XP Won't Start - How do I edit the registry if I am unable to start XP

[Steve]

Hi
I tried to install a Trust Wireless Tablet but couldn't get it to work. The
Trust site said start in safe mode, remove all the relevant drivers (in case
there were duplicates) and try again. I couldn't get my PC to start in safe
mode by pressing F8, (it kept re-booting automatically) so I changed
Msconfig to start in safe mode. Now when I start my PC its in a loop of
trying to go to safe mode then rebooting (of course its obvious to me now
that I shouldn't have done this. Doh!)

I have tried lots of different things to boot the PC and the only thing that
worked was a parallel install of XP. Now I can boot the PC with the new
install of XP but I need to change the original installation to get that to
work again.

What I think I need to do is edit the registry and:
1.Take out the Msconfig command telling the PC to boot in safe mode.
2. Remove the offending Trust Drivers (the PC worked fine before I installed
them)

Can someone tell me how to do this on my original XP system from my parallel
installation of XP.

Thanks in advance.
Steve

 

[Netpunkz]

Either use something like Bart PE or put the HDD into another machine.
Use regedit and then click on Hkey_Local_Machine (just highlight it)
then click file>load hive. Browse to \windows\system32\config\ on your
orginal installation and then select your required hive (system,
default, software etc...) I think the file you need is in the software
hive nut am not sure. give it a temp name (123 will be fine) Don't
forget to unload the hive before you close regedit or shutdown

Regards

 

[Steve]

Thanks for the response, can I just clarify:

I have loaded Regedit from my Parallel install and tried to look at the
System hive from my original \windows\ installation but I can't find a key
that relates to the Msconfig safeboot, do you know what this key is? Also
where are the driver settings in the Registry?

Thanks

 

[Netpunkz]

I am not sure where the (or if) the setting for safe mode is located in
the registry. But you can use F8 on startup and select the normal mode
again. Some hardware config is located in
HKLM>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Enum. It is not very pretty though As
far as i am aware actual driver settings are located where ever the
manufacturer decided to locate them.

Regards

 

[S. Taylor]

Check the Boot.ini file, located in the root of your system drive.
Under a default configuration, that would be C:\Boot.ini
Look for and remove the /SAFEBOOT switch