How can I fix the hive?

[Darkwing]

Long story short, I loaded hive via regedit, and move some files from
my desktop to the public folder while in there. Now I can no longer
boot into windows, the computer simply restarts, and I do know that
the volume is now corrupt. In retrospect, I realize that messing
around in hive caused this, and I'm kicking myself for it.

Now all I can do is try to correct this. I am currently running
Chkdsk.The only problem it found so far was 4 unindexed files, which
it has now processed. It is now at stage 4 (verifying file data) at
81%.

Do you think chkdsk will fix the problem? And if it doesn't, is there
a way I can fix this? All I really want is to be able to access my
created files.

 

[Robert Miles]

Long story short, I loaded hive via regedit, and move some files from
my desktop to the public folder while in there. Now I can no longer
boot into windows, the computer simply restarts, and I do know that
the volume is now corrupt. In retrospect, I realize that messing
around in hive caused this, and I'm kicking myself for it.

Now all I can do is try to correct this. I am currently running
Chkdsk.The only problem it found so far was 4 unindexed files, which
it has now processed. It is now at stage 4 (verifying file data) at
81%.

Do you think chkdsk will fix the problem? And if it doesn't, is there
a way I can fix this? All I really want is to be able to access my
created files.

..
What's hive? I've never heard of such a program before,

There probably is a way for restoring access to at least some of the files,
but it takes long enough that you're likely to want to try something else
first. First, find a way to back up all of the files currently on the disk;
a computer repair shop has ways to do it for you if you can't find one.
Then reinstall Vista, then reinstall any programs needed to read the files,
but not included in Vista; this will probably wipe out any copies of the
files on the disk, so you'll need the backup. Then ask in newsgroups
specific to the programs which understand the files how to restore them
from a backup.

In the future, make a full backup of your disk in case you'll need this
procedure again before trying such changes. Note that the backup and
restore program included with Vista does not make adequate backups
of the disk partition (usually C that Vista is running from, so you may
need to buy a separate backup program which can run from some other
partition instead.

Let's hope Chkdsk does something useful enough that you don't have
to use this entire procedure.

Robert Miles

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Boot to the system repair menu with your Vista DVD and do a System Restore
to a time before this incident.

 

[Darkwing]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I turned off System Restore a long time
ago, which means that all of my System Restore points are gone.

Right now, Chkdsk is at 82% in stage 4, and it doesn't seem to have
discovered any new problems. I wish I knew whether or not this Chkdsk
is doing anything beneficial.

 

[Al and Darlene]

Best (and quickest ) way to mess up is play with the Registry. Boot from
the Vista DVD and try "Startup Repair". If that is not successful try the
Recovery Console to use one of the Registry backups.

Did you consider using the optional boot menu (F8) - consider Safe Mode
and/or Last Know Configuration options.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Checkdisk will not correct the registry hives. As you've disable the thing
that could've saved you, there's really only one other thing you can try,
and that would the the Last Known Good Configuration from the boot menu.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

Thanks for the suggestion, but I turned off System Restore a long time
ago, which means that all of my System Restore points are gone.

Right now, Chkdsk is at 82% in stage 4, and it doesn't seem to have
discovered any new problems. I wish I knew whether or not this Chkdsk
is doing anything beneficial.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Robert,

What's hive? I've never heard of such a program before,

The registry exists on the installation as a set of "hives", namely system,
sam, components, default, and security. You will find them under
C:\Windows\System32\config. They can be loaded for editing via regedit.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Richard G. Harper]

See Rick's reply and good luck ... and don't disable System Restore next
time.