Microsoft Windows Registry Guide, Second Edition

Fixing Corrupt Settings

Even if you've followed my advice to this point, you're going to run into problems. Sometimes a simple change to the registry has effects that can't be fixed by restoring a backup copy of a value. Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (Windows) and most applications are incredibly resilient, though, so fixing a problem is a simple matter of telling it, “Healthyself.”

The quickest way to fix a corrupt setting is to remove the offending value and allow the program to re-create it using a default. (Windows and most programs re-create missing settings, which is what makes this method work in most cases.) This method is tantamount to uninstalling and reinstalling an application. The difficult part is figuring out which value contains the troublesome setting. Chapter 10, “Finding Registry Settings,” helps you track down settings. For example, if your mouse pointer bounces around the screen in convulsive fits, remove the key HKCU\ControlPanel\Mouse. When you log off and back on to Windows, the mouse settings are re-created. The operating system won't re-create everything you delete, though–particularly file associations in HKCR. So before you try this troubleshooting technique, back up any setting that you are going to delete.

There are also ways to fix those settings that Windows or other programs don't re-create. If you used the Files And Settings Transfer Wizard to transfer your settings from an earlier version of Windows to Windows XP, you can reapply your old settings to your current configuration. IT professionals use the User State Migration Tool for the same purpose. Of course, there must be copies of the original user state data for this to be possible. Chapter 12, “Deploying User Profiles,” describes this tool. Other options for repairing settings are described later in this chapter.

Managing Settings to Avoid Problems

IT professionals avoid most problems with settings by properly managing the settings. The first and most important practice is not to place users into the local Administrators group. I understand the reasons why you might do this, such as legacy applications that won't otherwise run properly, or users who can't change settings because their accounts are in the local Power Users or local Users groups. You can successfully deal with all these issues by using tools such as security templates, which you learn about in Chapter 8, “Configuring Windows Security.” Moving users from the local Administrators group to the Power Users or Users group is not difficult and can save professionals a lot of frustration–and their companies a lot of money.

Policies are another good way to manage settings. Policies accomplish two goals: first they configure settings for the user if, for example, he or she doesn't know the appropriate values. Policies also configure settings according to IT policy, and users can't change these settings. Moving users out of the local Administrators group saves your company money by reducing lost downtime and deviations from corporate standards, but policies actually help you recover money from your IT investment. Chapter 7, “Using Registry-Based Policy,” describes exactly how to use policies and how they benefit IT.

In the Windows registry, you can also set keys' permissions to prevent users from changing those settings. This might sound like a great idea, but managing settings at that level of detail is so cumbersome that it is almost impossible to maintain. If you need to manage a key's ACL, use security templates instead. Security templates are much easier to deploy and maintain across the board, and you learn how to use them in Chapter 8.

Allowing Windows to Fix Errors

Perhaps you can't find a setting in the registry, or removing that setting from the registry doesn't fix the problem. In that case, use Control Panel, where you can fix many per-user settings and a few per-computer settings. These settings include the configuration of all your input and output devices, particularly the pointing device, keyboard, display, and printer. They also include accessibility and regional options.

When a device just doesn't work, your best bet is often to remove it and have Windows redetect the device. In my experience, this fixes a vast number of problems. You remove a device by using Device Manager and restarting the computer, and then Windows redetects it. If the operating system doesn't redetect the device, use the Add Hardware Wizard to detect it. You start the Add Hardware Wizard from Control Panel. Removing a device directly from the registry isn't a good idea because Windows scatters devices' settings, and the linkages are difficult to remove accurately. Follow these instructions to reinstall a device:

  1. Open Device Manager.

    To open Device Manager, right-click My Computer, click Properties, and then select the Hardware tab. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.

  2. Navigate to the device that you want to remove, select it, and then click Uninstall on the Action menu.

TIP

Sysprep.exe is a Microsoft tool and is used to prepare a disk containing Windows for duplication and deployment; it can also be used to set things straight when your configuration is seriously out of order. When you restart a computer after running Sysprep, the Mini-Setup Wizard configures the computer for use. It detects the computer's hardware, configures the network connections, and optionally joins the computer to a business network. Chapter 15, “Cloning Disks with Sysprep,” describes Sysprep in more detail. To use Sysprep to repair a broken configuration and redetect your computer's hardware, run sysprep –activated–pnp–quiet – reseal. If you want to fully automate the Mini-Setup Wizard, create the file Sysprep.inf, which you learn about in Chapter 15. This is a radical step–you'll lose the local Administrator user profile and a good number of per-computer settings–but it might give your configuration the refresh that it needs.

Repairing an Application's Settings

Predictability is a good thing when it comes to program settings. And most programs organize their settings in the registry in the same way. Per-user settings are in HKCU\Software\CompanyCompany\ ProgramProgram\Version\Version\, and per-computer settings are in the same branch of HKLM. Company is the name of the application's publisher, Program is the name of the application, and Version is an optional version number. (Some people omit the version number, which isn't strictly by the standards but is common nonetheless.) Figure 9-1 shows where the TechSmith (http://www.techsmith.com) product SnagIt version 5 stores its settings. (This happens to be the program that I use to capture screenshots.)

Figure 9-1 TechSmith SnagIt is the best screen capture tool, and it works well with Windows.

Well-designed applications re-create settings that they're missing. To reset the program's per-user settings, remove HKCU\Software\Company\Company\ProgramProgram\. You typically don't want to remove the program's per-computer settings because doing so is likely to adversely affect most applications. You can hide the program's per-computer settings to test the scenario first, just to be safe.

Windows Installer–based applications are easier to reset because Windows Installer has repair functionality built right into it. Microsoft Office 2003 Editions are examples of a Windows Installer–based application. To learn more about Windows Installer–based applications, see Chapter 13, “Mapping Windows Installer.” For now, I will describe the three different ways that you can make Windows Installer restore an application's original settings:

The last repair method for Windows Installer–based applications, particularly for Office 2003 Editions, is Profile Wizard. Chapter 17, “Deploying Office 2003 Settings,” describes how to use this tool to deploy settings with Office 2003 Editions. Basically, you install and configure Office 2003 on a sample computer, capture Office 2003 Editions settings to an Office Profile Settings (OPS) file using the Office Profile Wizard, and then deploy the OPS file with your Office 2003 Editions customizations. IT professionals should think of that OPS file as a help desk tool and save it for later use. After users' phone time is up (we both know there's a limit to how long you want calls to last), and before you apply new disk images to their computers, reapply the OPS file to restore their settings. The command that you're running on their computers is proflwiz /r filename /qfilename /q, where filename is the name of the OPS file that contains Office 2003 Editions per-user settings.

Removing Programs from the Registry

As I said earlier, predictability makes troubleshooting settings in the Windows registry possible. Predictability also makes removing programs' settings possible, but it does not make it easy. Some programs don't uninstall correctly, and you're left with no choice but to manually remove their settings from the registry. For example, if an uninstall program doesn't finish properly, it might fail to remove the entry from the list of programs in Add Or Remove Programs, or it might orphan a file association, causing you to see an error message about Windows not finding a program when you double-click a file.

You can invest in a third-party tool to look for and remove the program's settings, or you can do it manually. Even though it's somewhat difficult, you can remove most programs' settings successfully. Doing so is more art than science, but here are the general steps involved in the process:

  1. List the EXE and DLL files in the application's folder.

    You install most programs in %SystemDrive%\Program Files\ Program, where Program is the name of the program. List the EXE and DLL files in that folder and all of its subfolders.

  2. Remove keys and values that contain the application's installation folder.

    Search the registry for each of the application's folders and subfolders. For example, if an application installed in C:\Program Files\Example has two subfolders, \Binary and \Templates, search the registry for C:\Program Files\Example, C:\Program Files\Example\Binary, and C:\Program Files\Example\Templates. To avoid interfering with other programs that might require the settings that you will remove, choose those keys and values carefully.

  3. Remove keys and values that contain the program's name.

    Search the registry for different versions of the program's name. For example, if the application is Jerry's House of Horrors, search for Jerry's, Jerry's House, and House of Horrors. Use any combinations that you think you'll find in the registry. Choose carefully the keys and values that you remove so that you don't break other applications that might also use those settings.

  4. Remove keys and values that contain the EXE and DLL files you recorded.

    You recorded a list of EXE and DLL files in step 1. Search the registry for each of these program files. Search for the complete file name, including the extension, and remove the key or value only if the path matches the program's installation folder. As with the other steps, use caution here.

Removing Windows Installer–based applications manually is much more difficult because they knit themselves into the registry much more tightly than do programs that are packaged using other technologies. Chapter 13, “Mapping Windows Installer,” is your best resource for figuring out these settings, but you still shouldn't remove them manually. Chapter 13 describes a tool called Msizap.exe that removes almost all traces of a program's Windows Installer data from the registry. This tool comes with the Windows Support Tools, and the command line is msizap T! packagepackage, where package is the path and file name of the package file from which you installed the application. Msicuu.exe is similar; you also learn about it in Chapter 13. After using either tool, use the instructions that you read earlier in this section to remove any remaining settings.

Msizap.exe Saves the Day

Msizap.exe has saved me on more than one occasion. In one case, I was upgrading a customer's deployment servers with the latest version of Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition. My plan was to upgrade to the latest version in place.

Nothing ever goes as planned, eh? Ghost's Windows Installer data was corrupt on one particular server, and I was certain that the customer wasn't going to believe me when I said, “I didn't do it.” Because of the corrupt data, I couldn't upgrade to the newer version of Ghost. And my heart sank when I found out that I couldn't remove the earlier version, either.

I almost swapped servers, but I remembered Msizap.exe and thought I'd give it a try. Sure enough, Msizap.exe removed enough of Ghost's Windows Installer data from the registry that I was able to install the new version. I credit this handy utility with saving me a lot of work and a lot of explaining. You learn more about Msizap.exe in Chapter 13, “Mapping Windows Installer.” Keep this tool nearby.

Using Another Computer's Settings

If all other methods fail, and you're desperate to repair settings, you can borrow settings from another computer. The only time that I recommend doing this is when the settings are simple and contained within a small key. For example, restoring a file association or a small program's settings from another computer is straightforward enough, but borrowing a device's settings from another computer just isn't a good idea. There's no reason to believe that Windows will store the exact same settings for the exact same device on two different computers.

When borrowing settings from another computer, you can use either REG files or hive files. I prefer hive files because importing them completely replaces the key that they contain. First connect to the remote computer's registry, and export the settings to a hive file. Regedit stores the hive file in a folder on your local computer so you don't have to copy it from the remote computer. Import the hive file to replace your old settings with the settings in the hive file. This is useful for IT professionals in a supporting role, too. You can borrow the key from one remote computer and then connect to another remote computer to restore the settings to the second computer's registry. For example, you can copy a file association from one remote computer to another remote computer.

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