Windows cannot find regedit need HELP!

recently installed windows 7 pro x64 on a brand new computer that I built myself. My computer has two separate drives: A 64GB Kingston SSD used as a boot drive and a 500GB WD HDD. I installed windows 7 on the SSD and intend to use this drive (C: just to store the operating system). I want everything else stored of the HDD which I labeled as my E: drive. To avoid program files from being installed on my C: by default ( Like microsoft office, which does not ask you the location where you wish to instal) I changed the default instalation diretion in the registration. Here is exactly what I did

- run regedit from cmd
-accesed HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
-changed ProgramFilesDir PATH from C:\Program Files to E:\Program files ( which I created myself), along with several other default paths
-Rebooted to allow changes to take affect

When the computer rebooted I tried to run regedit again and an error notification came up that says:

Windows cannot find C:\Windows\regedit.exe. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Im assuming I made a mistake when entering the new path names but I can no longer view the registry to see ifthat is the case because no matter what I do I cannot get regedit to run. I have been looking around everywhere for a solution.
here are a list of solutions/possible causes that I have found, but that do not work in my case

-Malware, I understand this problem is most commonly caused by malware or some virus. But my computer is brand new and I have yet to connect it to the internet, and I am the only one who has used it ( im working on a different pc right now)

-tried running regedt32 or regedit32 or REGEDIT or pretty much any other combination of the words 'reg' 'edit'

- Yes the regedit.exe does exist in the system. When I open C:\Windows I can see the regedit application, and yes it is stored as an application, and yes regedit32.exe is stored in C:\Windows\system32

I would realy like to find a solution to the problem that does not involve re-instaling windows or regedit, there has to be a way because liek I said it was probably cause by some typo and I know that the file is not corrupt or damaged.

What happens when you double-click on the regedit32.exe file itself? If it opens then you can hunt for any typos, if not, then you may be able to get at the registry hives by importing them from another system - if you don't already have a multiboot, you could do a quick install of another system on another partition just for that purpose, it's so easy with Win7.

I still get the error notification when I click on the .exe file itself. If I install another system on another partition wouldn't the two have separate registry files?

%systemroot% needs to be changed to E: now



http://geekswithblogs.net/renso/arch...windows-7.aspx

Honestly, I'd consider reinstalling from scratch, and then properly redirecting your Program Files directory. I am never in favor of this, but I see why you are doing it. That will give you the most stable system, and avoid further issues like this from popping up down the road.

Good advice DeaconFrost, I bet it saves time in the long run.

Paret - you asked: "If I install another system on another partition wouldn't the two have separate registry files?"

That's the point - If system X is broken, open Regedit in system Y, highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Go to File, Load Hive and browse to Windows\System32\Config in system X. Select the appropriate Hive (System, Software, etc.), give the hive a name when prompted. It will show as a subkey under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in system Y. Now you can edit it. When done, highlight the hive you imported, go to File, Unload Hive. Now it's back in system X, hopefully repaired.

n0th1n9 said:

I know what you were trying to do, and you did it wrong. What you are trying to accomplish however is very symple. When you perform these tasks you have to do it before you create a user account. I have to to work soon so I don't really have too much time to get into the details, but I can assure you that it works very well; as I have done this many times, and have failed many times, so I know what to expect.

I have all the commands saved in a text file, but I will also need to provide information for you perform a proper setup.
Maybe to night I will tell you how, when I get off work.

I will probably just end up reinstalling and starting from scratch. I obviously wnet about changing the default installation location wrong, would you mind explaining to me the proper way of doing it, I would greatly appreciate it