Vista not starting thanks to a.exe association problem... I think

It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it asked for
an application to open it with... after much thought I decided to take a risk
and go ahead, which turned out to be an unfortunate mistake. All my exe files
became associated with notepad (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to
solve the problem from http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a "unable to
delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my comp in safe mode.
Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
I really would like to retain my windows installation...
I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows installation
and change the registry, I could get it up and running. The problem however
is that I cannot locate the required registry.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!

The key that's required to be deleted is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Explorer \ FileExts \ .exe \ UserChoice
The OS is Windows Vista Ultimate
I can use the WinVista Installation DVD to access my folder tree
Using Unbuntu (from a live cd) to type this thread!
Thanks again!

"DJ_Anonymus" <> wrote in message
news:E6447388-E9B8-4EBF-A3F0-...
> It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it asked
> for
> an application to open it with... after much thought I decided to take a
> risk
> and go ahead, which turned out to be an unfortunate mistake. All my exe
> files
> became associated with notepad (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to
> solve the problem from http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
> which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a "unable to
> delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my comp in safe mode.
> Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
> I really would like to retain my windows installation...
> I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows installation
> and change the registry, I could get it up and running. The problem
> however
> is that I cannot locate the required registry.
> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!

Click the Start Orb | All Programs | Accessories
Right click Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator.
Type
regedit
and press Enter.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP IE, OE/WM
I won't answer email.

There's no start orb in WinVista Installation. This is Vista's installation
program. It loads from the DVD to a partition of the hard disk it labels as
X:\ and launches Vista Installation from there. I used the diagnostics to
launch a command prompt window and typed "start regedit" for the registry.
Problem is it acts like an OS by itself so the rgedit it loads is not the
same one as the one on my Windows installation. Do you have any idea where
the registry files for my Vista installation are located? I can open the
registry in notepad and change the values required.
P.S The istall program can run most of the basic windows stuff I think.
Thank you for the reply!

DJ_Anonymus wrote:
> It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
> asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
> decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
> unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
> (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
> http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
> which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
> "unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
> comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
> I really would like to retain my windows installation...
> I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
> installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
> The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
> advance!

If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a BartPE disk with a registry editor on it.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
[72m/b]
You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
Network support?=no
Go > Programs > Registry Editor
Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
Select default hives:
sam
security
software
system
Select remote user profile ? = yes
Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
Select another user profile? = no
Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
and you should be in familiar territory.
Good luck !
..

"bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
news:...
> DJ_Anonymus wrote:
>> It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
>> asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
>> decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
>> unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
>> (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
>> http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
>> which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
>> "unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
>> comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
>> I really would like to retain my windows installation...
>> I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
>> installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
>> The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
>> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
>> advance!
>
> If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a BartPE disk
> with a registry editor on it.
> http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
> [72m/b]
> You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
> When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
> Network support?=no
> Go > Programs > Registry Editor
> Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
> Select default hives:
> sam
> security
> software
> system
> Select remote user profile ? = yes
> Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
> Select another user profile? = no
> Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
> Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
> So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
> and you should be in familiar territory.

This looks like it could be very useful, and I realize it costs to have a
place to store big things like this on the web.
The download page looks scary.
I see two download buttons, but neither one seems associated with Filename:
pebuilder3.zipFilename: pebuilder3.zip
Filesize: 72.8 MB
When I hover over the download buttons, no text shows up in the status bar;
normally, the link to the item to be downloaded would show up. How do we
know that clicking these buttons won't install a bunch of crapware,
advertising, or other junk that messes up our browser toolbar or our
computer?

-Paul Randall

Paul Randall wrote:
> "bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
> news:...
>> DJ_Anonymus wrote:
>>> It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
>>> asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
>>> decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
>>> unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
>>> (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
>>> http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
>>> which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
>>> "unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
>>> comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
>>> I really would like to retain my windows installation...
>>> I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
>>> installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
>>> The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
>>> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
>>> advance!
>>
>> If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a
>> BartPE disk with a registry editor on it.
>> http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
>> [72m/b]
>> You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
>> When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
>> Network support?=no
>> Go > Programs > Registry Editor
>> Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
>> Select default hives:
>> sam
>> security
>> software
>> system
>> Select remote user profile ? = yes
>> Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
>> Select another user profile? = no
>> Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
>> Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
>> So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
>> and you should be in familiar territory.
>
> This looks like it could be very useful, and I realize it costs to
> have a place to store big things like this on the web.
> The download page looks scary.
> I see two download buttons, but neither one seems associated with
> Filename: pebuilder3.zipFilename: pebuilder3.zip
> Filesize: 72.8 MB
> When I hover over the download buttons, no text shows up in the
> status bar; normally, the link to the item to be downloaded would
> show up. How do we know that clicking these buttons won't install a
> bunch of crapware, advertising, or other junk that messes up our
> browser toolbar or our computer?
>
> -Paul Randall


It costs nothing to store files on the web.
It is stored with Megaupload.
It is a free account.
If you want to use the software I posted enter the 3 digits and download it.
If you are too scared to navigate a Megaupload page, Google " BartPE",
learn how to build your own Bart boot disk, with a reg editor plug-in, and use that.


..

Hey Bomb! Thanks a lot! I'm sure I can use this to fix the registry! Can't
tell you how relieved I am!! Thanks a lot!

DJ_Anonymus wrote:
> Hey Bomb! Thanks a lot! I'm sure I can use this to fix the registry!
> Can't tell you how relieved I am!! Thanks a lot!

If you use it, some of the start menu items are not included. It uses a default
menu which I forgot to edit when I made it.
The file manager (explorer-type thing) is loaded and obviously the registry editor.
..

"bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
news:BYydnTblwtQr-...
> Paul Randall wrote:
>> "bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> DJ_Anonymus wrote:
>>>> It started when I clicked on a .exe file to install something... it
>>>> asked for an application to open it with... after much thought I
>>>> decided to take a risk and go ahead, which turned out to be an
>>>> unfortunate mistake. All my exe files became associated with notepad
>>>> (I laughed till I cried!) but I knew hot to solve the problem from
>>>> http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/
>>>> which suggested to delete the key. The problem was that I got a
>>>> "unable to delete... key in use" error and I decided to restart my
>>>> comp in safe mode. Good plan... except my computer didn't boot !
>>>> I really would like to retain my windows installation...
>>>> I was thinking if I could use another OS to access my Windows
>>>> installation and change the registry, I could get it up and running.
>>>> The problem however is that I cannot locate the required registry.
>>>> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!! Thank you in
>>>> advance!
>>>
>>> If you want to edit your registry I've upped an iso image of a
>>> BartPE disk with a registry editor on it.
>>> http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5PV3YHG
>>> [72m/b]
>>> You need to burn the image to a cd and boot from it.
>>> When it is loaded there are a few boxes to tick:
>>> Network support?=no
>>> Go > Programs > Registry Editor
>>> Select remote registry=c:\windows [normally]
>>> Select default hives:
>>> sam
>>> security
>>> software
>>> system
>>> Select remote user profile ? = yes
>>> Browse to c:\users\YOURNAME\ntuser.dat
>>> Select another user profile? = no
>>> Your hive will be the last entry on the displayed list.
>>> Then regedit will open and all Vista hives will be listed as _REMOTE.
>>> So you navigate to HKEY_USERS_REMOTE_YOURNAME
>>> and you should be in familiar territory.
>>
>> This looks like it could be very useful, and I realize it costs to
>> have a place to store big things like this on the web.
>> The download page looks scary.
>> I see two download buttons, but neither one seems associated with
>> Filename: pebuilder3.zipFilename: pebuilder3.zip
>> Filesize: 72.8 MB
>> When I hover over the download buttons, no text shows up in the
>> status bar; normally, the link to the item to be downloaded would
>> show up. How do we know that clicking these buttons won't install a
>> bunch of crapware, advertising, or other junk that messes up our
>> browser toolbar or our computer?
>>
>> -Paul Randall
>
>
> It costs nothing to store files on the web.
> It is stored with Megaupload.
> It is a free account.
> If you want to use the software I posted enter the 3 digits and download
> it.
> If you are too scared to navigate a Megaupload page, Google " BartPE",
> learn how to build your own Bart boot disk, with a reg editor plug-in, and
> use that.

Thanks for the info. It downloaded faster than I thought it would. So far,
I've only gotten one unexpected web page - something like megamovie
competitor to YouTube.

I built a BartPE disk a year or two ago and used it for other things. I'll
be interested in seeing the difference with yours. I've downloaded WAIK but
haven't gotten around to building my own PE system yet.

Thanks for the info on Megaupload.

-Paul Randall