Question WIN10: Tried importing Registry backup, OS nor safemode will boot

Jul 13, 2021
4
0
10
Yeah. I messed up big-time.
I was originally going to fix my CD-ROM drive because it wasn't showing up at all in device manager, and I ended up absent-mindedly following some tutorials where they edited the registry. Mostly just adding things. When that didn't work, I just deleted what I added and that was that. The issue wasn't this however, the issue started when I got the bright idea of importing a previous backup I'd made of my registry back in to see whether that would solve my CD-ROM issue. I thought things were going well until I got the message "Side-by-side configuration is incorrect". From there things went down. I tried searching on my browser what that meant, but nothing would load. So I made the mistakes of trying to reboot my computer. Since then it hasn't been booting. Not even in safe-mode. I can go into the BIOS, and I can see the manufacturer's logo, but it just loads and loads forever.
Have I messed up irreparably?
I saw a post on here that talked about using WinPE to boot the computer and to fix the registry files, but I am so utterly and entirely confused. Is it even worth the effort, or should I just reinstall windows (the option where you keep personal files)?
Please help guys, this was so unexpected and stupid of me to do.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Yeah. I messed up big-time.
I was originally going to fix my CD-ROM drive because it wasn't showing up at all in device manager, and I ended up absent-mindedly following some tutorials where they edited the registry. Mostly just adding things. When that didn't work, I just deleted what I added and that was that. The issue wasn't this however, the issue started when I got the bright idea of importing a previous backup I'd made of my registry back in to see whether that would solve my CD-ROM issue. I thought things were going well until I got the message "Side-by-side configuration is incorrect". From there things went down. I tried searching on my browser what that meant, but nothing would load. So I made the mistakes of trying to reboot my computer. Since then it hasn't been booting. Not even in safe-mode. I can go into the BIOS, and I can see the manufacturer's logo, but it just loads and loads forever.
Have I messed up irreparably?
I saw a post on here that talked about using WinPE to boot the computer and to fix the registry files, but I am so utterly and entirely confused. Is it even worth the effort, or should I just reinstall windows (the option where you keep personal files)?
Please help guys, this was so unexpected and stupid of me to do.
Best answer is to get a new drive, install Windows, copy whatever data you can from your old C: drive and move on.
Start a comprehensive backup program so that when you mess up or your C: fails, you can restore a complete backup.
 
Jul 13, 2021
4
0
10
Best answer is to get a new drive, install Windows, copy whatever data you can from your old C: drive and move on.
Start a comprehensive backup program so that when you mess up or your C: fails, you can restore a complete backup.
Yeah, although I was looking through some forums of people that did the system reset thing, where you still keep personal files. It was a tad confusing, but turns out that even the deleted files (programs and appdata etc) are still saved to be found in windows.old? I have no idea if this is true. If that is indeed what happens then I wouldn't hesitate to reset and reinstall now.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Yeah, although I was looking through some forums of people that did the system reset thing, where you still keep personal files. It was a tad confusing, but turns out that even the deleted files (programs and appdata etc) are still saved to be found in windows.old? I have no idea if this is true. If that is indeed what happens then I wouldn't hesitate to reset and reinstall now.
The programs might be "saved" but they aren't functional. You would still have to reinstall. Not really any difference from a clean OS install.
 
Jul 13, 2021
4
0
10
The programs might be "saved" but they aren't functional. You would still have to reinstall. Not really any difference from a clean OS install.

You're right. But if I wanted to go about this the hard way? Would I actually be able to boot my currently unbootable pc with WinPE or something else, so that I could somehow fix the registry?