Registry issue after windows reinstall! ]:

Fanaticjam

Fanaticjam

Fanaticjam

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Joined
25 Sep 2011
Posts
510
Hi there!

A friend of mine running win7 installed the dev version of win8 last night and then reinstalled win7 today.

The problem is windows now doesn't recognize the vast majority of his software as being installed, although the files haven't been touched.

From my own personal experience I imagine this is due to the registry being replaced during the OS changes, is this the case or is it another reason?


Can anyone suggest some software or a method to fix it as he really doesn't want to have to reinstall everything as you may imagine.
 
What specific error messages is he getting? Does the software still run if he opens it manually? As you've correctly surmised the most likely cause is due to the registry and all it's registrations and settings being completely erased. To be honest, I'm not sure if there is any software that is going to help because to my knowledge the only fix is going to be re-running the installer.

It might sound harsh but if he doesnt know to take a backup before pulling the OS from under his installed apps then he shouldn't be messing around with developer previews. If he ends up having to reinstall everything it will be a lesson learned.
 
The clue is in the title. As you put in the description... It was the developer's version of Windows 8. Effectively meaning a beta. Or in this case... Alpha.

The only things I can suggest are doing a system restore or to reinstall windows.
 
Not sure on the error messages, just think it's showing all programs as uninstalled. I'll try and find out when he gets home.

I guessed there might not be, I had a similar thing happen where I had to reinstall windows over the currently installed one (no choice) and I didn't find any decent solution then.

Doesn't sound harsh, but I shall point out that not every lesson learned needs to be a painful one, near misses often do the trick!
 
@ PrChaos - I don't think the version matters, just the fact he wrote over the old install.

I'm guessing the only way to fix it would be to recover the registry data from the original install, hoping it hadn't been written over. At least this sounds like the only logical thing to me, but I am here hoping there are more plausible ways to fix it! ^_^
 
So from what I gather you've replaced windows 7 with windows 8 and then went and replaced that again with windows 7?

If thats the case then you'll just need to reinstall the programs as all the registry items will be gone.

If thats NOT the case, then i've got the wrong end of the stick :p
 
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