Hello!

I have installed a full version of Registry Clean Expert to speed up my computer a little, and to get rid of junk in the registry.

Firstly I made a backup of the entire registry using the program mentioned. I run the cleanup process, it finds more than 400 "Problems" which I gladly "Repair" when it's done scanning the registry. When I've hit the Repair button i shut down the program and everything suddenly disappears. A blank black screen is all I get - and the cursor, which I can still move. I try ctr+alt+del etc, but nothing happens. I reboot the computer only to be met by the exact same thing when Windows has finished loading, instead of a login page, or a desktop that would usually appear I get a blank black screen with just the cursor, which I still can move. Ctrl+alt+del still doesn't work, nothing happens. I try the different safe modes but I get the exact same thing..

After a lot of hassle I manage to boot the computer with my Windows CD, I try the windows repair tool - but nothing changes. I try launching windows with "the latest working configuration", but same thing there..

So the only way I can think of that might solve my problem (except of course formating the HD and completely reinstalling Vista) is to remove the hard drive with the broken vista, drive to a friends house, insert the drive in his computer and then in some way manually replace the windows registry on my hard drive with the backup (which is on the same drive) I made before running Registry Clean Expert.

Would this possibly work? If so, how would I do this? Where is the registry files(if there even are any ) located on the drive?

Your help would be greatly appreciated as I am disabled in every way without my computer!
/Freddy

btw.
The OS is Windows Vista Ultimate x64
I can translate this into Swedish if there are any Swedish techies reading this but not understanding it..

Well, I have 'ruined' my registry on two occasions running registry cleaners that proved to be 'untested' with Vista 64 which I learned after contacting the company who released the software. On one occasion I was able to get to desktop and do a system restore. I know you can't get to the desktop to do a system restore. On the second occasion, I could not 'fix' the damage done and had to reinstall my Vista 64 installation in it's entirety.

did you try 'system restore' after booting off the dvd?

Registry clean expert, eh. I'll pass the word to avoid that POS.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yeah I tried the System Restore function, but it said I had no point to restore to..

Does anyone have a clue where, or even if, there are any registry files stored locally on the drive which are replacable/overwritable? I've read somewhere that in XP they are located in \system32\config..

If it gets to the point where there is no other way out than to reinstall Vista completely, could I plug the drive in in a different computer and copy files and/or drivers?

This http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us works for XP. I haven't tried it on Vista yet.

Grumpy

did you possibly put that prog on a disk the could be read on another computer? Maybe it has a text file that can be read for some help.

Hey guys, thank you very very much for your replies! I'll try these methods out asap and I'll get back to you whether they worked or not!

/Fred

Alright just thought I'd post how I got it all working again.

I installed Ubuntu on my second hard drive, booted from that drive, went into the hard drive with the corrupted windows registry from there and manually replaced all the files with the ones I had a back up of. Mounting a NTFS hard drive in Ubuntu is not easy for a beginner, but in the newest versions it has a built in feature that only require minimum commands to get it working!