Registry Editor "Find"-command not working any more under Windows 10

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  1. mmo
    Posts : 140
    Windows 10
       #1

    Registry Editor "Find"-command not working any more under Windows 10


    I recently upgraded to Windows 10. Since then searches in the Registry Editor do not work any more (the app consumes 20% CPU, but the search never finishes. Canceling the search crashes the registry editor.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 42,737
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #2

    Hi, a problem for some but not all. Please see:
    Registry Editor crashing - Windows 10 Forums
    - get regedit from build 10240
    or
    - use a 3rd party reg editor for now.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 1,091
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
       #3

    or use regscanner from here to do the search which will use regedit to edit..

    RegScanner: Alternative to RegEdit find/search/scan of Windows
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 5
    Win 10 Home 64-bit
       #4

    Fixed It the hard way.


    mmo said:
    I recently upgraded to Windows 10. Since then searches in the Registry Editor do not work any more (the app consumes 20% CPU, but the search never finishes. Canceling the search crashes the registry editor.
    Made a Restore Point. Saved the entire Registry. Started with an arbitrary search word from HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG, that is from the bottom. If the "search" completed successfully, made new searh from HKEY_USERS and so on till a HangUp occured. Then I made searches from subkeys always starting from bottom upwards. Found an endless loop. Deleted topmost entry. Now Registry Search works
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 42,737
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #5

    Admire your persistence.. did you note the registry entry that you deleted?
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 5
    Win 10 Home 64-bit
       #6

    dalchina said:
    Admire your persistence.. did you note the registry entry that you deleted?
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/Setup/Upgrade/Pnp/CurrentControlSet/Control/DevMig/Devices/SWD/WPDBUSENUM/_??_USBSTOR#DISK&VEN_GENERIC-&PROD_SM#XD-PICTURE..... Some of the subkeys.
      My Computer


  7. mmo
    Posts : 140
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #7

    @hjim: Thanks for the hint!

    I followed your scheme and I actually have found TWO such entries by now (there might still be more).

    The first one I could simply delete, but the second yields an exception in the Registry Editor when trying to delete:

    The key is:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses\{7f108a28-9833-4b3b-b780-2c6b5fa5c062}\##?#STORAGE#Volume#_??_USBSTOR#Disk&Ven_SanDisk&Prod_Sandisk_Ultra&Rev_PMAP#A20054256F 62A237&0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}#{7f108a28-9833-4b3b-b780-2c6b5fa5c062}

    and exhibits an endless "#" subtree:

    Registry Editor "Find"-command not working any more under Windows 10-undeletable-registry-entry.png

    It is in the DeviceClasses subtree (so a bit touchy to delete things here) but the offending entry should be harmless to delete - it describes a memory card, so in the worst case my system would not recognize that SD card any more.

    Any idea anyone, how to delete such an "undeletable" key nonetheless?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 42,737
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #8

    You should really only delete/modify the registry if
    a. there's no alternative
    b. you know precisely what the effect will be
    c. you have adequate backups

    Modifying the registry in an ad hoc manner can cause you endless pain.

    Simply use a 3rd party registry editor (there are some good ones with the handy equivalent of an address bar) probably avoids this hopefully temporary search bug as previously posted.
      My Computers


  9. mmo
    Posts : 140
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #9

    dalchina said:
    You should really only delete/modify the registry if ...
    Thanks for the caveat, but I am an old Windows warhorse. I think I know what risks I can take and which not. And - yes - I *do* have made backups of my registry before attempting such "surgery".

    Coming back to my question: is there a tool that allows to remove obviously recursive or "endless" registry entries without itself crashing while doing so?
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 2
    windows 10 64 bit pro
       #10

    mmo said:
    Thanks for the caveat, but I am an old Windows warhorse. I think I know what risks I can take and which not. And - yes - I *do* have made backups of my registry before attempting such "surgery".

    Coming back to my question: is there a tool that allows to remove obviously recursive or "endless" registry entries without itself crashing while doing so?
    I've fixed it without a tool. I had the same problem (endless #) with same key, except a different Sandisk USB. Would not let me delete it. Any search in regedit would die when it hit this key. So it's not just a useless key problem but makes searching in regedit almost impossible. So I got a brainstorm and renamed the top level # key to temp. And them, voila, I could delete the whole mess. I suspect the cause of the problem was I unsafely removed the USB drive a few days ago.
      My Computer


 

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