Task Scheduler, keeping the two most recent
copies. You can download regback.exe from a number of
sites.

 

[Guest]

My experience in such cases is that you would spend much more
time in trying to patch up the damaged system than you would in
rebuilding in from scratch, with no guaranteed outcome. If your
data is saved elsewhere then you should bite the bullet and start
afresh. If it is not backed up then you have to back it up first.

Your method of backing up the registry from within regedit won't
help you in most cases. If you're serious about backing up your
installation then you should take one of these approaches:
- Create an image of the system drive with an imaging tool
such as Acronis TrueImage. This requires a split disk: Drive C:
for Windows and Applications, drive D: for your data.
- Back up the registry using regback.exe, invoked every
week via the Task Scheduler, keeping the two most recent
copies. You can download regback.exe from a number of
sites.

Thanks for a lot of the suggestions. As for recovering Windows, I think the
situation is pretty hopeless so I think I have to reinstall Windows.
From now on I'll back up the registry regularly!

 

[Rock]

Another thing: I am not able to select any other user other than
Administrator... I used to be logged on as the user Shiva2, but this
account
cannot be selected by the login screen. I am desperate!

Even though you can't login to that account, if the folder for it still
exits in Documents and Settings at least you can backup the important data.

I know of no way to put the registry back together using that backup you
made from regedit itself. What one should do is export individual keys
before changing them, but the backup of the entire registry is useless.

One excellent program that backs up the registry so it can be restored if
needed is ERUNT. Set up properly a backup can be restored from the recovery
console. Set it up as a scheduled task to backup the registry daily. It
won't help you recover from the current problem but you can use it after the
system is reinstalled to forestall against this type of disaster.

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

Installing and Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

Though ERUNT is a nice tool it does only one thing. I strongly recommend
you follow Pegasus' advice and use Acronis True Image Home to image the
system regularly.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Have you tried running System Restore?

All About System Restore in WinXP
http://bertk.mvps.org/index.html

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[Guest]

Have you tried running System Restore?

All About System Restore in WinXP
http://bertk.mvps.org/index.html

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

There were no snapshots of the registry cuz I probably turned off System
Restore.... Luckily I haven't lost any valueable data.
Last night I reinstalled Windows afresh and everything is working fine now.
Ã'm still busy installing the many different programs I had installed.
But I'll be more serious about backing up things from now on. I'll follow
Pegasus advice and use regback.exe and Acronis TrueImage to back up data.
BTW, I hope Acronis allows backing up the data on single sided DVD's even
when the size of windows and the applications exceed 4.7 Gb (max. size on
DVD). In that case the image has be spread across more than 1 DVD..

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Eric,

Glad to see you are up and running.

System Restore is good to have around.
Here are some tips on adjusting disk space usage and keeping System Restore
healthy:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/healthy.html

ERUNT: The Emergency Recovery Utility NT - Registry Backup and Restore for
Windows NT/2000/2003/XP is an excellent utility for backing up the registry
only.

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


Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org