Corrupt registry..?

[defektiv]

I may be in over my head here. I think there's a simple solution but I can't seem to find it.

OS: Windows XP Pro SP2

I recently noticed I had an older version of TeraCopy (1.2 to be exact) backed up. I had read some of the minor benefits of it recently, so I decided to install it. After installing it, everything worked great. I even used it to backup over 15-20 GB to an external drive with no issues. I soon realized there was a newer version of TeraCopy out there so I installed that. Normally, I'd uninstall the older version then install the newer version. I guess I wasn't thinking at that moment and installed it right over the older version. In the end, this seems to have corrupted the registry hive that control's the "File" menu in Windows Explorer as well as the right-click menu (just in Explorer). Clicking anywhere else seems to be fine. My last registry backup from ERUNT was from 04/23/08...which is now old. I've also had System Restore disabled since day 1. I'm thinking maybe I can export a good copy of the hive from a "clean machine" but I can't seem to figure out which hive controls these menu's.

Any suggestions as to what I do?

[DeaconFrost]

I'd probably uninstall any and all copies of TeraCopy, and then try running a registry cleaner program, such as RegScrubXp or CCleaner.

[defektiv]

I uninstalled all copies right after I realized I installed the newer over the older. I ran Uninstall Tool to get rid of it. I doubt that app corrupted anything considering I've been using it for awhile without an issue. I also ran a registry cleaner but I'll try CCleaner as well.

Right now I'm leaning toward a reinstall. I did attempt to track down the issue using Regmon but I'm unable to determine exactly where the problem is.

Does anyone know what hive in the registry controls the "File" menu in Explorer? I'm thinking I should be able to just delete the 'corrupted' hive and import a good hive, no?

My next step may just be contacting the developer.

[number69]

Since you disabled system restore this won't work but if it was turned on:


You can try copying a older version of the registry(prior to installing the new version of Teracopy) from the recovery console.

Or..if you're not comfortable with that you can use UBCD4Windows and boot to it and there's a registry restore program under tools that can roll the registry back to a specific date.

Then again if system restore was enabled you could have tried that even though i'm not a fan of it. This is why images are great..but woulda, coulda, shoulda.

In your situation try this program:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

It will display everything being used in your context menus and you can disable them one by one. I've never used TeraCopy but i'm assuming(from the issue you described) it adds a extension in your context menu when you right click. See if it shows up with ShellExView and disable it and see what happens. If that doesn't work then your registry is borked like you say. You can try a repair install.