XP corrupt registry

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number69

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 8, 2003
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Hi, I have a friend that is bringing over a Dell laptop that he says has a corrupt registry. XP won't boot and he says he can't get into the recovery console. He said he never used a password to get into the his account(edit: which doesn't matter because he's most likely talking about the account he uses which has admin privileges not THE administrator account), basically he says there is no password and recovery console is asking for one. He called Dell and they said the default password they use is password for the administrator account. He tried that and still no luck. Plus he can't even get into safe mode.

He wants to retain this install of XP and not lose anything...he doesn't want to do a reinstall or repair install

What's the best way of trying to get his XP to boot if I cannot access the recovery console?

Thanks for your time.
 
O.K. Problem is it's a Dell laptop, so it's a OEM version of XP which this article says their fix shouldn't be used on. Secondly they assume you can get into recovery console..he can't. Lastly.... no floppy drive.
 
Well without the password to the admin account for the registry console, he is pretty much screwed. The floppy part can be overcome with a USB flash drive.

A repair install should not hose his stuff and cause him to lose it.
 
Yeah, a USB flash drive would work. I was thiniking of a repair install myself, he would lose updates and have to reinstall them but it's better than nothing.
 
number69 said:
Yeah, a USB flash drive would work. I was thiniking of a repair install myself, he would lose updates and have to reinstall them but it's better than nothing.
Click to expand...

It's a gamble tho. If what caused his corrupt registry is something like a bad hard drive, a repair install will probably fail and may make his problem worse. He really needs to figure out the password to the admin account.
 
number69 said:
He wants to retain this install of XP and not lose anything...he doesn't want to do a reinstall or repair install
Click to expand...

Let's focus on that for a bit! I would make sure to try backing up what is recoverable off the hard drive before you try a fix that might end up causing your friend to lose data.

If you are lucky enough to have an interface converter from laptop IDE to desktop IDE or SATA, slave his laptop's hard drive in your PC and back up data.

Or another solution that doesn't involve removing the laptop's hard drive is:
1) boot the laptop off a linux disc like Knoppix
2) Mount the laptop's hard drive
3) Upload the data that needs backing up to an FTP server

Make sure your friend's data is safe before trying too much!

I think there's good suggestions above on how to fix the registry problem, but if I come up with any other ideas I'll post them. Good luck!
 
nessus said:
As long as the SAM hive isn't fubar, you could use a UBCD for Windows disk to reset the password. http://www.ubcd4win.com/
Click to expand...


I have UBCD I was thinking about that. Maybe i'll give that a shot. Either way he's most likely looking at a repair installation if his hard drive isn't screwed. So he'd lose his updates which he didn't want to do but miracles don't come often.

Popping his laptop drive into a external notebook drive enclosure is the way I was going to go. Pull the files off and check the drive. If the drive is screwed then we all know where that winds up...fresh install on a new drive. If it isn't screwed then we wind up with what I said in the last paragraph.

By the way I have Knoppix also so the suggestions in the last post are appreciated.
 
number69 said:
he doesn't want to do a reinstall or repair install
Click to expand...
It sounds like your friend doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. If he doesn't want to do a repair install, he doesn't want his laptop fixed, and I wouldn't waste my time helping him. When someone comes to me asking for help, and then they tell me what they don't want to do, I tell them what I don't want to do...and that's help them out.
 
Have to agree that the expectations of the customer/friend are unreasonable. Any necessary data should already be backed up. The need to reinstall programs, if a drive image isn't available as a quick resolution, is simply an annoyance.

The PC is in a mess because the customer/friend allowed it to become a mess. If a 'quick fix' can get the system booting up again the almost certain likelihood is that there will be other related or residual problems on the PC. If even the ability to access safe mode is gone then a repair or reinstall is really the only sensible way to proceed.

This is simply an exercise, on the part of the customer/friend, in avoiding responsibility and the consequaences of what has occurred. Or perhaps he thinks you are Harry Potter?
 
Yep, and it turns out i'm not helping him out because the expectations were unreasonable. Let somebody else deal with it and knock him over the head with a large bill.
 
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