restore registry doesn't work if grub2 bootloader installed

[Elwood]

Hi again,

I've just discovered since installing Fedora 19 on another hard drive that restoring the registry does not work when you reboot. I'm running XP HE SP3 (fresh install and completely updated) and using Tweaking.com Registry Backup 1.6.1 and shadow copy seems to be working perfectly.

Is there a way to make the registry restore with Grub2 installed on the MBR or would I be better served by Erunt? I have no idea if it would restore the registry correctly with Grub2 installed either, but am looking for ideas.

I'm trying to make the switch to Linux before support for XP lapses at the end of June next year, but this issue is bothering me and I need some advice.

Thanks for any advice or help that you may provide.

[added]

I'm trying to keep Windows XP for my compatible programs and (especially) games and I'm going to use Linux for web activities. Hoping SteamOS comes out soon and that it's as great as anticipated.

[Elwood]

Erunt works. Just thought you would like to know.

[Willy2]

- Try Registry Backup version v1.6.7.
- Regarding switching to Linux: I would recommend installing an AV program suitable for XP first.

[Elwood]

- Try Registry Backup version v1.6.7.
- Regarding switching to Linux: I would recommend installing an AV program suitable for XP first.

I'm an Avira beta tester. Always ahead of the curve in that regard.

I did upgrade to 1.67, but haven't tried the registry restore since. Do you think it would make any difference?

Has there been a change that restores the registry during shutdown rather than while it boots back up?

[Shane]

Lots of bug fixes in 1.6.7 since 1.6.1. SO make sure to always use the newest

v1.6.7
Fixed bug where DEP on a system would cause the program to crash. This was because of a custom Unicode label control I was using. I removed that custom control and the program no longer crashes on DEP enabled systems.
Code changes, in the last version 1.6.5 I had moved the task scheduler code from the pcwintech_tasksch.dll to the exe instead. With the goal of having one less file. But when I did that 11 antivirus programs on virustotal.com flagged the exe as a "GEN" or generic virus. While I could have simply submitted the exe to each of them and had them fix their definitions I instead moved the code back to the dll. The exe is no longer being flagged by those programs.

v1.6.5
Tree view can now show Unicode characters.
The program now pulls the Windows version number from the API instead of WMI. If WMI was corrupt on the system it couldn't pull the version of Windows, with the API call instead this is no longer a problem. The version number is used so the program knows which of its vss tools to run.
Fixed bug where if you choose to backup using the fallback method, and then turned it off right after, the program would still use the fall back method until you restarted the program. This has now been fixed.
Multiple UI changes.
A lot of code updates and tweaks.
Fix a bug where you couldn't create a schedule in the task scheduler on Windows XP & 2003 64 Bit.

v1.6.1
Bug Fix: Some users reported the program would crash when it was closing itself down after a good backup. This new versions seems to have that fixed as I made some changes to the code.
Small bug fix. The backup now button was always enabled at startup, so if a person clicked backup now before the treeview was done listing the hive files the backup would just get stuck in a loop. This has been fixed by disabling the button by default and then enabling it once the hives have all been loaded in the treeview.
Program is now half the size. I redid some code, removed a few things and compiled the program different cutting the size down from 1.6mb to 824KB.

The restore code works by doing 2 things. When you do the restore from the program itself it uses the Windows API to load the reg files and for the user profiles registry files it uses the pending move at startup command.

Shane

[Elwood]

Lots of bug fixes in 1.6.7 since 1.6.1. SO make sure to always use the newest

The restore code works by doing 2 things. When you do the restore from the program itself it uses the Windows API to load the reg files and for the user profiles registry files it uses the pending move at startup command.

Shane

Tried the new version and it still doesn't restore the registry. I let it make an auto backup then used CCleaner to remove a couple of unimportant but erroneous entries, rebooted again, then checked with CCleaner to make sure the erroneous entries were still not present, then tried restoring from within Registry Backup and when I rebooted the registry entries were still gone.

Before I installed Fedora 19 along with Grub2, this wouldn't have been the case.

I don't know why it's not working, all I know is that it isn't.

[Shane]

I am not sure why fedora or grub 2 would have anything to do with it. Is the registry files still in the default location?

Restoring the main system registry hives from the program are done by this API in Windows

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724913%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

And when the program does that it tells the API to name the old hives with .old on them in the same folder as the registry.
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\config"

So if you see .old files in there then it should be working. Possible reason it may not be working is if the program cant get rid of any previous .old files, or if something is wrong with the API call.

Shane

[Elwood]

No .old files in that location.

I don't know how or where to move registry hives, so they must be in the default location.

It's a fresh install of XP SP3 and all known updates so everything api-wise should be like new.

[Shane]

I am at a loss on that one as well since the program is calling the Windows API. Only thing I can think of is that the API will not except reg backups that are on a network drive, I think it should be fine if they are on a different drive though, where do you have them saving to?

Also here are a couple of other ways to restore.
http://www.tweaking.com/articles/pages/tweaking_com_registry_backup_online_help,3.html

Shane

[Elwood]

I am at a loss on that one as well since the program is calling the Windows API. Only thing I can think of is that the API will not except reg backups that are on a network drive, I think it should be fine if they are on a different drive though, where do you have them saving to?

I've created a folder E:\RegBackup where I store my backups. It's on the same physical hard drive with Windows (C:\), but it's a separate (logical) partition.

Also here are a couple of other ways to restore.
http://www.tweaking.com/articles/pages/tweaking_com_registry_backup_online_help,3.html

Shane

Thanks, but I'm very low on bandwidth left for the month. I'll watch the videos when I get my next allotment (22 days), but I'll stick with Erunt for the time being. At one time I had it set up just right, but since using your program, I've forgotten how to get it to work the way I want it to. I'm getting old, forget how to do stuff real quick these days. I know it has to do with a .ini file, but can't get it right.

[Shane]

Lets test if the API doesnt like the reg files on another drive, change the backup location to the C: drive and do one backup and then restore it and see if it works. If it does then the API wont load registry files other than what is located on the Windows drive, which if that is the case I will make an update to copy the backup to the Windows drive before the restore

Shane

[Elwood]

Sorry, but it still doesn't work.

I guess I'm about to uninstall Registry Backup and just depend on Erunt until this issue is resolved.

Thanks for trying to help, tho'. 

[Shane]

If you get a chance look at those videos, they are small, and you will see I made it super easy to restore the registry outside of the program

Good luck and take care.

Shane