[dba-Tech] Frozen Registry - redux

Erwin said:
> 1) From your webpage I noticed you haven't checked the security rights
> on the registry keys.
> This you should check for the keys you can not delete (not the kind that
> come back).
> In W2K you can check the permissions of the registry keys only in
> regedt32.exe.

I can't remember exactly what it was that I checked (could check notes if needed), but someone had me do something in regedt32, and the result should that I *do* have security rights.

He then went on to say:
> 2) What concerns the deleted key, coming back.
> I had this once on a server. 
> This was due to a registry corruption. The file was not corrupted (so
> defrag and chkdsk run fine) but a small part of a registry key was
> corrupted.
> I had two symptoms for this.
> A) I could not delete a key (altough my permissions where fine)
> B) I could delete a key, but it came back if I went back and forth
> another key.
> This was only true for a sub key, not the whole registry ofcourse.
> I managed to solved this problem this way.
> 1) Export the parent key (for example Office10).
> 2) Delete the whole parent key.
> 3) At this point you can edit the exported key file, to remove that
> ofotoscreens key.
> 4) Import the key.

And this sounds intriguing. I don't understand it yet - I need to ask for details on HOW I do steps 1-4. But even if that works, I'd need to find out how to test changing another area of the registry to see if it is only the one area that has a problem. Please tell me the "how" part, and hopefully by the time I get home from church there will be an answer to try.

On another list were made several suggestions.
> 1. I presume you've tried running Regedit in Safe Mode, though you don't 
> mention it. If any running program is blocking Regedit, booting into Safe 
> Mode should negate that.

I've tried in both regular and safe mode.

> 2. Do you have no registry backups?  If you have, try a registry restore, 
> which will usually fix most minor probs. It's good to always keep a known 
> good registry copy.
> 3. Doesn't W2000 have System Restore? Have you tried that, back to an early 
> date before the troubles with Regedit began?

The problem is that I don't know how long it's been frozen. Before trying any type of restore, I have a couple questions. What happens in the registry regarding programs I've installed since the date of the registry I would restore? Would I have to reinstall programs? How would I know what programs that would involve?

> 4. Boot with shift held down to stop startups, then use End-It-All to close 
> EVERYTHING else down except Explorer and Systray. This might be enuf to 
> free up Regedit.

I'll try this after I get home from church, though I *think* I've tried that before.

> 5. Run the W2000 equivalent of System File Checker.
> 6. Run a Thorough Scandisk.

Aren't they the same? In any case, occasionally, when booting up, it wants to check the FAT32, and I will let it run. I was told that that procedure was the 2000 equivalent of Scandisk. Is it? If so, that's been done.

> 7. Reiinstall W2000 over the top.

Haven't yet tried that. I've got a lot of security updates since the original installation, would they have to be done again?
 
> 8. Reformat the system partition and reinstall anew.

What I'm trying to avoid as it would take me several days to reinstall everything.

> I'm assuming you're not running any so-called System Protection 
> utilities---these can reportedly create havoc with your system if they go 
> wrong, and can sometimes cause more troubles than they solve.

I use McAfee for virus and the free version of ZoneAlarm. If those aren't what you mean, then I guess I'm not running any.

Thanks for the leads,

--
Kathryn Rhinehart Bassett (Pasadena CA)
"Genealogy is my bag" "GH is my soap"
kathryn at bassett.net
http://bassett.net