Registry Error

willyp · 4 Weeks Ago

I had left my 7 year old Acer desktop on for a few weeks when the fan started to make some louder noises. It appeared that the computer froze so I did a hard shut down by holding the power button down for a few seconds. When I restarted the PC, the BSOD screen popped up with the stop code of "Registry_Error". After automatically restarting, the BSOD screen kept popping up.

I tried getting the PC boot into safe mode but did not have any success using the usual power down when Windows starts to boot up routine. I next tried to boot the PC up via a bootable USB flash drive created with the Media Creation Tool using my PC laptop. I ran the startup disk repair tool but it did not find any problems.

Since a registry error was being reported, I thought I should try restoring to a previous snapshot just in case there was an automatic update applied while the computer was sitting idle. However, I cannot restore the snapshot because my C drive doesn't have enough room. If restoring to a previous snapshot may be the next logical troubleshooting step, how can I access my C drive to delete some unnecessary user files I have on it and make some room? I can't seem to access the drive via the command console via the bootable USB flash drive advanced utility.

Also, please let me know if there should be other steps taken if restoring to a previous snapshot is not the next troubleshooting step.

Current OS version is 10 (latest confirmed OS update before I let it sit idle was about 4 weeks ago).

dalchina · 4 Weeks Ago

It appeared that the computer froze so I did a hard shut down

Are you certain you did not interrupt an update under way?

I thought I should try restoring to a previous snapshot

- could you explain what sort of snapshot you are referring to please?

Is that using a 3rd party tool like Rollback RX? Or are you referring to a System Restore point- or something else? Thanks.

As to accessing your drive- you can normally:
a. - boot your PC from a Win 10 install disk and via Advanced Startup options to a command prompt...
b. - create and boot your PC from a live boot disk into a Win 10-like environment e.g. Bob Omb's, Hiren's etc (Google)
c. - remove the disk and connect it as an external disk to another PC.

I can't seem to access the drive via the command console via the bootable USB flash drive advanced utility.

Perhaps that's (a) above.

If you really can't acccess the disk, there's a possibility it has failed.
(b) or (c) would let you run a diagnostic check - e.g. using Crystal Diskinfo.

Thanks.

willyp · 4 Weeks Ago

It appeared that the computer froze so I did a hard shut down

Are you certain you did not interrupt an update under way?

I am not 100% sure if there was an update occurring when I did the hard shut down.

I thought I should try restoring to a previous snapshot

- could you explain what sort of snapshot you are referring to please?

Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I meant rolling back to a previous system restore point.

As to accessing your drive- you can normally:
a. - boot your PC from a Win 10 install disk and via Advanced Startup options to a command prompt...
b. - create and boot your PC from a live boot disk into a Win 10-like environment e.g. Bob Omb's, Hiren's etc (Google)
c. - remove the disk and connect it as an external disk to another PC.

Thanks for the tips. Since I can’t locate my original Win 10 install disk (probably buried somewhere in my office lol), I may try Hiren BootCD PE or Bob.Omb’s.

dalchina · 4 Weeks Ago

Thanks.
First: if there is registry corruption it is very likely trying to use a System Restore point will fail. That said, it's worth trying.

Second, you can
- boot your PC from a Win 10 install disk, navigate thru the Advanced Startup options, hence to System Restore.
You will need the relevant password. Tutorial available.

For clarification: you say you don't have a Win 10 install disk to hand, but say

the bootable USB flash drive advanced utility.

I'm not clear what that is...

Note that you can create a Win 10 install disk using the MS media creation tool (on a different PC of course).

Should you have interrupted an update in progress, it may be impossible to recover your O/S as is.

Do you use 3rd party disk imaging routinely and regularly as is endlessly recommended here? If so, you could restore a recent disk image of your Windows partition.