Repair corrupt registry offline?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Peterson
  • Start date Start date
J

John Peterson

Hello!

I have a curious situation with my machine that I think I've traced to some
corrupt registry situation. The problem is, *every* registry tool that I've
tried (Registry Mechanic, AMUST, etc.) hangs during their repair or backup
function.

I'm wondering if there's a tool that will "clean or condition" the registry
files *offline*. That is, if I'm able to copy the files to some other
computer (and I have no idea *which* files I'd need to copy), and run some
tool over those copied files from the other computer, then restore the
files, I think I'd be in business.

However, I'm not sure if such a tool exists.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

John Peterson
 
It might be too late,

Get both of these...

NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer
ERUNT The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Direct download links (the zip files just need unzipping and dropping on the
drive. {Thank you, Jim}
http://aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip

http://aumha.org/downloads/ntregopt.zip

ERUNT [[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt

NTREGOPT [[Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based
system can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.

The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.

Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ntregopt.txt

Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html

To see an illustrated registry restore procedure
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_erdntuse.html

Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
If you have system restore active you could restore your registry to before
it got messed up. It is just what that tool was designed for !

Richard.
..
 
If you're going to go through the trouble of finding thos MSKB articles it
would be nice if you posted a link for the OP.

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Thanks to those that responded. I'll take a peek at these, and post back.

My condition with my computer is *very* strange. It boots up just fine, but
degrades over time to a point where it *smells* like a memory issue (can't
create any more windows, desktop/folder icons are all the same default
image, etc.). I usually need to reboot about once every 20 hours. If I try
to install anything, I usually need to reboot sooner. I just happened to
stumble across the registry situation when I thought I'd try the repair
feature and it would hang my computer every time.

Maddening!
 
If I try to install anything, I usually need to reboot sooner.

You usually should reboot when you install something so that whatever gets
registered in the registry. Killing explorer.exe and restarting it will
accomplish the same thing.

I personally think that rebooting daily is a good thing. Weird things tend
to happen to machines left running for long periods of time. 10 gazillion
people are going to post to say that isn't true. ;-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Wesley said:
I personally think that rebooting daily is a good thing. Weird things tend
to happen to machines left running for long periods of time. 10 gazillion
people are going to post to say that isn't true. ;-)
Click to expand...

Well, it's certainly a good idea to reboot daily if one is running
applications that don't properly release memory and other system
resources when closed. At work, where we have to use many legacy
applications, I always advise people to reboot daily, usually at the end
of the day when they're leaving. This most definitely does reduce the
number of "quirks" experienced.

However, on my home systems, where I have full control and can ensure
the presence of only fully compatible applications, I reboot only when a
software or patch installation mandates it. And no quirks.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Hi Bruce,

You're number one. Just a little less than 10 gazillion to go. ;-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Wesley,

In reading your ERUNT disclaimer:
[[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
Click to expand...

It sounds like it doesn't do a good job of exporting -- which is exactly
what I was hoping to do.

I'm going to try running NTREGOPT in Safe/CommandPrompt mode and see what I
get.



Wesley Vogel said:
It might be too late,

Get both of these...

NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer
ERUNT The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Direct download links (the zip files just need unzipping and dropping on
the
drive. {Thank you, Jim}
http://aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip

http://aumha.org/downloads/ntregopt.zip

ERUNT [[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt

NTREGOPT [[Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based
system can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.

The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.

Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ntregopt.txt

Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html

To see an illustrated registry restore procedure
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_erdntuse.html

Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
John Peterson said:
Hello!

I have a curious situation with my machine that I think I've traced to
some corrupt registry situation. The problem is, *every* registry tool
that I've tried (Registry Mechanic, AMUST, etc.) hangs during their
repair or backup function.

I'm wondering if there's a tool that will "clean or condition" the
registry files *offline*. That is, if I'm able to copy the files to some
other computer (and I have no idea *which* files I'd need to copy), and
run some tool over those copied files from the other computer, then
restore the files, I think I'd be in business.

However, I'm not sure if such a tool exists.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

John Peterson
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Well...it turns out that NTREGOPT was able to function in Safe/Command
Prompt mode. That encouraged me to try Registry Mechanic again, which froze
(but in a different place) when I rebooted.

However, Registry Mechanic *does* get through everything in Safe/Command
Prompt mode, too. That makes me wonder if there's something that I'm
loading on startup that's causing some conflict with the Registry. Any
ideas how I might go about figuring that out?

Thanks!


John Peterson said:
Wesley,

In reading your ERUNT disclaimer:
[[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
Click to expand...

It sounds like it doesn't do a good job of exporting -- which is exactly
what I was hoping to do.

I'm going to try running NTREGOPT in Safe/CommandPrompt mode and see what
I get.



Wesley Vogel said:
It might be too late,

Get both of these...

NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer
ERUNT The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Direct download links (the zip files just need unzipping and dropping on
the
drive. {Thank you, Jim}
http://aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip

http://aumha.org/downloads/ntregopt.zip

ERUNT [[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!)
to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt

NTREGOPT [[Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based
system can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.

The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.

Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ntregopt.txt

Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html

To see an illustrated registry restore procedure
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_erdntuse.html

Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
John Peterson said:
Hello!

I have a curious situation with my machine that I think I've traced to
some corrupt registry situation. The problem is, *every* registry tool
that I've tried (Registry Mechanic, AMUST, etc.) hangs during their
repair or backup function.

I'm wondering if there's a tool that will "clean or condition" the
registry files *offline*. That is, if I'm able to copy the files to
some
other computer (and I have no idea *which* files I'd need to copy), and
run some tool over those copied files from the other computer, then
restore the files, I think I'd be in business.

However, I'm not sure if such a tool exists.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

John Peterson
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
It sounds like it doesn't do a good job of exporting -- which is exactly
what I was hoping to do.
Click to expand...

That's what ERUNT is for, exporting (Backup) and importing (Restore) the
registry.

See: Backing up the registry with ERUNT & Restoring the registry with ERDNT
in the Readme.txt

Oops. These two links are old and go to some kind of German shopping page.
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ntregopt.txt

These are the correct links.
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ntregopt.txt

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
John Peterson said:
Wesley,

In reading your ERUNT disclaimer:
[[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
Click to expand...

It sounds like it doesn't do a good job of exporting -- which is exactly
what I was hoping to do.

I'm going to try running NTREGOPT in Safe/CommandPrompt mode and see what
I get.



Wesley Vogel said:
It might be too late,

Get both of these...

NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer
ERUNT The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Direct download links (the zip files just need unzipping and dropping on
the
drive. {Thank you, Jim}
http://aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip

http://aumha.org/downloads/ntregopt.zip

ERUNT [[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!)
to make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the
whole registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt

NTREGOPT [[Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based
system can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.

The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.

Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ntregopt.txt

Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html

To see an illustrated registry restore procedure
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_erdntuse.html

Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
John Peterson said:
Hello!

I have a curious situation with my machine that I think I've traced to
some corrupt registry situation. The problem is, *every* registry tool
that I've tried (Registry Mechanic, AMUST, etc.) hangs during their
repair or backup function.

I'm wondering if there's a tool that will "clean or condition" the
registry files *offline*. That is, if I'm able to copy the files to
some other computer (and I have no idea *which* files I'd need to
copy), and run some tool over those copied files from the other
computer, then restore the files, I think I'd be in business.

However, I'm not sure if such a tool exists.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

John Peterson
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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