You gotta be kidding me...
May 20, 2010 8:43 PM Subscribe
Fragged my computer registry the other night. I must've turned off the computer at the wrong time. Either way, wouldn't boot, and I used the factory disc to get *a* registry up and running. Problems inside
So now I have a computer, still running WinXP Pro. But...everything's different. I guess the factory registry controls a LOT of stuff that I had no idea about. Files are in weird places, or missing, even on my external drives. Some programs I've had forever are gone, but Bejeweled Deluxe (from three months ago?!) is working fine. Can't connect to the internet (on that system) because files are missing. 'Network Places" just...doesn't...do anything.
Worst of all, I've freakin' BACKED UP MY REGISTRY. And those files are just...gone. When I launch System Restore, the earliest restore point seems to be last night. When I got my system up and running again. Now, I KNOW I have more than that. This seems to be the easiest solution to my problem, if I could just access the *&$@#ing files. Anyone know where they are? And what's the point of backing up your registry if you can't access them when you need them?
So now I have a computer, still running WinXP Pro. But...everything's different. I guess the factory registry controls a LOT of stuff that I had no idea about. Files are in weird places, or missing, even on my external drives. Some programs I've had forever are gone, but Bejeweled Deluxe (from three months ago?!) is working fine. Can't connect to the internet (on that system) because files are missing. 'Network Places" just...doesn't...do anything.
Worst of all, I've freakin' BACKED UP MY REGISTRY. And those files are just...gone. When I launch System Restore, the earliest restore point seems to be last night. When I got my system up and running again. Now, I KNOW I have more than that. This seems to be the easiest solution to my problem, if I could just access the *&$@#ing files. Anyone know where they are? And what's the point of backing up your registry if you can't access them when you need them?
system restore is a losing proposition.
back up your data, format, reinstall - when you reinstall partition your drive so windows is on its very own partition so if you need to format/reinstall again, you'll only have to format the windows partition and reinstall instead of your whole system.
posted by nadawi at 8:52 PM on May 20, 2010
back up your data, format, reinstall - when you reinstall partition your drive so windows is on its very own partition so if you need to format/reinstall again, you'll only have to format the windows partition and reinstall instead of your whole system.
posted by nadawi at 8:52 PM on May 20, 2010
Seconding backup and reformat. Once you restore the registry you've basically rewired (or replaced) the entire brain behind your computer. If you need a quick utility to access your files in a non-windows environment and are somewhat savvy (obvs you are from your post) then I would download either a SLAX or Ubuntu LiveCD, boot to that, plug in an external drive, and move your files over. Then you can perform a format and reinstall. I do this with nonfunctioning computers at my work. The only trick with it is that you have to have a non-NTFS drive to copy to (for write access). Which is why I have a 500GB FAT32 drive sitting around.
posted by msbutah at 9:47 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by msbutah at 9:47 PM on May 20, 2010
I hope you backed up before you restored your registry- that is easier to fix than wiping the corrupt one and replacing it. If you *only* restored the registry, all your files should be there. If you did a factory restore, all the files from your boot drive are probably gone.
Either way, you should backup, format and reinstall. And keep regular backups.
posted by wongcorgi at 12:24 AM on May 21, 2010
Either way, you should backup, format and reinstall. And keep regular backups.
posted by wongcorgi at 12:24 AM on May 21, 2010
To be on the safe side, if you go the re-install route, use something like killdisk to wipe it instead of just format c: . After backing it up as mentioned. I was going to suggest a failing hard drive due to the missing files, until I noted the bit about the external(s). So, you may very well have a virus/malware or rootkit lurking somewhere on the system. Better yet, a new hard drive, if that one is even reasonably close to the average life expectancy. Don't want to re-install everything if you only have to do it all again sometime soon due to a drive failure.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 12:49 AM on May 21, 2010
posted by hungrysquirrels at 12:49 AM on May 21, 2010
Oh, and don't forget about data recovery services or software. You might get some of those files back.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 12:51 AM on May 21, 2010
posted by hungrysquirrels at 12:51 AM on May 21, 2010
Two things I can think of - get a windows system boot disk
get to a command prompt :
C:\scanreg / restore
and - google search for /install and run
Photorec / testdisk to recover lost files.
good luck -
posted by epjr at 7:40 AM on May 21, 2010
get to a command prompt :
C:\scanreg / restore
and - google search for /install and run
Photorec / testdisk to recover lost files.
good luck -
posted by epjr at 7:40 AM on May 21, 2010
Best answer: I believe System Restore keeps its list of stuff it knows about in the Registry.
However, it keeps the files it saves in a hidden disk folder, and provided you haven't actually tried to do anything with System Restore, some of those may well still be there.
This Microsoft Knowledge Base article tells you where SR keeps its registry backups, and offers a fragile and convoluted method for replacing your live registry hive files with backups made by SR. That method will probably work, but it's way easier to use something like BartPE or a Knoppix or Ubuntu live CD instead; that way, you get a nice GUI to do the file transfers instead of needing to fartarse about with the hideous Windows Recovery Console.
posted by flabdablet at 8:14 AM on May 21, 2010
However, it keeps the files it saves in a hidden disk folder, and provided you haven't actually tried to do anything with System Restore, some of those may well still be there.
This Microsoft Knowledge Base article tells you where SR keeps its registry backups, and offers a fragile and convoluted method for replacing your live registry hive files with backups made by SR. That method will probably work, but it's way easier to use something like BartPE or a Knoppix or Ubuntu live CD instead; that way, you get a nice GUI to do the file transfers instead of needing to fartarse about with the hideous Windows Recovery Console.
posted by flabdablet at 8:14 AM on May 21, 2010
Response by poster: ALL HAIL FLABDABLET for nailing it! This article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545 let me on a convoluted and scary trail that allowed me to a) find the hidden reg backup files and b)copy them over the old ones. I'm back!! Thanks so much for your help. Everything is back in order, all files present and accounted for. Thank you thank you thank you!!
posted by Spyder's Game at 1:40 PM on May 21, 2010
posted by Spyder's Game at 1:40 PM on May 21, 2010
Chalk up another victory for "nuke and pave is for wimps!"
Glad you got a result.
posted by flabdablet at 3:28 AM on May 22, 2010
Glad you got a result.
posted by flabdablet at 3:28 AM on May 22, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Jimbob at 8:47 PM on May 20, 2010