No programs in add/remove - Windows 8 to windows 7

ratchetclan4 · 11 Jul 2012

Ok so i installed windows 8 and did not want it anymore, and it was such a pain to uninstall so i ended up having to reinstall windows 7, move all the stuff out of windows.old back into windows 7 so now i've got all my program files back and such. the problem is when i use any of my shortcuts (Iconless) it comes up "This action is only valid for products currently installed", is there a way i can somehow i can add all these back to add/remove or something?

"I have all the settings from my windows 7 before i installed 8 and then reinstalled 7 as they are still in my windows.old folder if i need any."

so yeah, how do i tell my computer that all these programs are installed cause there in program files? theres like 600gb of stuff so i don't really want to reinstall every program when there on my machine but just not opening.

writhziden · 11 Jul 2012

You really should re-install Windows and then install each program. Any other way is going to leave your system buggy and cause conflicts. You could try moving the old config folder to the new (back up the new config folder first): https://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-d...ml#post1819438

This is similar to the following method:

You will need a Windows 7 repair disc or you can use the Advanced Boot Options to get to the System Recovery Options.

Then try the steps in Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery. Note the warning:

Warning

The instructions presented withing this tutorial must be followed correctly, or you can damage your Windows 7 installation even further. This tutorial is designed to help recover from a bad registry that is causing the startup repair loop. You should note that there may still be some issues remaining that cannot be fixed by manually restoring the registry.

Warning

WARNING: Keep in mind that you do the above at your own risk. I do not recommend doing the above. I recommend clean installing Windows and installing programs one at a time as in the following tutorial.

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

ratchetclan4 · 12 Jul 2012

I tried a different approach, i got the registry keys from my old SOFTWARE.reg
and imported them into the windows registry, now while i was doing this is came up "A registry file is in use by another program" or something. so i restarted my computer to safe mode, turns out now i can't boot into windows because of the error

Interactive Logon Initialization process has failed.

I have tried going into the windows Repair cd and launching regedit and importing the keys again, but i then get the error "Registry is unavailable" or something.

i can access my windows explorer by using the "Load Drivers" option on the repair cd, if i need to move any files.

but yeah how do i fix this
Interactive Logon Initialization process has failed.

i kind of already moved all my program files back into the folders, so a system restore would delete my stuff

*NOTE*

I would not recommend importing massive amounts of registry settings like i just did. The error was caused by files in the registry being in use as i was importing, thus causing some files to be missing and half updated, so it corrupted my registry, i have re installed windows now.

However does anybody know a way to copy to the registry without it being in use at all?
this is because i want to copy "Add/remove programs data, from the SOFTWARE of my old windows installation"

writhziden · 13 Jul 2012

Glad to see the problem solved. How did you solve it?