Adding to the registry from a disc

[carl5544@aol.co.uk]

I recently had to reinstall Windows ME. I had previously backed up the
hard disk (by setting it as a slave in another machine and
transferring everything to DVDs) and had hoped to restore everything
by simply copying everything from the DVDs back onto the same hard
disk. But for some reason it wouldn't boot ("invalid system disk"
message).

So I reinstalled Win ME and used the DVDs to manually put back most of
my data. However, there are some registry entries (presets for a photo
program) that I need to restore to the new registry but I don't know
how to do this. I know how to use regedit to make copies of registry
keys from the C drive, but how do I get them from a DVD so I can then
add them to the new registry?

Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[Joan Archer]

I can't really help with your problem but one thing that springs to mind is
have you actually installed the photo program back into the system.
I don't think you can just copy registry entries for a program you have to
actually install the program to make it work.

I could be completely wrong here but they are my thoughts, but wait until
one of the experts see your post and they'll be able to put you right <g>
Joan

<carl5544@aol.co.uk> wrote in message
news:71837dd9-5107-427b-99a9-3df8b7280dd3@i29g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> I recently had to reinstall Windows ME. I had previously backed up the
> hard disk (by setting it as a slave in another machine and
> transferring everything to DVDs) and had hoped to restore everything
> by simply copying everything from the DVDs back onto the same hard
> disk. But for some reason it wouldn't boot ("invalid system disk"
> message).
>
> So I reinstalled Win ME and used the DVDs to manually put back most of
> my data. However, there are some registry entries (presets for a photo
> program) that I need to restore to the new registry but I don't know
> how to do this. I know how to use regedit to make copies of registry
> keys from the C drive, but how do I get them from a DVD so I can then
> add them to the new registry?
>
> Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[carl5544@aol.co.uk]

Yes, I have reinstalled the program, but unusually the presets are all
located in the registry and nowhere else. So I have to restore that
part of my old registry to be able to use the presets.

 

[John John]

You may be able to do this with older versions or Registrar by
Resplendence software. We usually refer to this as Remote Registry
Editing. How well or not this works will depend on what files you have
to work with, improper backups or exported registry files will probaly
not be usable for the purpose. http://tucows.mundofree.com/preview/983.html

John

carl5544@aol.co.uk wrote:

> Yes, I have reinstalled the program, but unusually the presets are all
> located in the registry and nowhere else. So I have to restore that
> part of my old registry to be able to use the presets.
>

 

[Mart]

Very odd that you don't have access thru' the program, however my guess is
that you'd have difficulty attempting to extract anything from the
Registry's .dat files (user.dat etc) on the DVD - as JJ has mentioned
elsewhere on the thread. And I certainly wouldn't recommend transposing them
'wholesale' unless you really know what you are doing and especially without
backing-up the originals first. However, the rbxxx.cab files in the
Windows\sysbckup folder should be safe enough to get you going again using
scanreg /restore from a floppy if things really go pear shaped.

But, as it would appear to be a bit of an 'odd-ball' and possibly older
program, you *might* find that the presets are more likely to be located in
the win.ini or system.ini files, or even an .ini file associated with the
actual program itself. If so, you should find copies (of the first two) in
the Windows folder, the associated.ini file (if present) may also be located
in the Windows folder or could be in the folder associated with the
program - a search may be necessary.

At least the .ini files can be read (and edited) with a simple text editor
such as Notepad.

Good luck - you may need it <g>

Mart



<carl5544@aol.co.uk> wrote in message
news:b4d680d7-8ec1-4e0c-accf-4051bf04c5ce@e4g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Yes, I have reinstalled the program, but unusually the presets are all
> located in the registry and nowhere else. So I have to restore that
> part of my old registry to be able to use the presets.
>

 

[carl5544@aol.co.uk]

Many thanks to everyone for the advice. JJ, I downloaded the
Resplendent Registrar program you recommended and it did the trick. I
opened the old user.dat file from the DVD in Resplendent Registrar,
and then I was able to copy all the relevant registry keys and paste
them into the corresponding folder in the new registry. And now I have
all my old presets back.

Thanks again to everyone.

 

[carl5544@aol.co.uk]

Further to the above: it was the system.dat file (not user.dat) that I
got the registry keys back from.

 

[John John]

carl5544@aol.co.uk wrote:
> Many thanks to everyone for the advice. JJ, I downloaded the
> Resplendent Registrar program you recommended and it did the trick. I
> opened the old user.dat file from the DVD in Resplendent Registrar,
> and then I was able to copy all the relevant registry keys and paste
> them into the corresponding folder in the new registry. And now I have
> all my old presets back.
>
> Thanks again to everyone.

You're welcome, thanks for the follow up.

John

 

[Joan Archer]

Glad you got things working again, told you the experts would sort you out
<g>
Joan

<carl5544@aol.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bc5d288d-83de-46bd-a2bb-fd8c6486dc3c@e10g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Many thanks to everyone for the advice. JJ, I downloaded the
> Resplendent Registrar program you recommended and it did the trick. I
> opened the old user.dat file from the DVD in Resplendent Registrar,
> and then I was able to copy all the relevant registry keys and paste
> them into the corresponding folder in the new registry. And now I have
> all my old presets back.
>
> Thanks again to everyone.