Can not open .exe or any other files

Here is a rundown of what happened. I was on the computer, not doing anything online and suddenly the computer shuts down and restarts. Upon restarting, windows (I'm running Windows 64 bit Home Premium) appears to not be able to open. It promptly displayed a new loading bar with "Loading Windows Files" or something like that.

I attempted to reboot in safe mode, lastest working config, etc but nothing worked. I ran hardware checks including memory checks and nothing appeared to be wrong.

When trying to run the repair utility, there was a startuprepairoffline error and the issue could not be fixed.

I attempted a system restore but it said the restore failed. However, upon restarting my computer, it loaded to Windows and said restore was successful.

Now that I somehow have Windows up, I am unable to use any programs of any kind besides cmd, regedit, etc. I have attempted to download the exe_fix_w7 file however it will not merge with the existing registry as it says that some are in use. I have tried both in safe mode as well as normal but to no use. I attempted to manually edit the lines which seems possible however I'm unsure if I did it correctly.

So basically I'm stuck at not being able to open any files at the moment. I'm still not entirely sure there isn't something wrong with the hardware as on start up the computer now makes a sound on the Dell splash screen as if something is shutting down internally, however the BIOS diagnostic had everything passing so it may be nothing.


REALLY need help on this.

Devux said:

Welcome to Seven Forums.
My advice would be to perform a system restore, to a time before the original "crash". See if that fixes the issue and let us know.

Did that. After I did the "failed and yet somehow successful restore", I thought it would be best to attempt a restore point again though it came up with the same error but still restored.

I have tried downloading MBAM and installing it via a thumb drive however I am still unable to run the install. I should mention it does not appear to be just .exes but most every file ending. Also, I just attempted to access my uninstall via control panel>uninstall a program and it will not open. This is also true of all the other clickable "icons" in the control panel besides the headers (ie. System and security, Prgrams, Hardware and Sound, etc).

Ran sfc /scannow. It found some errors and said they were fixed. However, upon rebooting, I am still unable to open any programs.

When attempting to merge the exe_fix_win7, I get the following message:

Cannot import <root>\exe_fix_w7.reg: Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes.

I have also tried disabling everything using msconfig however the issues persists when attempting to do any of the previously attempted steps. I was also able to do a system restore without the error message, however, again, the inability to use any programs still persists.

Tepid said:

Please read the entirety of number 3. You can not run a complete RAM Diag in one pass, or half hour. Yes, you may need access to a working PC to create the diags.

The built in diags from BIOS are not always adequate.

Did you even try to run an online scanner? Did you even read the article?

However, I am not convinced that this is hardware related either.

Seeing as there are many issues with running any apps at all I would say Corrupted OS, you will save yourself a lot of time and grief by Backing up your data and reloading the OS.

Even if you fix the ability to run exe's there is no gaurrantee that something else is not broken also. So you are actually wasting more time trying to fix it than actaully resolving it.

Corrupted OS's should never be trusted once corrupted.

I had previously ran RAM diagnostics multiple times with each pass coming back as negative for problems. However, I will run the ones you linked. Currently I am attempting to fix the issues I have as I do not have the installation CD and another one won't arrive until June 2nd so I thought I might as well attempt to fix it while I had the free time waiting on the CD.