Editing XP Registry in Dos(Real) Mode 1

[johnodq]

Hi

Someones phoned me up, he's edited something to do with his "hiberfil.sys" file. Now the system just logs on and the logs straight off.

He needs to edit his registry in dos mode, but when he goes to run any prog at the dos prompt (booted from xp cd) he just gets command not recognised.

Tried with a program that says its for editing reg in dos, same not recognised msg comes up.

Seems like you cant run ANY program thats not part of xp.

Thanks in Anticipation

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Johnodq
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Please let me know if the advice I give is of help.
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Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[rvnguy]

johnodg,

The registry is not a text file and I can find no MS tool to allow editing in real mode.

In the future, warn him/her to always backup the registry prior to editing

Can "last known good config" be invoked?

Can "safe mode" be invoked?

This link outlines many disaster recovery methods
XP Resources

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmb_tol_kfma.asp

Hope this helps

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[johnodq]

I think the guys learnt his lesson.

He cant use his system at all.
(just logs off in safe mode or standard, and restore doesnt work either)

What I need to know is if there is a way to load the registry off the drive thats been corrupted into regedit so that it can be repaired and then stored back to that drive.

I have a way of accessing all the files, but I need to know where they are stored. (I believe its \windows\system32\config).

But I dont know how to edit them from another drive, once I can do that I can talk him thru it.



---------------
Johnodq
---------------
Please let me know if the advice I give is of help.
Feedback will benefit all

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[wolluf]

If you slave the drive to another xp machine, and run regedit on there, you can use the load hive option (from the file menu). You need to have the relevant subkey highlighted. Once you've done the edit, use unload hive. There are probably MSKB articles about this - perhaps someone can help with that (linney?)

Q. Do you know what you want to edit once you do get into the registry?

You may need a repair reinstall (though not sure if that would work, depending on what he's done to his registry)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

 

[rvnguy]

johnodg,

wolluf has got the answer with a repair install, if you can talk him through it and he has an XP CD. Or if he is located physically where you could get his drive you can attempt to edit the registry as outlined also by wolluf.

A repair install will re-write all pertinent portions of the system, not being positive what was changed links to the applications, while normally retained might be lost and it might also retain the glitchy entry.

You might find some assistance in these links:

310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

If above is no joy this explains how and what you can expect froma repair install
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

If all else fails, you/he might have to resort to a clean install, last resort I know.

Hope This Provides Some Assistance

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[johnodq]

Thanks for replying

I worked it out, made a boot disk and sent him that via another pc, then got him to boot from it and run regedit and import the hive he'd changed.

All is well now, he's more than 100miles from me so I had no choice but to talk him thru it, and it's cost him at least a days business so he wont be mucking around in the registry again.

It's because he learned how to change the path to an installed app and it was so easy that he tried to do the same with the hibernation file.

A little knowledge.........

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I think we can draw a line under this one.



---------------
Johnodq
---------------
Please let me know if the advice I give is of help.
Feedback will benefit all

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.