Big Registry Problem.

Here is a link to a discussion on another forum for this problem of mine: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

I have posted it around on a few forums, due to the ugrency (well I'm hoping to fix this as best I can as quickly as I can) and it's been over a day since Xisto forums have worked, they seem to be down with database problems or just not being able to contact the server alot lately.

Anyway, as always, any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi,
I am adding your post from your link just so that people dont have to go over to the link. The other post is below!

Ok, so yesterday I shut down my machine when I went out for a bit as it was considerably hot.
I came back later, turned it on, and BAM! I ended up with a blue screen whining about not being able to load a registry hive, C:\Windows\System32\Config\SOFTWARE in particular.

So I google searched on my brothers machine for a way to fix it, which pretty much involved loading up 6 annoying Win XP boot floppies that takes days to load (Ok i'm exagerating a little there....) and getting into the Recovery Console to perform some copy/delete commands to get myself back to previous registry files.

Which to my dismay, I found out that it took me back to the stone age (like when XP was first installed, infact to me it seemded like it had gone back even further).

I *think* but am unsure, but think I still have backup copies of the old SOFTWARE and SYSTEM registry files that I had before. From the error message I gotten, I would assume that the SOFTWARE one had the problem.

Is there anyway I can re-instate as much information from the old SOFTWARE and SYSTEM files as possible?, considering the original SOFTWARE is 2.5mb and my old (corrupted somewere) SOFTWARE file is 25mb, you can see there is an awful lot I just can't restore by hand.

Any help is greatly appreicated!

P.S. Hello, I am new .

you said in the other forum that you checked HKLM/Software and got a report of no corruptions. if you were having problems in the SOFTWARE hive then it could be a problem with HKCU (Current User) and not HKLM (Local Machine) - they are different areas of the registry and the corruption could be in the other area.

someone please tell me if im wrong, but restoring your registry from the backups you have is only going to give you back the information you had but wont reinstall the programs. if you restore the registry before installing the exact same programs that you had before, if programs startup through the registry and the program file is not found then you could end up with errors.

if the program that you used to check the registry that you saved (the 25mb One) says that it is NOT corrupt then i would try restoring it (after installing your programs). Installing programs after restoring the registry will overwrite the 'new' registry keys!

Here is a link to a discussion on another forum for this problem of mine: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

 

I have posted it around on a few forums, due to the ugrency (well I'm hoping to fix this as best I can as quickly as I can) and it's been over a day since Xisto forums have worked, they seem to be down with database problems or just not being able to contact the server alot lately.

 

Anyway, as always, any help is greatly appreciated.

 

From my understanding, C:\Windows\System32\Config\SOFTWARE is actually referring to HKLM. HKCU should be your profile folder.

Have you try System Restore?

Since you can still access all your user's file on the harddisk, if system restore can't help, i would recommend reformatting. Scanning your drive C for bad sector is the next best thing to do, after you've backup all your important data.

I would also recommend you to use NTFS for your C or Window's Drive, if you haven't done so, cause it's much less prone to crashing or corrupting like FAT32

As indicated here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

I resolved the problem on my own, microsoft useless with there answers as aslways.

I suspect it was Windows itself that screwed up.

RegDetXP had no problem chunking that 25mb hive file and letting me export it, then all of a sudden regedit decided to take it in, oh my.

And yeah in the end, after a lot of time consuming but simple operations, I have almost 100% everything back to normal.

As indicated here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

I resolved the problem on my own, microsoft useless with there answers as aslways.

 

I suspect it was Windows itself that screwed up.

 

RegDetXP had no problem chunking that 25mb hive file and letting me export it, then all of a sudden regedit decided to take it in, oh my.

 

And yeah in the end, after a lot of time consuming but simple operations, I have almost 100% everything back to normal.

 

Good to hear that. Sorry, i didn't checkout the original post linked. Well, if you're using NTFS, you better scan for bad sector. If you're still using FAT32, switch to NTFS.

Regards

Oh I'm definitely using NTFS, I don't think XP likes Fat32.I dunno about a bad sector, recovery console and other software as well as copying didn't seem to phase or have any bad effects on the file.I plan on replacing this drive evetnaully and doing a fresh xp install anyway, just gathering up the money for new pc hardware.