Vista not starting thanks to a.exe association problem... I think

[Guest]

It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it asked for
an application to open it with... after much thought I decided to take a risk
and go ahead, which turned out to be an unfortunate mistake. All my exe files
became associated with notepad (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to
solve the problem from http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a "unable to
delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my comp in safe mode.
Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
I really would like to retain my windows installation...
I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows installation
and change the registry, I could get it up and running. The problem however
is that I cannot locate the required registry.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!

 

[Guest]

The key that's required to be deleted is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Explorer \ FileExts \ .exe \ UserChoice
The OS is Windows Vista Ultimate
I can use the WinVista Installation DVD to access my folder tree
Using Unbuntu (from a live cd) to type this thread!
Thanks again!

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP IE]

It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it asked
for
an application to open it with... after much thought I decided to take a
risk
and go ahead, which turned out to be an unfortunate mistake. All my exe
files
became associated with notepad (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to
solve the problem from http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a "unable to
delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my comp in safe mode.
Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
I really would like to retain my windows installation...
I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows installation
and change the registry, I could get it up and running. The problem
however
is that I cannot locate the required registry.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!

Click the Start Orb | All Programs | Accessories
Right click Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator.
Type
regedit
and press Enter.

 

[Guest]

There's no start orb in WinVista Installation. This is Vista's installation
program. It loads from the DVD to a partition of the hard disk it labels as
X:\ and launches Vista Installation from there. I used the diagnostics to
launch a command prompt window and typed "start regedit" for the registry.
Problem is it acts like an OS by itself so the rgedit it loads is not the
same one as the one on my Windows installation. Do you have any idea where
the registry files for my Vista installation are located? I can open the
registry in notepad and change the values required.
P.S The istall program can run most of the basic windows stuff I think.
Thank you for the reply!

 

[bomb#20]

It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
(I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
"unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
I really would like to retain my windows installation...
I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
advance!

If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a BartPE disk with a registry editor on it.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
[72m/b]
You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
Network support?=no
Go > Programs > Registry Editor
Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
Select default hives:
sam
security
software
system
Select remote user profile ? = yes
Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
Select another user profile? = no
Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
and you should be in familiar territory.
Good luck !
..

 

[Paul Randall]

It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
(I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
"unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
I really would like to retain my windows installation...
I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
advance!

If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a BartPE disk
with a registry editor on it.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
[72m/b]
You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
Network support?=no
Go > Programs > Registry Editor
Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
Select default hives:
sam
security
software
system
Select remote user profile ? = yes
Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
Select another user profile? = no
Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
and you should be in familiar territory.

This looks like it could be very useful, and I realize it costs to have a
place to store big things like this on the web.
The download page looks scary.
I see two download buttons, but neither one seems associated with Filename:
pebuilder3.zipFilename: pebuilder3.zip
Filesize: 72.8 MB
When I hover over the download buttons, no text shows up in the status bar;
normally, the link to the item to be downloaded would show up. How do we
know that clicking these buttons won't install a bunch of crapware,
advertising, or other junk that messes up our browser toolbar or our
computer?

-Paul Randall

 

[bomb#20]

It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
(I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
"unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
I really would like to retain my windows installation...
I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
advance!

If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a
BartPE disk with a registry editor on it.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
[72m/b]
You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
Network support?=no
Go > Programs > Registry Editor
Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
Select default hives:
sam
security
software
system
Select remote user profile ? = yes
Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
Select another user profile? = no
Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
and you should be in familiar territory.

This looks like it could be very useful, and I realize it costs to
have a place to store big things like this on the web.
The download page looks scary.
I see two download buttons, but neither one seems associated with
Filename: pebuilder3.zipFilename: pebuilder3.zip
Filesize: 72.8 MB
When I hover over the download buttons, no text shows up in the
status bar; normally, the link to the item to be downloaded would
show up. How do we know that clicking these buttons won't install a
bunch of crapware, advertising, or other junk that messes up our
browser toolbar or our computer?

-Paul Randall

It costs nothing to store files on the web.
It is stored with Megaupload.
It is a free account.
If you want to use the software I posted enter the 3 digits and download it.
If you are too scared to navigate a Megaupload page, Google " BartPE",
learn how to build your own Bart boot disk, with a reg editor plug-in, and use that.


..

 

[Guest]

Hey Bomb! Thanks a lot! I'm sure I can use this to fix the registry! Can't
tell you how relieved I am!! Thanks a lot!

 

[bomb#20]

Hey Bomb! Thanks a lot! I'm sure I can use this to fix the registry!
Can't tell you how relieved I am!! Thanks a lot!

If you use it, some of the start menu items are not included. It uses a default
menu which I forgot to edit when I made it.
The file manager (explorer-type thing) is loaded and obviously the registry editor.
..

 

[Paul Randall]

DJ_Anonymus wrote:
It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
(I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
"unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
I really would like to retain my windows installation...
I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
advance!

If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a
BartPE disk with a registry editor on it.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
[72m/b]
You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
Network support?=no
Go > Programs > Registry Editor
Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
Select default hives:
sam
security
software
system
Select remote user profile ? = yes
Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
Select another user profile? = no
Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
and you should be in familiar territory.

This looks like it could be very useful, and I realize it costs to
have a place to store big things like this on the web.
The download page looks scary.
I see two download buttons, but neither one seems associated with
Filename: pebuilder3.zipFilename: pebuilder3.zip
Filesize: 72.8 MB
When I hover over the download buttons, no text shows up in the
status bar; normally, the link to the item to be downloaded would
show up. How do we know that clicking these buttons won't install a
bunch of crapware, advertising, or other junk that messes up our
browser toolbar or our computer?

-Paul Randall

It costs nothing to store files on the web.
It is stored with Megaupload.
It is a free account.
If you want to use the software I posted enter the 3 digits and download
it.
If you are too scared to navigate a Megaupload page, Google " BartPE",
learn how to build your own Bart boot disk, with a reg editor plug-in, and
use that.

Thanks for the info. It downloaded faster than I thought it would. So far,
I've only gotten one unexpected web page - something like megamovie
competitor to YouTube.

I built a BartPE disk a year or two ago and used it for other things. I'll
be interested in seeing the difference with yours. I've downloaded WAIK but
haven't gotten around to building my own PE system yet.

Thanks for the info on Megaupload.

-Paul Randall

 

[bomb#20]

Paul Randall wrote:

Thanks for the info. It downloaded faster than I thought it would. So far, I've only gotten one unexpected web page -
something like
megamovie competitor to YouTube.

I built a BartPE disk a year or two ago and used it for other things.
I'll be interested in seeing the difference with yours. I've
downloaded WAIK but haven't gotten around to building my own PE
system yet.
Thanks for the info on Megaupload.

-Paul Randall

I find Megaupload useful as they don't seem to have a time limit on
free accounts. With some file-hosting sites your files are deleted after a month or so.
If you had a gold account or wharever it's called then your files would download faster
and you avoid the 45 second wait.
For ocassional use the free account suits me fine.
What's a ' WAIK ' ?
..

 

[Paul Randall]

Paul Randall wrote:


I find Megaupload useful as they don't seem to have a time limit on
free accounts. With some file-hosting sites your files are deleted after a
month or so.
If you had a gold account or wharever it's called then your files would
download faster
and you avoid the 45 second wait.
For ocassional use the free account suits me fine.
What's a ' WAIK ' ?

Download WinPE as part of the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit),
here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...6d-15f3-4284-9123-679830d629f2&displaylang=en

Use Groups.google.com to search the vista.general and XP.general newsgroups
for references to waik. I can't find that bookmark right now, but there is
some good info on how to use WAIK to create your own PE disk.

I got another strange popup today, possibly related to MegaDownloads. It
seemed to move around to escape my cursor, then disappeared.

-Paul Randall

 

[Guest]

I dont know why but I'm still unable to start WinVista! It's exactly the same
as before... i.e after I messed up the .exe file association. Vista crashes
with a BSOD (which I can't see as it stays for such a short time) as soon as
the loading screen appears. I've tried removing/disabling most of the
hardware (LAN card, GFX Card, my only other HD drive, USB Disk, BlueTooth
dongle) but it doesn't seem to solve the problem. Looks like my "idea" was
wrong... Oh man do I seem to be hitting dead ends this past week! I really
don't want to re-install Vista!!! Any help would REALLY be appreciated!
Thanks in advance again!!

 

[MICHAEL]

* DJ_Anonymus:

I dont know why but I'm still unable to start WinVista! It's exactly the same
as before... i.e after I messed up the .exe file association. Vista crashes
with a BSOD (which I can't see as it stays for such a short time) as soon as
the loading screen appears. I've tried removing/disabling most of the
hardware (LAN card, GFX Card, my only other HD drive, USB Disk, BlueTooth
dongle) but it doesn't seem to solve the problem. Looks like my "idea" was
wrong... Oh man do I seem to be hitting dead ends this past week! I really
don't want to re-install Vista!!! Any help would REALLY be appreciated!
Thanks in advance again!!

Have you tried using System Restore? Select a restore point
before this mess started.

Another option is to put in the Vista install disk in from
the desktop and do an in-place upgrade. This will do
what the 'repair install" did in XP. Your files and programs
should still be there after the "upgrade".


-Michael

 

[Guest]

Ok...
I selected my language n stuff, then went on to the activation screen and
typed in my code, and clicked next.
I chose my edition and clicked next.
When it asked me for a drive to install in I chose my current C drive which
is where my WinVista installation was but I couldn't click the "next" button.
This is a 20GB HDD with only around 600MB left.
Any ideas on how I could do repair
Also I tried the startup repair but it couldn't even detec my OS
Also I tried the SFC command prompt with
"sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\WINDOWS"
it scanned the drive n stuff but it didn't pick up anything.
Now the startup "F8" screen I was getting doesn't have any options at all!!
So now I can't even boot up to the BSOD!
Now I'm in a worse soup!
Thanks for the suggetion though! Much appreciated!

 

[MICHAEL]

You are going to have to do a clean install,
you do not have enough free space to do
an upgrade install. I believe it's your only option.


-Michael

* DJ_Anonymus:

 

[michal kohlman]

I had this in a moment best is to use start-> run-> type "commend.com"
then using comand line type regedit.
find this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.exe\UserChoice
select it.
Now you ned to change permissions to do that use: Edit->permissions->advenced in entries shuld be deny just edit it and uncheck deny, this allow you to delete key and first importand thing don't restart system before this other ways you are in big fuss.

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