Resolved Are registry issues fixable without a Windows Clean re-install?

What follows is the information regarding my errors and the computers' malfunctions:


System Info:
MS Windows XP
Media Center Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 3

OEM

Computer:
Intel
Pentium 4 CPU 3.00 GHz
1.00 GBRAM

I created a mess and am asking for help. I thought it would be cool to use office 2010 Beta for a while. I downloaded and installed it but began to see windows left open when the Windows XP Media Center Version 2002 Service Pack 3 booted up. One referred to infoaxe.exe. I don't know what that is or even if it exists. .

Like an idiot, I went to an online registry cleaner site http://smartpctools.com/free_registry_cleaner/ and foolishly did a scan and cleaned the results without even looking at them. I, now, no longer have open warning window when I boot the system but, as a result of what I have done, I believe I made things worse. I can't open Outlook, anymore. I'm freaking out, now. I can't access my contacts. I attempted to uninstall and re-install 2010 beta and received this error message:

Error 1714. Setup cannot remove the older version of Microsoft Office Single Image 2010(beta). Contact Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) for assistance. For information about how to contact PSS, see C:\DOCUME~1\Don\LOCALS~1\Temp\Setup00000d40\PSS10R.CHM
Setup failed. Rolling Back changes

I attempted to re-install My MS Outlook 2007. The message simply said that MS Outlook 2007 encountered an error during setup.


I have screen-captured these warnings that I have received from Windows:

"Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot initialize Microsoft Office shared utilities. Restart your computer or reinstall MS Office Outlook. "
Restart-didn't solve
re-install-unsuccessful

**This patch package could not be opened. Verify that the patch package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vender to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package.
Do not know how to verify patch package existence or accessibility

**The setup controller has encountered a problem during install. Please review the log files for further information on the error.

Although I have had to use the installation disc for MS Word 2002 and MS Excel 2003 to get them to launch, they do work normally. Other programs work normally, as well. It is just MS Outlook that is inaccessible.

Since my computer will boot up and other programs run normally, is it possible to replace items in the registry that have accidentally been removed so that MS Outlook 2007 can be re-installed? If so, how would I go about this task?

Are dll.'s / cabs replaceable/over-writeable? Could this be my solution?

Any assistance would be appriciated.

 

The quickest way to restore the registry is via System Restore. Restore the system to a date before you started ‘tinkering’.

 

If you don't have System Restore enabled or have some other backup, it is pretty difficult to roll back the Registry.

Since the Registry is such an important part of Windows, it makes good sense to have a backup of it. There is a great freeware program that takes care of that task nicely. It's called ERUNT and you can get it HERE. You can run it manually or on some schedule you think fits your needs. I run it daily at start-up.

Beyond that, any other full drive backup or imaging system would also be useful for Registry backup and restore.

Papernpaste, All that is for next time since you wouldn't be here if you had any of that enabled. Even if you did have System Restore enabled, it often fails to help.

Assuming that's the case, one remaining hope would be to use a registry cleaner to carefully remove all traces of Microsoft Office, both the beta and the regular version. Then you will likely be able to reinstall it with no problem.

Do not undertake this without getting ERUNT and performing a manual backup and testing it. It will allow you to restore the registry if you mess it up and cannot boot. To do so may require you to boot to a Recovery Console session so be sure you understand how to do that also.

Post back if you need more.

 

RE: registry advice

Thank you for your posts. I am running on a System Restore date that is a day prior to my original installation of Office beta.

Since it appears that System Restore has not solved my problems, I will take the advice of backing things up and then, removing referrences to Office in my reg edit. I'll inform you of any progress. I'm grateful.

 

FWIW, I use RegSeeker when I absolutely must use a Registry Cleaner. You can have it search and delete registry values and also allow it to delete program files, if you so choose. (optional)

 

Before I eliminate any referrence to MS Office in my registry, I don't suppose there is anyway to salvage my contacts in MS Outlook 2007, is there?

I'm planning on deleting any referrences to MS Outlook in the registry- not Office, since I have Excel 2003, Word 2002 (part of Work 6.0) and Publisher. My main goal, here, is to repair/reinstall Office Outlook 2007.

Using RegSeeker, I first attempted to uninstall Outlook 2007. I was reluctant but, I have my contact info on my PDA and will sync, later. When I initiated the uninstall, I recieved this Windows Installer window message with the yellow triangle with an exclamation point in it: "This patch package could not be opened. Verify the the patch package exists and that you can access it, or contact the vender to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer Patch Package." Unfortunately, this is all "greek" to me. What would you recommend that I do, surferdude2?

 

Also, I noticed when I ran a list of installed appilcations using RegSeeker, that all of the MS Office and Outlook 2007 applicatios are showing a MS Excel Logo. Only my Publisher application is showing the proper logo to the left of the application name. Could this be an issue?

 

Cleaning the Office data entries from the Registry won't affect your personal settings. They reside in the files of the program on your hard drive. If however you tag the option box in RegSeeker to search for files and subsequently delete them, I can't say it won't hose your contacts. I can say that it probably won't since most systems create files for personal settings that are bullet proof from normal uninstaller methods. But again, no guarantee.

Actually you could run the files search and delete all files except the one storing the contacts, since it would be listed. Then for further protection, RegSeeker makes a backup for all registry entries deleted (assuming you have the "Make Backup" box tagged (default). As for deleted files, it sends them to the Recycle bin, assuming again that you leave the box tagged that does that.

I think you'll be pretty safe with this process and a new install will get rid of the gremlins.

For you reference, here is a link to where Outlook keeps its files. To be doubly safe, copy those to somewhere for backups. Do not restore any of those except your contacts since the corruption may be in some of the other files.

You may also consider exporting the Outlook data for a backup. Please see.

 

I just took the black box to the computer store. I am a bit intimidated by the registry's need for edit. Thank you for your imput. I am going to leave this thread open for a week while I await results. Then, i'll post them.

 

The computer store was disappointing. They aparantly only have skills to perform complete system re-installs...no registry correcting skills. I'll simply ditto statements that I have read before. "Don't do any registry cleaning unless you know what your doing." Consider this case closed.

 

papernpaste, I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't get it fixed easier. I second what you are saying about Registry cleaning.

When doing Registry editing, always have a full backup copy that can be restored from a floppy or CD since rendering the system unbootable is always the possibility. I use ERUNT (freeware) for that. I set it to make a daily registry copy at first boot and keep the last 30 of them, dropping older ones off. I've been thankful for that many times, especially when testing some new software and then trying to uninstall it without having orphans left in my registry.

Beyond that, I recommend a full system disk image backup method but I won't rub that in papernpaste, I'm sure you realize that now.

Best regards, Dude

 

I did download ERUNT and have it installed. If I make a back up as you are suggesting, in what way is it bootable or useable, should I ever accidentally render the system unbootable? Does ERUNT make the backup CD that I create bootable? Do I simply insert that backup in my D: drive and turn it on? I've created backups and filed them in My Documents Folders but, that won't help me if I can't boot up. I do not have a floppy drive or dics for the system...only a "clean re-install CD that came with the Gateway System. Thank you for these additional answers, in advance!

 

ERUNT by default will require you to manually run it. The default location for the backup copies will be in the Windows directory. The reason for that is that to use them to restore a non-bootable system, that is the most accessible place for them since you may not have any tools other than booting to the Recovery Console. The RC only provides access to the Windows directory so you can see the logic.

As a further note, if you have other means of access to the NTFS file system, such as a BartPE CD or a Vista Recovery CD, you can access the ERUNT files regardless of their location.

To answer your question, you cannot run them from a bootable floppy since a floppy won't hold a single Registry copy.

Furthermore, if you want ERUNT to perform and maintain daily copies of the Registry (good idea), you must place a shortcut in your Startup folder that has the Target line below:

Code:

 "C:\Program Files\ERUNT\AUTOBACK.EXE" Z:\ERDNT\AutoBackup\#Date# /noconfirmdelete /noprogresswindow /days:30

Adjust the target drive letter and number of days stored to suit your preferences. If you don't have any access means other than the RC, then change the target to C:\Windows\ERDNT\AutoBackup\#Date# /nonconfirmdelete /noprogresswindow /days:30

Then your entire target line would be as below:

Code:

 "C:\Program Files\ERUNT\AUTOBACK.EXE" C:\Windows\ERDNT\AutoBackup\#Date# /nonconfirmdelete /noprogresswindow /days:30

Instructions for doing that are in the help files but the above copy/paste will save you lots of reading and head scratching.

Anything else?

 

I'll digest what you have provided and let you know. Thanks.