Solved Windows 7 Repair Installation

[Mister Fox]

Well, I've fudged up my registry again.

And once again, it seems the only recommended option is to re-install windows.
Before I do this (which will be for the second time, my fault I'm afraid), I'd like to make sure
I have something correct here- Will performing a repair install (using the upgrade option to
re-install windows without affecting files) reset my registry?

Also, is there anything I can do to prevent myself from messing up windows permissions (again)?

Thanks for putting up with my smart-stupidity.

 

[Brink]

Hello Mister Fox,

If you have a restore point available, you could do a system restore with a restore point dated before you had the issue to undo it.

One thing that you could do is to create a restore point before doing anything that may mess up the system. This way a quick system restore using the restore point will undo it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Mister Fox]

Thanks for the tip Brink, I don't have any restore points.

As for my initial question, will doing a repair (or in-place upgrade) install of windows 7, will this reset the registry to its factory default state? My issues are with registry permissions, and I hope to perform this repair install to fix these problems.

 

[Brink]

It'll be worth a try to see if a repair install may help with the permissions. Sometimes it may, and sometimes it may not.

 

[Digital Life]

If I were you after you installing win seven again and after updating it and getting it the way you want it to look don't install any programs use Macrium to backup your hard drive just in case you mess up again. The only problem with this is you have another drive or partition to store it on ( 10 gig should do )

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/43219-image-your-system-free-macrium.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/229409-macrium-winpe-iso-download.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/210513-macrium-reflect-v5-restore.html

 

[Mister Fox]

If I were you after you installing win seven again and after updating it and getting it the way you want it to look don't install any programs use Macrium to backup your hard drive just in case you mess up again. The only problem with this is you have another drive or partition to store it on ( 10 gig should do )

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/43219-image-your-system-free-macrium.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/229409-macrium-winpe-iso-download.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/210513-macrium-reflect-v5-restore.html

Thanks for the tip. I have a 1 TB backup drive that I use for things like this. However, I have found that using Windows Backup or Win7 Easy Transfer works well enough for my needs.

 

[Brink]

Be sure to start including restore points in there as well to help with quick fixes.

 

[Mister Fox]

Just wanted to let you know that all of my problems have been resolved.

I did a repair installation of Windows 7, then used these items to completely reset everything:

7 Smoker Pro (Windows UI tweaker and issue resolver that uses the registry)
RefreshPC 2.0 (Keeps a database of the Win7 default registry, and resets the current one to this default)
CCleaner (Just to be sure, I ran a registry clean)

After restarting my PC, all of my problems were fixed!


Don't worry, I'm sure I'll mess something up soon, I wouldn't want to keep you guys answering the easy questions

 

[gregrocker]

If you use tweaking tools like that then you'll be needing plenty of Restore Points and a System Image backed up at all times: System Protection - Change Disk Space Usage
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

Win7 is a perfectly balanced OS with very low overhead that needs no tweaking or other modifications beyond the tools and methods which work best compiled in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. These steps are the same for retail, and will assure you get and keep a perfect install.

 

[Brink]

Great news Mister Fox.