Windows cannot find regedit need HELP!

[paret]

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.

 

[debugged]

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.

 

[paret]

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?

 

[EzioAuditore]

Have you tried system restore?

 

[Jacee]

Until you find the problem, download the free (lite) version of Registrar Registry Resplendence Software - Free Downloads

 

[n0th1n9]

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.

 

[brady]

%systemroot% needs to be changed to E: now



http://geekswithblogs.net/renso/archive/2009/10/21/how-to-set-the-windows-path-in-windows-7.aspx

 

[DeaconFrost]

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.

 

[debugged]

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.

 

[paret]

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

 

[paul1149]

I think all that would be necessary would be to redefine the environmental variable, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, at System Properties. The problem is that previously installed programs that access their files by means of that variable would find themselves up the creek.

 

[MacGyvr]

Can't you just run System Restore and go back to before you made these changes?

 

[n0th1n9]

You can move the entire User, Program Files and ProgramData folders to another partition. With this you can actually get away with C: being 16 GB in size.


Note: I have a bunch of programs installed and my free space on C: is 7.86 GB of 16GB. My computer is however running without a pagefile and a hibernation file, System Protection is also turned off.

Tip: Copy the command lines into motepad file onto a USB thumb drive for easy access.

What you will need to do first:

After a clean install of Windows but before creating a User profile you will need to press sift F10, this will open the command prompt. From within the command prompt, type 'notepad' to open up notepad. Within notepad, go to file then open. In the navigation pane right mouse click on computer and select from the menu 'manage'. From here you can setup your partitions, assigning drive letters and formatting them.

Now for the commands:

Where I have E: - this is my partition where I move the folders to, you can use any drive letter you want so long as the partition has the same drive letter of the commands being entered. Execute one command at a time. When you get the #5 command you will need to close out of notepad in order to fully delete program files form C:. You can re-open notepad when the command has finished.

You cannot fully delete ProgramData yet but don't let that stop you from running all the commands.

#1: robocopy "C:\Users" "E:\Users" /E /COPYALL /XJ
#2: robocopy "C:\Program Files" "E:\Program Files" /E /COPYALL /XJ
#3: robocopy "C:\Program Files (x86)" "E:\Program Files (x86)" /E /COPYALL /XJ
#4: robocopy "C:\ProgramData" "E:\ProgramData" /E /COPYALL /XJ
#5: rmdir "C:\Program Files" /S /Q
#6: mklink /J "C:\Program Files" "E:\Program Files"
#7: rmdir "C:\Program Files (x86)" /S /Q
#8: mklink /J "C:\Program Files (x86)" "E:\Program Files (x86)"
#9: rmdir "C:\users" /S /Q
#10: mklink /J "C:\Users" "E:\Users"
#11: rmdir "C:\ProgramData" /S /Q
#12: mklink /J "C:\ProgramData "E:\ProgramData"
#13: mklink /J "C:\Windows\Installer" E:\Installer" (This will be created after you have setup your user account).

Once you have finished executing all the commands you will need to perform some registry edits. From the command prompt type 'regedit' and press enter.

First: within the registry editor you need to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows then high light CurrentVersion. From there make it look like this but replace E: with whatever drive letter you chose earlier.



Then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion and high light ProfileList , then replace C: with whatever drive letter you chose earlier.



When the registry edits are done proceed with creating your user profile. Once you're at your desktop restart your computer, you will then be able to fully delete Program Data from C:.


Some program installations will still place things like .dlls into the C: drive but it wont be nearly as drastic has having them place all of their bloat into the C: drive. When installing programs some will still show C: as the location to install to but they will not be truly installed on the C: drive.

The last step is to manually create the installer folder to the E: drive. Step #13 points to this folder. Pretty much all programs like to keep their junk in C:Windows\Installer folder.

Now for the hazards:

If you lose access to the User account folders via deletion or locked by encryption where Windows is not able to auto unlock the drive you will permanently, not be able to log into Windows, this will force you to reinstall Windows.

 

[James Colbert]

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

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/39689-program-files-directory-change-default-installs.html

James

 

[n0th1n9]

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

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/39689-program-files-directory-change-default-installs.html

James

This tutorial is actually incomplete and will mess things up. My tutorial is the completed version.

 

[James Colbert]

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

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/39689-program-files-directory-change-default-installs.html

James

This tutorial is actually incomplete and will mess things up. My tutorial is the completed version.

If you believe that to be true, I recommend you use the contact link at the bottom of the page.

James

 

[n0th1n9]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/39689-program-files-directory-change-default-installs.html

James

This tutorial is actually incomplete and will mess things up. My tutorial is the completed version.

If you believe that to be true, I recommend you use the contact link at the bottom of the page.

James

Great idea, and already done.

 

[Spatiality]

I have a similar situation with regedit except I just finished an XP -> Vista -> Windows 7 upgrade. After the OS upgrade, I also upgraded Office 2003 to Office 2010 and installed Acrobat X Pro without incident.

The symptoms of the problem are almost exactly the same as the original poster's in that: 1) I get the "Windows cannot find C:\Windows\regedit.exe" (or if you run regedit from the CMD prompt "The system cannot find the file C:\Windows\regedit.exe.") dialogue box and 2) the regedit.exe file does exist in C:\Windows (I also copied regedit.exe from another 32-bit Windows 7 computer and tried that one which didn't work either).

I've also tried running regedt32 which doesn't work however there is no error dialog, the prompt just goes away.

I don't have any problems with running CMD, MSCONFIG or other EXE files, just regedit.exe and unlike paret's situation, I am able to access "C:\Windows\system32\SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe".

I scanned for malware, rootkits, and virus, checked paths, and even ran SFC but everything appears to be fine.

It is quite bizarre.

I'm not above doing a repair install if that is my only option however the computer with the issue is off-site and I was really hoping not to have to go there if I didn't have to so I'm opened to any further suggestions.

In the interim, thanks for the post on the Resplendence Software since that seems to be able to access the registry and seems to work just fine.

 

[Spatiality]

It turns out it isn't so much that the system is currently infected with malware, it is more the fact that at one time it was infected and when it was removed it left a little piece behind :sarc: Malware had previously modified the:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

key by creating sub key named regedit.exe. Simply deleting that sub key (obviously attaching either remotely or using a third party registry utility since you can't use regedit) resolves the problem.

 

[megtanael]

hi paret i did the same exact thing that you did and have been looking around for solutions. im desperate. have you fixed your issue?