how to access xp registry without using regedit due to os corruption

***Quote***

What is BartPE and PE Builder?

Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!

PE Builder is not a Microsoft product and does not create Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment ("WinPE"). Using PE Builder does not grant you a license to Microsoft WinPE or to use the Windows XP or Server 2003 binaries in a manner other than stated in the End-User License Agreement included in your version of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has not reviewed or tested PE Builder and does not endorse its use.

Please do not contact Microsoft for support on the preinstallation environment that has been created by PE Builder!
Microsoft does not provide support for PE Builder or for the preinstallation environment created by PE Builder.

The PE Builder program (pebuilder.exe) runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/BartPE. It does not run on Windows NT4/ME/9x.

To avoid any confusion, the bootable CD generated by PE Builder should be called by its nickname "BartPE"!

***End Quote***

Download from here: -
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Thanks

>>>since i can't even boot to windows, how can i connection network registry?

That's what i am talking about...your windows is not comming upto the stage where it says "Preparing Network Connections" then you need to boot using Windows Live CD....and its free. You can access dead systems using the BartPE and it is similar to ERD Commander and WinPE developed by Microsoft. You have 100 of utilities in it including Registry Editor that can be used to edit SAM database also.

>>>is there some way or tools for me to access the registry from dos mode?

Yes...there is a tool from Sysinternals...its called NTFSDOS...you can boot from windows 98 cd and then running this tool. When you run this tool...you have direct access to NTFS partition...so you can copy Registry files from \Windows\System32\Config or Repair folder and then copying them or overwriting them to a System Running XP...and then using the Regedit from Windows. But i am not sure that you can use Regedit directly from Dos...because this utility does not contain any command..but you can also try one thing using Windows REGINI.EXE from Resource kit that allows you to access registry from DOS.

>>>is the registry stored in a particular file?  such that maybe i can copy the file and open it using some kind of tool using another computer?

Registries are stored here: -

\Windows\System32\Config and Repair folder: -

02/25/2005  09:16 AM    <DIR>          .
02/25/2005  09:16 AM    <DIR>          ..
01/17/2005  10:54 AM             1,357 all.txt
02/23/2005  09:55 PM           524,288 AppEvent.Evt
02/23/2005  09:55 PM           524,288 default
12/20/2004  11:44 PM           176,128 default.sav
02/23/2005  09:55 PM            65,536 DnsEvent.Evt
02/25/2005  08:40 AM             2,576 netlogon.dnb
02/25/2005  08:40 AM             2,435 netlogon.dns
02/23/2005  09:55 PM            65,536 NTDS.Evt
02/23/2005  09:55 PM            65,536 NtFrs.Evt
02/25/2005  09:16 AM                 0 reg.txt
02/23/2005  09:55 PM           262,144 sam
02/23/2005  09:55 PM            65,536 SecEvent.Evt
02/23/2005  09:55 PM           262,144 security
12/20/2004  06:03 PM            49,152 security.sav
02/24/2005  06:52 PM        19,922,944 software
12/20/2004  06:52 PM        18,616,320 software.sav
02/23/2005  09:55 PM           524,288 SysEvent.Evt
02/25/2005  08:31 AM         3,932,160 system
12/20/2004  11:44 PM         3,407,872 system.sav
12/20/2004  07:22 PM    <DIR>          systemprofile
12/20/2004  07:20 PM           262,144 userdiff
12/20/2004  07:28 PM         1,048,576 userdifr
              21 File(s)     49,780,960 bytes
               3 Dir(s)     712,286,208 bytes free

>>>i'm using a notebook (with wireless network) which can't be booted from cd-rom, so i guess BartPE won't be an option for me.

Then you need a bootable windows cd from www.bootdisk.com....boot it from it....and then run the NTFSDOS to copy registry files to a safe location. You can download NTFSDOS from here: -

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfsdos.shtml

Thanks

Get yourself a copy of Hirens boot cd. Amongst the 100's of utilities it has for troubleshooting and repair it also comes with ntfs4dos and the tools to reset the password. Basicly it is a linux boot cd with a bunch of utilities. Hint  when you change the password leave it blank. Then reboot and change it to what you want.

http://62.253.162.19/hiren.thanki/bootcd.html

here is a list of thinks it can do

Partition Tools
 
Partition Magic 8.2
Best software to partition hard drive

Paragon Partition Manager 5.5
Universal tool for partitions

Partition Commander 8.01
The safe way to partition your hard drive,with undo feature

Ranish Partition Manager 2.44
a boot manager and hard disk partitioner.

The Partition Resizer v1.3.4
move and resize your partitions in one step and more.

Smart Fdisk 2.05
a simple harddisk partition manager

SPecial Fdisk
SPFDISK a partition tool.

eXtended Fdisk
XFDISK allows easy partition creation and edition
 
Disk Clone Tools
 
Drive Image 2002
Best software to clone hard drive

Norton Ghost 8.0
Similar to Drive Image

Partition Saver 2.80
A tool to backup/restore partitions.
 
Antivirus Tools
 
F-Prot Antivirus 3.14e
Very good virus scanner (with ntfs support and easy to use menu)

McAfee Antivirus 4.32
a virus scanner (with ntfs support and easy to use menu)
 
Recovery Tools
 
Offline NT/2K/XP Password Changer
utility to reset windows nt/2000/xp administrator/user password.

Active Partition Recovery 2.1
To Recover a Deleted partition.

Active Uneraser 2.1.1
To recover deleted files and folders on FAT and NTFS systems.

Ontrack Easy Recovery Pro 6.3
To Recover data that has been deleted/virus attack

Winternals Disk Commander 1.1
more than just a standard deleted-file recovery utility

TestDisk 4.5.
Tool to check and undelete partition.

Lost & Found 1.06
a good old data recovery software.
 
Testing Tools
 
DocMemory 2.0
RAM Test utility

GoldMemory 5.07
RAM Test utility

Memtest 2.00
PC Memory Test

System Speed Test 4.78
it tests CPU, harddrive, ect.

PC-Check 5.50
Easy to use hardware tests

The Troubleshooter 5.02
all kind of hardware testing tool

PC Doctor 3.0
a benchmarking and information tool

Test Cpu/Video/Disk 5.6
a tool to test cpu, video, and disk
 
Hard Disk Tools
 
Hard Disk Diagnostic Utilities
Seagate Seatools Desktop Edition 2.10
Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools
Maxtor PowerMax 4.6
Fujitsu HDD Diagnostic Tool 6.10
Samsung HDD Utility 1.11
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test
MHDD 2.9

HDD Regenerator 1.41
to recover a bad hard drive

Ontrack Disk Manager 9.57
Disk Test/Format/Maintenance tool.

Norton Disk Doctor 2002
a tool to repair a damaged disk, or to diagnose your hard drive.

Norton Disk Editor 2002
a powerful disk editing, manual data recovery tool.

Active Kill Disk 1.1
Securely overwrites and destroys all data on physical drive.

SmartUDM 2.00
Hard Disk Drive S.M.A.R.T. Viewer.
 
System Information Tools
 
Aida16 2.12
a system information tool, extracts details of all components of the PC

PCI and AGP info Tool
The PCI System information & Exploration tool.

System Analyser version 5.3b
View extensive information about your hardware

Navrátil Software System Information 0.58
High-end professional system information tool

Astra 4.20
Advanced System info Tool and Reporting Assistant

HwInfo 4.93
a powerful system information utility

PC-Config 9.33
Complete hardware detection of your computer

SysChk 2.46
Find out exactly what is under the hood of your PC
 
Dos File Managers
 
Volkov Commander 4.99
Dos File Manager with LongFileName/ntfs support
(Similar to Norton Commander)

Dos Command Center 5.1
Classic dos-based file manager.

File Wizard 1.35
a file manager - colored files, drag and drop copy, move, delete etc.

File Maven 3.5
an advanced Dos file manager with high speed PC-to-PC file
transfers via serial or parallel cable

FastLynx 2.0
Dos file manager with Pc to Pc file transfer capability

LapLink 5.0
the smart way to transfer files and directories between PCs.

Mini Windows 3.11
Back to old days, use it as a file manager
 
Other Tools
 
DosCDroast beta 2
Dos CD Burning Tools

Ontrack Data Advisor 5.0
Powerful diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of your computer

Bootmagic 8.0
This tool is for multi boot operating systems

Picture Viewer 1.94
Picture viewer for dos, supports more then 40 filetypes.

QuickView Pro 2.51
movie viewer for dos, supports many format including divx.

Universal TCP/IP Network 4.80
MSDOS Network Client to connect via TCP/IP to a Microsoft based
network. The network can either be a peer-to-peer or a server based
network, it contains 67 different network card drivers

NTFS Dos Pro 5.0
To access ntfs partitions from Dos
 
Dos Tools
 
NTFS Dos Pro 5.0
To access ntfs partitions from Dos

USB CD-Rom Driver 1
Standard usb_cd.sys driver for cd drive

Universal USB Driver 2
Panasonic v2.06 ASPI Manager for USB mass storage

Interlnk support at COM1
To access another computer from COM port

Interlnk support at LPT1
To access another computer from LPT port

and too many great dos tools
very good collection of dos utilitiesextract.exe pkzip.exe pkunzip.exe unrar.exe rar.exe
ace.exe lha.exe gzip.exe scandisk.exe scanreg.exe
attrib.com deltree.exe xxcopy.exe diskcopy.com dskimage.exe
undelete.com edit.com editbini.exe fdisk.exe fdisk2.exe
freefdsk.exe lf.exe killdisk.exe delpart.exe wipe.com
zap.com format.com mhdd.exe find.exe sort.exe
move.exe more.com hex.exe debug.exe regedit.exe
split.exe label.exe mem.exe mi.com mhdd.exe
xmsdsk.exe doskey.exe duse.exe sys.com mbrwork.exe
bootpart.exe bootsave.exe bootrest.exe bootfix.com sbminst.exe
cmos.com cmospwc.exe cmospwd.exe ibios.exe biosdtct.exe
killcmos.com cpuid.exe smartdrv.exe loadlin.exe guest.exe
intersvr.exe interlnk.exe mouse.com lfndos.exe doslfn.com

 
Windows Tools
 
SpaceMonger 1.4
keeping track of the free space on your computer

Drive Temperature 1.0
Hard Disk Drive temperature meter

Disk Speed1.0
Hard Disk Drive Speed Testing Tool

MemTest 1.0
a Memory Testing Tool

PageDfrg 2.21
System file Defragmenter For NT/2k/XP

Split Join 1.3.3
a Small File Split-Join Tool

Ghost Image Explorer 7.0
to add/remove/extract files from Ghost image file

DriveImage Explorer 5.0
to add/remove/extract files from Drive image file

Active File Recovery 2.0
a tool to recover deleted files

Restoration 2.5.14
a tool to recover deleted files

Startup Control Panel 2.8
a tool to edit startup programs

TCPView 2.34
a detailed listings of all TCP and UDP endpoints

Unknown Devices 1.2
helps you find what those unknown devices in Device Manager really are

Ad-Aware 6.181
find and remove spyware, adware, dialers etc. (a must have tool)

See this should help you: -
MiTeC Registry Tools
http://www.mitec.cz/regtools.htm

http://www.snapfiles.com/shareware/system/swregtools.html

This is what I would do. I first would take this disk out of the machine and plug it in as a slave in another machine that is running XP or higher and boot into that machines OS. Then...

Open the registry
Click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Go to the menu File > Load Hive
Locate the hive file
Give it a name, maybe something like Fixing

and then do what ever you think you need to do. More info would be helpful like what hive do you think the settings want to change are in and what do you want to with it and how do you want to implement it.

Ah I thought you might ask that. This is difficult because we don't know what type of info or what it is you are trying accomplish here. Please be specific

here are where the registry hives are located

C:\Windows\system32\config\

and the registry hive files are

DEFAULT
SAM
SECURITY
SOFTWARE
SYSTEM

note there or no file extestensions the have no dot (.) after them these are the actuall registry files

Umm disregard the drive letter that I posted. The drive letter depends on the drive in question

Well to generalize

How to backup Outlook Express (OE) Email and transfer settings to another PC:
http://www.iopus.com/guides/oe-backup.htm

1. Email Messages:
From the Outlook Express menu select Tools | Options | Maintenance and click the StoreFolder button. You see a dialog with the name of the directory that has your mail files. If you look in that directory you find files named after your mail folders and news groups. They all have a .DBX suffix. Outlook Express keeps all messages in these database files. If you make copies of these files regularly, you'll have a safe backup of your OE mail.  

Restore (if necessary): To restore the backup data, just copy it back to the directory. You can selectively restore folders by just copying specific files back. Alternatively, you can use OE's File | Import | Messages feature to import one or more of the backup folders. Email Account Settings

As far as we know, the procedure works for all kind of email: The regular SMTP / POP3 based email, MAPI, IMAP or even the free Hotmail Account, that is built into Outlook. For Hotmail, however, some messages and settings might be stored only at the Hotmail server ( = somewhere at Microsoft !) and not on your local PC.

2. Account settings:
Data about your mail and news accounts are stored in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager. To save this data, start RegEdit and select that key in the left-hand pane. Then from the menu select Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "outlook.reg".  

 Restore (if necessary) To restore the account settings, right-click the .REG file and select Merge.

Note: As an alternative, you can save the data one account at a time through Outlook Express: click Tools | Accounts | Export and specify the name of the file to save the settings. Be sure to save this information for every account.  

3. Address Book
Getting the data out of your address book for safekeeping is relatively easy. From the menu select File | Export | Address Book and select the comma separated text file as your output format. Then select the fields you want to export. To make sure you know where the backup is going, give a full path name. To restore the address book or to get your addresses onto a new system, the process is not quite symmetrical. Select File | Import | Other address book and select the text file option again. You'll be given a list of fields to import. Since you're importing a file that was created by Outlook Express, you usually don't need to make any changes here. After that, click your way on through the wizard and you'll get your address book back.  

4. Mail Rules
The mail rules are stored at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities. If you run Regedit and export this entire subkey to a file the same way you did with account settings: from the menu select Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "rules.reg".  

Restore (if necessary):  Under the Identities key each subkey has a long number that looks similar to {36753740-2WEE-781D3-89B1-00A0C9900DSA}. So if you have five different identities in Outlook you will have five of these long numbers. Below the numbers are all the settings specific the the identity (signatures, mail rules,...). If you are restoring without reinstall and on the same PC these numbers do not change (as far as we know !) and you can just restore the registry entries by clicking on the reg file.


************************
Moving OE settings to a NEW PC:
If you're moving to a new system or doing a clean install, the {...} numbers are be different and you may have to manually move the entries to the differently numbered entries that are actually being used.  

How to do this? This is the method that we use in our office:

1. Export the registry branch on the old PC to a *.reg file.  

2. Transfer this "reg" file to the new PC

3. On the new computer search for the (still empty) settings of your new Outlook Express installation. Once you find, you have the new {...} number!

4. Now, open the transfered*.reg file with a text editor and make a "Search and Replace":  

Replace the old {....} value with the NEW {...} that you just located in the registry.  

5. Save this file and then click on it. This will import your old settings in the NEW registry.  
************************


5. Passwords
Outlook Express, along with those of most other Microsoft applications such as Internet Explorer, stores its passwords in .PWL files in your Windows directory for Win9x OS's. There's a separate file for each username on the system. Backup the files frequently. You can view the content of these files with the FREE "Write All Stored Password" utility from iOpus Software. For NT based OS's the passwords are encrypted and stored in the registry.

6. Recommended Reading:
--------------------------------


OLEXP: How to Back Up and Recover Outlook Express Data
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;270670

OLEXP: How to Backup and Restore Outlook Express Blocked Senders List and Other Mail Rules
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;276511

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{random numbers}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

jay28lee please read the the comment I made prior to the last one. This should answer your question especially the following


4. Mail Rules
The mail rules are stored at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities. If you run Regedit and export this entire subkey to a file the same way you did with account settings: from the menu select Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "rules.reg".  

Restore (if necessary):  Under the Identities key each subkey has a long number that looks similar to {36753740-2WEE-781D3-89B1-00A0C9900DSA}. So if you have five different identities in Outlook you will have five of these long numbers. Below the numbers are all the settings specific the the identity (signatures, mail rules,...). If you are restoring without reinstall and on the same PC these numbers do not change (as far as we know !) and you can just restore the registry entries by clicking on the reg file.