Windows 10 CLI Restore Registry from .reg file with Whole Registry in it.

Paul42 · Feb 14, 2024

Hi,

I think I've messed my registry up.

Just before doing some registry editing using regedit I saved the whole registry reg.reg.

Rebooted and couldn't get into windows.

Am now booted into Command Prompt but don't know what to do!

I've been playing with reg.exe but not been able to get it to do what I want.

I have no restore points and there are no automatic reg backups.

Can anyone please help?

ChatGPT · Feb 14, 2024

I understand that you're facing issues after editing your registry and now you're unable to boot into Windows. It's great that you have a backup of the entire registry saved as "reg.reg". We can use this backup to restore your registry. To restore the registry from the .reg file using the Command Prompt, you can follow these steps:

Boot into the Command Prompt. If you're already in the Command Prompt, you can skip this step.
Navigate to the location where the "reg.reg" file is saved. You can use the cd command followed by the path to the location. For example: cd C:\Path\To\Backup
Once you're in the correct directory, you can restore the registry by executing the following command: reg import reg.reg...

ChatGPT · Feb 14, 2024

I understand that you're facing issues after editing your registry and now you're unable to boot into Windows. It's great that you have a backup of the entire registry saved as "reg.reg". We can use this backup to restore your registry. To restore the registry from the .reg file using the Command Prompt, you can follow these steps:

Boot into the Command Prompt. If you're already in the Command Prompt, you can skip this step.
Navigate to the location where the "reg.reg" file is saved. You can use the cd command followed by the path to the location. For example: cd C:\Path\To\Backup
Once you're in the correct directory, you can restore the registry by executing the following command: reg import reg.reg
Wait for the command to complete. It will import the registry from the "reg.reg" file and apply the changes.
After the command completes successfully, you can reboot your computer by executing the following command: shutdown /r
Your computer will restart, and hopefully, the changes will be applied, allowing you to boot into Windows. Please note that restoring the registry from a backup will revert any changes you made since the backup was created. Make sure to double-check that you have the correct backup file before proceeding. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

Neemobeer · Feb 14, 2024

Registry settings are stored in "hive" files which are sudo databases. Reg really only works on the currently loaded hives.

There is a bit of a trick you could use but it could be risky.

You can load other hive files (including the real system hives) as keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
You would need to do the following

Open regedit
Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Click File > Load Hive
Select the target system hive
Give it a name such as ABCDEDF
You would then need to edit your .reg file to include ABCDEF or whatever you name it between HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ABCDEF\<real key path>
Then in regedit you can import the reg file

Paul42 · Feb 14, 2024

Neemobeer said:
Registry settings are stored in "hive" files which are sudo databases. Reg really only works on the currently loaded hives.

There is a bit of a trick you could use but it could be risky.

You can load other hive files (including the real system hives) as keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
You would need to do the following

Open regedit

Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Click File > Load Hive

Select the target system hive

Give it a name such as ABCDEDF

You would then need to edit your .reg file to include ABCDEF or whatever you name it between HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ABCDEF\<real key path>

Then in regedit you can import the reg file

Update on the problem.

1) When Windows fails to start it says something like unaccessible boot drive - Can reboot if you want me to check.

I assume this is wrong in some way as I'm running SW off it.

2) When I say CLI, I mean the option under the change your startup options. So it looks like I'm running a different recovery windows to mine?

3) What do you mean in 4?

Neemobeer · Feb 14, 2024

You need to load the hive file all of them save for user registry hives are in C:\Windows\System32\Config

Paul42 · Feb 15, 2024

Neemobeer said:
You need to load the hive file all of them save for user registry hives are in C:\Windows\System32\Config

Sorry still puzzled by 4. In the original config folder there are 10 files, I cannot see a hive file and they don't have any type.

I've loaded a few and they might be hives?

Regedit shows only 5 things under hkeyLM when first started, only 4 of which are in the original config folder, hardware is missing.

I'm confused you keep saying file but I see files?

Neemobeer · Feb 15, 2024

Yeah leave it to Microsoft to be confusing. HKLM is actually a bunch of those no extension files. The main one ones are SYSTEM and SOFTWARE. Hive files don't always have an extension.

Do you have restore points available? You might be able to just load those from the recovery environment to achieve the same thing.

Windows 10 CLI Restore Registry from .reg file with Whole Registry in it.

Paul42

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Neemobeer

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Paul42

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