Using Reimage To Fix Windows XP When The Registry Is Damaged

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In the everyday use of a PC we modify the registry daily through installing, un-installing and modifying applications. On occasion these changes adversely affect operating system settings. This article details the worst case scenario and a logical way of attempting to resolve the issue. The last resort option is to use PC maintenance software, in this case using Reimage.

At the start of the year I did a spring clean of my laptop and desktop computers removing old applications. Unfortunately after rebooting the laptop the changes resulted in a blue screen error stating that the registry had been corrupted. The actual code being displayed was 0x80072EFD.

Some on-line research of forums proposed the root cause was that important registry key entries had been deleted as a direct result of un-installing applications.

In this situation there are two options to repairing this. First is to roll-back the registry to a back up copy. The second is to use some PC maintenance software to repair the registry keys.

In this instance, swapping the registry for an older (working) copy would prove tricky as Windows XP was not even booting correctly (the blue screen of death was occurring during startup). As a workaround starting the system in safe-mode could be an option. Safe-mode is activated by hitting the F8 key as Windows starts. Once again, this failed with the blue screen error in my instance. If you have Windows book disks (usually provided with new PCs) then you could attempt booting from them.

As a last resort some forums mentioned using Reimage to boot their PC and repair registry damage. I opted for this product based on the fact it fixes device driver issues as well as registry problems. The product website has a boot disk (to download) which was able to boot my Windows laptop correctly. After startup the product first scans the computer for faults. My scan report highlighted missing registry keys along with some out of date device drivers.

The subsequent repair stage downloaded new driver files, added the missing registry keys and rebooted the laptop. Thankfully it started first go and has been working successfully ever since.

In situations where the registry is damaged there is a logical set of steps to attempting repairs. The golden rule should be to maintain backup up copies of your registry. At the very least, it is comforting to know that there is software available to remedy such problems as the alternative – reinstalling Windows – results in total loss of data.