Registry Editing Error (oops)...

Little over a year ago, I made a major goof while using RegCleaner. I deleted some files marked <Unknown>, and they turned out to be critical files... now, most of the files on my computer are unopenable. I get one of two messages when I try: "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item" or "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Folder Options control panel "....

I run Windows Me on a Dell Dimension 8100. Since this happened, no icons show up in my tray. As for past efforts at solving this, no boot disks I have tried have worked, System Restore is down (like just about everything else)... I do have backups in RegCleaner and in Windows, but have had no success in reaching them. Last time I checked, I had 15.1 Gigs of data in my system, including TrueSpace 5... don't want to loose the use of all the programs I've paid for, nor all the work I have saved, nor do I have the money for an external harddrive to back up my files to, so I can wipe and start from scratch.

No advice I've received elsewhere has helped, but I'm hoping I have some luck here. Thanks....


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Try this ScanRegW - Or How to Repair the Registry in WinME.

 

If Whiskeyman's suggestion doesn't work, which file types give you trouble?

Can you open them from within a program. Example, if txt files don't work when you double click on them, can you open them by opening Notepad and click file>open? When you view the problem file types in windows explorer, do they have the correct icon?

 

I do have backups in RegCleaner and in Windows, but have had no success in reaching them
Regcleaner will restore them, click on Backup tabs to find them. Or go to program files\regcleaner\backups, select a REG file and right click and select Edit. If it looks like what you need, double click that file.

 

Questions and Clarifications...

Sorry about being unclear, my fault... I should have said no success in opening them. All the backups are there. I've actually reached them, both the Windows and RegCleaner backup folders/files, but then I have no program to open them with, when I try. My system asks me to choose a program to open them with, and it gives me a list of programs, none of which involve the missing files. I have no idea what to do in this case, and I'm leary to try. I've also noted that the "Start in" line in RegCleaner's Properties is blank, and any attempt to fix it results in an "Unable to save changes to 'RegCleaner.lnk' - Access is denied" message, or some other error message, dependent on what I put in the Start In line.

Arie, I know it's been awful late, but as I said, everything I tried failed... however, I just found this site, and thought I would try again.

Whiskeyman, thanks for the site. Haven't tried it yet, but I do have a question... given all the data/programs on my system, my concern is loosing it, in whole or in part. Will following these instructions risk further damage? Also, I'm not too concerned about compacting my registry, but I would be interested in further details on exactly what the benefits of this would be. My main concern is fixing the damage, restoring the backups from RegCleaner being preferable, since the Windows backups are so old... and I believe a Windows backup is a backup of the whole registry. I only want back what I stupidly edited out. Right now, I have some other major priorities to deal with, so I may not be able to try your suggestion for another week or two. I'll let you know how it goes, when I get the chance.

Zander, I tried the thing with Notepad you suggested... strange, but there appear to be no .txt files on the Local Disk, on any of the folders, though I do get files when I ask for all the files. The backup folder lists twenty-seven files. Well, that didn't seem to work, so I went from Local Disk to Desktop, and selected RegCleaner from the list... so, I do have .txt files I can bring up on Notepad for all the files I removed that need to be put back. Do you want me to copy/paste them here? I have both Dat files and Registration Entries, thirteen pairs for the date 5-22-05, and a lone Dat file with no Registration Entry paired with it. Which would you need, Dat file or Registration Entry? All of them are probably not for the critical files, but... to be safe... restoring them all would be best. Would it be possible to access the registry and manually insert these keys from this info? Thanks....

markp62, RegCleaner cannot be opened, so I can't see how it can restore the backups... maybe you can give me more info on how to reach these REG files for editing? I'm not sure right now how to go about that, since what I have managed to find and play with hasn't included an "Edit" selection when right-clicked.

Anyway, thanks all... hopefully, I can deal with my present life difficulty situation and this comp problem, so all will be well. Hear from you later....


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markp62, RegCleaner cannot be opened, so I can't see how it can restore the backups...

Or go to program files\regcleaner\backups, select a REG file and right click and select Edit.

This means look into the folder 'C:\Program Files\Regcleaner\Backups'. You will see a list of files. Half are REG files, the rest are DAT files. Forget about the DAT files.
REG files by default are associated with Regedit. This means they will have an icon with what looks like a small green box in it. Windows Explorer will call the file type as 'Registration Entries.
If you do not know which one you need, double click all of them.

IF nothing happens and are prompted as to what to open them with, choose REGEDIT.EXE, located in C:\Windows. If you accidently associate a DAT file with this, nothing will happen, you will get an error message is all.