Location of Windows Registry File not RegEdit or other programs

G

Guest

Recently I tried uninstalling some programs and when I restarted the computer
it went straight back to the BIOS and did the whole cycle over. I am unable
to restart into safe mode, restore last known good or use windows recovery
console or the repair feature on the cd itself no luck on any.

Currently have the computer running on a second drive and reinstalled
windows but need to get back to the system if only in safe mode to recover
settings and files.

I am looking to edit the registry file from the old install and need to know
where it is located to edit with notepad. I have been unable to find it with
search or the location of the new file with regedit.exe to then cypher out
where the old one is.

I have a standard xp install with the boot drive labeled C:\ and standard
folder locations.
 
H

Hertz_Donut

dfroelicher said:
Recently I tried uninstalling some programs and when I restarted the
computer
it went straight back to the BIOS and did the whole cycle over. I am
unable
to restart into safe mode, restore last known good or use windows recovery
console or the repair feature on the cd itself no luck on any.

Currently have the computer running on a second drive and reinstalled
windows but need to get back to the system if only in safe mode to recover
settings and files.

I am looking to edit the registry file from the old install and need to
know
where it is located to edit with notepad. I have been unable to find it
with
search or the location of the new file with regedit.exe to then cypher out
where the old one is.

I have a standard xp install with the boot drive labeled C:\ and standard
folder locations.

The registry is not a "file" It is a series of dynamic hives that work
together to control the behavior of the OS.

There is no "folder" or "file". If you cannot access the old registry with
the usual registry tools then it is most likely corrupted and cannot be used
at all.

Honu
 
G

Gordon

dfroelicher said:
Recently I tried uninstalling some programs and when I restarted the
computer
it went straight back to the BIOS and did the whole cycle over. I am
unable
to restart into safe mode, restore last known good or use windows recovery
console or the repair feature on the cd itself no luck on any.

Currently have the computer running on a second drive and reinstalled
windows but need to get back to the system if only in safe mode to recover
settings and files.

Not necessary. Just set the original disk as a slave and access your data
that way.
 
G

Guest

I do not know how to load in the old files, what are the steps?
I have a fair amount of computer knowledge but have never gotten into this
level of work before.

I need to know if it is possible to load the old reg files or hives into reg
edit or even just a notepad app and edit the registry and then save the
changes and try the reboot.

If so how do you go about doing so.
 
J

John John

dfroelicher said:
I do not know how to load in the old files, what are the steps?
I have a fair amount of computer knowledge but have never gotten into this
level of work before.

I need to know if it is possible to load the old reg files or hives into reg
edit or even just a notepad app and edit the registry and then save the
changes and try the reboot.

If so how do you go about doing so.

From the working Windows XP installation use Regedit.exe and use the
"Load Hive" feature to load the hives from the broken installation. The
hives that you want to edit are located in the old installation's config
folder, x:\%systemroot%\System32\config aka x:\Windows\System32\Config
The ones to edit are the ones without any extensions. See here for
basic isntructions: http://www.rwin.ch/xp-live/regedit.htm

You can also replace the hives in the config folder with backup sets
that were created by System Restore, these backup are in Snapshot
folders inside the System Volume Information folder.

John
 

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