Fubar'd my registry

Jun 4, 2005
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Snce I rarely used my Windows install, I figured I'd test out a "guide" posted here. Well, it was obviously not going to work, but I figured I could just to a registry restore and be done with it.

Anyways, in this guide, it says you have to delete the ProductSuite entry in the ControlSet003 folder of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and add a new DWord value of 0. Well, I did this then things started getting ugly. I decided to try "undoing" it by importing my old registry in safemode, except now my latest ControlSet folder was 005, not 003 so the import won't work. I manually recreated the entry I deleted (ProductSuite with a value of "Personal") and rebooted. No go.

Is there any way I can use my XP Home CD to "turn it back into XP Home"?
 

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
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I always thought CurrentControlSet (without the numbers) is the current set that is in use; and CurrentControlSet01, 02.. xx were backups of the CurrentControlSet.

I would have saved the CurrentControlSet portion

 
Jun 4, 2005
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I modified the CurrentControlSet aswell when I was trying to fix it. It gave me an error saying I was tampering with my Windows Version, but it went through anyways. Still isn't working, though. =[
 

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
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boot from your Home CD and do a repair install. DO NOT go to the command line or whatever(Repair Console) by Pressing 'R' to do the repair.

Go through as if your doing a normal installation, it should detect your current Windows installtion, and then press 'r' to repair and it will restore your registry and you should be in the clear.
:thumbsup:


good luck!
 

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
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Originally posted by: Tarrant64
boot from your Home CD and do a repair install. DO NOT go to the command line or whatever(Repair Console) by Pressing 'R' to do the repair.

Go through as if your doing a normal installation, it should detect your current Windows installtion, and then press 'r' to repair and it will restore your registry and you should be in the clear.
:thumbsup:


good luck!

You are not in the clear if you have other 3rd party applications installed. Restoring the registry will wipe everything else out.. I'm sure there will be some issues with anything else installed after you finish the repair.


 

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
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Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
boot from your Home CD and do a repair install. DO NOT go to the command line or whatever(Repair Console) by Pressing 'R' to do the repair.

Go through as if your doing a normal installation, it should detect your current Windows installtion, and then press 'r' to repair and it will restore your registry and you should be in the clear.
:thumbsup:


good luck!

You are not in the clear if you have other 3rd party applications installed. Restoring the registry will wipe everything else out.. I'm sure there will be some issues with anything else installed after you finish the repair.

I've never had any problems with 3rd party applications.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Well, I can get into Windows XP, but it's thinking it's Pro, so all of my apps are broken (missing dependancies?) I'll attempt the repair, because all my apps are replacable if they do somehow break.

Thanks!
 

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
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Windows Repair installation leaves applications and settings intact, and as far as I'm concerned that includes 3rd party software.

I believe the windows updates/patches just need to be reapplied.
 

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
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Originally posted by: Tarrant64
Windows Repair installation leaves applications and settings intact, and as far as I'm concerned that includes 3rd party software.

I believe the windows updates/patches just need to be reapplied.

Thanks for that. I wasn't quite sure (in reference to my other post).
I'll definately have to remember this for future "fubar's" :)
 
Jun 4, 2005
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It's running now. It rebooted and it looks as if it's doing a regular install, I made sure to do the repair, so I'll just let it continue. I'll update when it finishes. =]
 

NogginBoink

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
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CurrentControlSet is simply a pointer (hard link, symlink, shortcut... choose your synonym) to the ControlSet that's in use.

The HKLM\SYSTEM\SELECT key identifies which ControlSet is current (along with which is lastknowngood, failed, etc.)
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Well, good news is everything is still intact after the repair. The bad news is, some of my apps are still broken. The splash-screen is now showing Windows XP Home Edition, and the System Information is saying the same. This is good news, however, when I try to start Trillian, it says it requires Winsock 2.0. uTorrent is giving me an error aswell, and I'm unable to connect to the internet. The internet issue is probably easily resolved, but an ipconfig /release and /renew aren't doing anything. The network connection is showing an IP of 0.0.0.0, and I'm un-sure where to go from there. I'm on the same computer right now, but booted in Ubuntu.

EDIT: It seems that the Winsock error is simply a missing update. Once I get the internet working, I should be good to go.
 

spikespiegal

Golden Member
Oct 10, 2005
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Saving a back-up copy of the Windows registry is one of the easiest utilities to perform. Hell, Windows even creates a seperate directory called 'RegBack' for you.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: spikespiegal
Saving a back-up copy of the Windows registry is one of the easiest utilities to perform. Hell, Windows even creates a seperate directory called 'RegBack' for you.

I had a registry backup, however, when I tried to import it, it didn't change anything. I even tried to simply "merge" the registry backup.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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This isn't going well. ipconfig /renew is giving me a "cannot find file" error. In addition to that, the DHCP service is stuck on "starting". Don't know where to go from here.
 

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
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Originally posted by: LoKe
This isn't going well. ipconfig /renew is giving me a "cannot find file" error. In addition to that, the DHCP service is stuck on "starting". Don't know where to go from here.

I know where I would go.. but that is just me (*cough*.. clean install)
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
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Originally posted by: LoKe
This isn't going well. ipconfig /renew is giving me a "cannot find file" error. In addition to that, the DHCP service is stuck on "starting". Don't know where to go from here.

Reinstall your network card drivers and rebuild the TCP/IP stack if necessary.
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: LoKe
This isn't going well. ipconfig /renew is giving me a "cannot find file" error. In addition to that, the DHCP service is stuck on "starting". Don't know where to go from here.

I know where I would go.. but that is just me (*cough*.. clean install)

I'd rather scrap Windows all together, but I've got a torrent going for my dad, and it's at ~90% and he'd be pretty pissed off if he didn't get it.
 

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
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Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: LoKe
This isn't going well. ipconfig /renew is giving me a "cannot find file" error. In addition to that, the DHCP service is stuck on "starting". Don't know where to go from here.

I know where I would go.. but that is just me (*cough*.. clean install)

I'd rather scrap Windows all together, but I've got a torrent going for my dad, and it's at ~90% and he'd be pretty pissed off if he didn't get it.


* Safe Mode
* Burn To DVD or save the torrent to external hard drive
* Scrap Windows for clean install

:)

Should be able to use your burning software in safe mode.. got a DVD burner?

 
Jun 4, 2005
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The torrent isn't finished though. If it were that simple, I'd just mount my NTFS partition. :D

Reinstall your network card drivers and rebuild the TCP/IP stack if necessary.

I reinstalled my network card drivers, but the problem still occurs. Don't know how to "rebuild the TCP/IP stack".
 

spikespiegal

Golden Member
Oct 10, 2005
1,219
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You back up the registry, fiddle with it, and if you break it you run the recovery console and replace the entire system hive with the back-up. End of problem.

When you trash windows you don't "import" or "merge" it with a new install, do you ? :)
 
Jun 4, 2005
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Fixed! WinSock was corrupted so I had to delete its registry entry, then I ran WinSockXPFix and it cleared everything up.

Thanks a lot, guys!