prime2515102
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Convert System.dat and User.dat to text?
Somebody needs to get some registry keys/values from a registry on a non-bootable hard drive. I was wondering if there was a way to convert the old registry in a .txt or .reg file so the keys can be found. Is it this possible? If so, what kind of utility would be needed?
Thanks
Thanks
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oBdA
The reason I went to such lengths with my explanation is that Prime2515etc stated that the user.dat and system.dat are on a "non-bootable hard drive", or I would have simply suggested Regedit or Regedt32 which (as you have described) uses the Windows GUI.
Personally, I would prefer to concentrate on attempting to make the drive bootable again, but this is not without risk of data loss.
Perhaps we should await some feedback before commenting further.
The reason I went to such lengths with my explanation is that Prime2515etc stated that the user.dat and system.dat are on a "non-bootable hard drive", or I would have simply suggested Regedit or Regedt32 which (as you have described) uses the Windows GUI.
Personally, I would prefer to concentrate on attempting to make the drive bootable again, but this is not without risk of data loss.
Perhaps we should await some feedback before commenting further.
It was my understanding that they got the machine running again with a parallel installation or transferred the hard drive into another machine, since otherwise I would have expected the question to be "How do I get my machine running again?"; but then again, I might be wrong.
Aah, yes. I see that this could well be the meaning of the question now that you suggest that possibility. It certainly would be a logical approach.
My first instinct would be FDISK /MBR to see if this made the drive bootable, but it just depends how hard it would be to recreate all the personalised registry settings (and how important) to risk that yet.
Good point, oBdA.
My first instinct would be FDISK /MBR to see if this made the drive bootable, but it just depends how hard it would be to recreate all the personalised registry settings (and how important) to risk that yet.
Good point, oBdA.
Thank you, prime2515102
This type of information is hard to find, and I feel happy about finding it here.
I ran a file verification routine on my WinXP and found quite a few files that where missing and quite a few with wrong dates/versions number, and I thought the quickest way to fix this was to boot on the CD and do a repair install on top of my WindowsXP. This reinstallation failed at 34 minutes left, and I'm stuck with a Hard drive that will not boot properly, due to it constantly try to finish the repair installation that always stops at 34 minutes. I've now mounted the hard disk as a secondary prime drive, and try to repair it with the help of an other machine. Since I had "My Documents" ticked of as "Private Folder" it was a bit tricky to get access to "My documents", but I found with the help of "NTFS for Windows 98 v2.0" I was able to get read access to them. Hope to be able to dig in the registry tomorrow, as I haven't found any files that sticks out in regards to help me stop the attempts to reinstall during WinXP boot up. As a foot note, the Harddrive seems to boot fine, but it kicks into completing the reinstallation after half a minute or so.
I ran a file verification routine on my WinXP and found quite a few files that where missing and quite a few with wrong dates/versions number, and I thought the quickest way to fix this was to boot on the CD and do a repair install on top of my WindowsXP. This reinstallation failed at 34 minutes left, and I'm stuck with a Hard drive that will not boot properly, due to it constantly try to finish the repair installation that always stops at 34 minutes. I've now mounted the hard disk as a secondary prime drive, and try to repair it with the help of an other machine. Since I had "My Documents" ticked of as "Private Folder" it was a bit tricky to get access to "My documents", but I found with the help of "NTFS for Windows 98 v2.0" I was able to get read access to them. Hope to be able to dig in the registry tomorrow, as I haven't found any files that sticks out in regards to help me stop the attempts to reinstall during WinXP boot up. As a foot note, the Harddrive seems to boot fine, but it kicks into completing the reinstallation after half a minute or so.
Expand "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", click on the "File" (or "Registry") menu, choose "Load Hive", browse to the machine file(s) in question (%systemroot%\system32\con
You can do the same with HKEY_USERS and the user.dat file (in the user's "document and settings" folder).
Once you're done, don't forget to highlight the new hive you created ("TestSystem"), click on the "File" menu again, choose "Unload Hive".