Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 16:26:44 -0500, willbill <trek@worldwide.net> wrote:
>Jason Gurtz wrote:
>
>> On 6/28/2005 17:59, willbill wrote:
>>
>>
>>>JHFC, the "simple" registry has become
>>>NOT so simple with xp!
>>
>>
>> This is an interesting statement. What do you find so much more complex
>> about the WinXP registry when compared to the Win98 registry?
>>
>> I find that they're nearly identical in their organization. In fact,
>> significant swaths are exactly the same!
>
>
>you are right in that the registry itself
>doesn't seem to have changed that much
The way it's stored, the file names and where files are stored has changed
considerably though - in that sense it *is* more complicated.
>my frustration is showing; i got carried away.
>sorry
>
>otoh, my 2nd failed try with XP (error 633 when
>atempting to use my extermanl modem with the
>dialer) was likely due to flakey s/w installation
>screwing up the XP registry. not sure if it was
>trying a newer modem driver (US Robotics v.92)
>or a failed installed of MSI video capture drivers
>(for a VIVO board). when i went to the MS
>knowledgebase, i was amazed at all of the screwy
>stuff that can mess up the registry (with 95 thru
>XP and 2003)
>
>then too, there's XP Pro, XP Home, and oem XP;
>each with their own set of problems!
>
>the other factor is how do you fix XP (NTFS
>file system) if Windows won't start in safe mode?
>i've easily been able to do that with 98SE by
>booting into DOS (98SE DOS), and restoring the
>registry from backups i do in the autoexec.bat
>(today, yesterday, this week, last week; using a DOS
>do once program). then too, 98 keeps reg backups
>for the last 5 days in the sysbckup directory
There are recent versions of the principal system files stored in the
%SystemRoot%\repair folder but their use/recovery is less simple than
Win9x... and the user registries are stored in the "Documents and Settings"
folder structure. Besides the Restore Points, it is also a good idea to
use the built-in Backup utility to do a backup of the "System State"
regularly... preferably to a folder/file in a separate partition (Note:
partitions are still a good idea for other reasons too).
I've never had to do a serious repair on WinXP yet so I have no experience
but if you can't boot from the hard disk to any maintenance mode, the only
option is to boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and choose Repair. There are also
various utilities kicking around as well as loads of Web sites with
"advice" so.... Google. The ability to boot *and* login to a Win2K/XP
system is definitely much more fragile than the old DOS-based systems and
recovery is always a PITA - it's really very scarey.
I'll add here that I rarely did backups with Win98SE - once a year or so,
using a version of Seagate Backup which came with a CD-R/RW drive. With
WinXP, it didn't take me long to figure I needed to backup more often. I'd
recommend that you disburse $30. (at NewEgg) for Backup MyPC or get one of
the packages you might want which includes it, like Roxio Easy Media
Creator. I generally get about 1.6:1 compression ratio on my mix of files
which includes many .ZIPs... so about 6GB per DVD+R but "differential
backups" take only a few minutes and very little space.
>KB 307545 (How to recover from a corrupted registry
>that prevents Windows XP from starting) may get
>me some insight into the NTFS problem (i've not
>read thru it yet)
>
>one other note is that my current compressed 98SE
>reg backups (rb00x.cab) are 1.5 MB. in XP Pro a
>backup of the "system files" gives a file (compressed?)
>that is 443 MB in size!
>
>that size difference suggests to me that XP
>has more complexity; meaning it isn't all bloat
That 443MB is a "System State" which includes "boot" files (many program
and .dll files) and the COM+ Class Registry as well as system and all user
registries and a bunch of .log files. I haven't found a way to actually
see the file names from WinXP's Backup utility but Backup MyPC does show
them.
>fwiw, in XP i now keep a written log of my installs,
>registry backups, and backups of my boot drive
>(to other hard drives (using 2003 DOS Ghost) that
>i only plug in when i do boot drive backups)
>
>i mean i hate it when a drive dies, or the system
>goes belly up
Yep and with the price of HDDs so low and RAID being on nearly every mbrd
now, I'm seriously considering a mirror setup for home. I have a Promise
hot-swap mirror setup on our Win2K office server and it's worked great - no
HDD failures yet but when I manage to F/U the system during err, "upgrades"
I can always go back.
--
Rgds, George Macdonald