Alternative registries

Thanks to both Kees and Mark for their interest.

First thing, I think, is to acknowledge there are issues of temperament and circumstances involved here, as well as hard technicalities. I understand what you're saying, Mark, although the Grungy PC link is new to me. But if a reinstall is the only way, I'm likely to go to Dr. Ganimi, our local self-employed IT/PC man, and ask him to wipe everything, and reinstall, probably with an upgrade to Win 7 into the bargain.

But short of that, the power of the registry seems to me an interesting possibility. I acknowledge your point about 'generic', Kees - need to tighten up on my language and categories if I go that way. But even so, presumably the nearer you go back to the moment of original installation/set-up, the more similar all registries are ? And taking the point of the specific PC, a quick search on mine confirms there are a lot of *.reg files on it (over a screen and a half in Windows search), some dating back to very near to the beginning. Will all *.reg files be actual registries, or do other things slip into the category?

But I suppose the bottom line is, how safe is it to experiment ? Doesn't Windows automatically back itself up anyway, so there is always the option to revert to the most recently trouble-free registry? (I am not, note, proposing to go into the Registry - just wondering about reverting to a much earlier one on the PC).

Regedit has import and export routes. If I back up my current registry to where I know to find it, and import another reg file already on the PC, what's the worst that can happen ?

Sincerely

Ian

then experiment by all means, and the results might even be good information for us here.

Since you are already thinking about getting the system reinstalled professionally anyway, you might consider that you have nothing to lose.

Couple of things to note.

How well do you know your local IT repair man? Not to be offensive, but we see a lot of reports in these forums where a user has returned from a local computer repair shop only to find they have installed their own version of the OS on it, and often that version is a copy. The reason they give is, (apart from a straight pirate version), that they have a Volume License version which allows them to install the OS onto multiple machines. It doesn't. That Volume License version is for corporate business use only. So, make sure you give them your XP setup disk and drivers disk, and make sure you get those back as well.

The second point. Windows 7 would be a great way to go. But make sure your machine is compatible with the newer OS. Try the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor first. For XP 'upgrade' is a bit misleading. The Windows 7 Upgrade Setup disk in fact overwrites XP completely, so all files are deleted, and there is no turning back, eg no System Restore back to XP.

Kees' link about recovering from a registry crash is vital if you are going to experiment. You will need to understand that if the new registry does not match what is required, you may well be locked out of the system altogether. To recover from that you would need the XP Setup disk which has the Recovery Console. If the machine didn't come with the original and genuine XP Setup disk, then you won't have the Recovery Console available. (Many manufacturer systems arrive with no disks, but with a hidden recovery partition that returns the system to factory settings. However, nowadays users are told to create their own Recovery Disks and there is no hidden recovery partition. Those created disks do not have the Recovery Console).

You ask what's the worst that can happen. The world will explode!

Other than that, your system may become unusable. So, remember those backups. Not so much the registry, but your personal files. We can 'start over' with a fresh install, but losing personal files we have built up over 5 years or so is very hard.

Good luck.

Mark

I think that's a consensus, then......

Thanks to mark (again) and Jimmy.

Ian G.