Recovery console registry rebuild instructions. This entire set of instructions used to be available at another site/resource, but for some reason it’s been shortened to only recover 2 of the 5 parts of the registry. This can be problematic sometimes, especially if the user has changed a password or user accounts, or if the SECURITY or more specifically the SAM portion of the registry is having issues.

Enter recovery console.

1. Select windows installation you wish to log into. (usually 1) type the number and press enter.

2. Enter the admin password, blank by default. Just press enter, or if you have set a password, enter it now.

3. Type CD system32\config [enter]

4. Type ren system system.bak [enter]

5. Reboot into recovery console again. Follow instructions at line 1 and 2 again

6. Type CD \ [enter]

7. Type CD system~1\_resto~1 [enter] now you should have a prompt that looks like c:\system~1\_resto~1>

8: Type dir [enter] now look for the RPxx directories (where xx represents a number) Look for one with a date about a week before you started

encountering problems. It could be as high as RP524 or even more. Typically I see somewhere between RP35 and RP320. Pay attention to the bottom of the screen, there may be more listed than one screen will allow to show. Instructions to show more will be at the bottom of screen. Once you’ve found the appropriate directory…

9. Type CD RPxx [enter] (xx = numbers)

10. Type CD snapshot [enter]

11. Type dir [enter] directory contents will be listed, now take note of the file formats of 5 files here there will be:

_registry_machine_sam

_registry_machine_security

_registry_machine_software

_registry_machine_system

_registry_user_.default

These have to be copied to c:\windows\system32\config\(filename) in the following exact formats. Overwrite when prompted. System will probably not prompt for an overwrite as it’s been renamed and is not present.

12. type the following commands

Copy _registry_machine_sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam [enter]

Copy _registry_machine_security c:\windows\system32\config\security [enter]

Copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software [enter]

Copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system [enter]

Copy _registry_user_.default c:\windows\system32\config\default [enter]

After this is done, type EXIT and press enter. Restart windows normally.