Windows 7 x64 not booting properly

I'm not really sure "what" happened to my newly mounted pc. The only thing I know is that it could be either a REGISTRY problem or a HDD failure.

The "why" is because I accidentally removed almost all of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ Wow6432Node directory while uninstalling a program completely, OR because someone(...) disconnected it from the power source when it was hibernating.

And the conclusion is that it's stuck on that start screen below. Which do you think is more likely to have happened, and, if possible, how to repair it?

Thanks. Start screen error

Hyztname

Posted 2014-01-26T10:04:14.873

Reputation: 184

Did you edit your registry by hand? – chrki – 2014-01-26T10:27:38.673

Yes, i did... Why? – Hyztname – 2014-01-26T10:29:36.730

Well that could be an issue if you removed the wrong registry folders. But from the looks of it, could also be an HDD problem if some fonts or language properties got missing. I'm not sure which one is more likely. – chrki – 2014-01-26T10:31:16.520

That's basically what I'm asking... Do I need to provide any other detail I missed? – Hyztname – 2014-01-26T10:39:20.930

I don't know, this problem is very hard to debug. From experience I would say that HDD/file corruption is less likely to occur here, but then again I don't know what exactly was saved in those registry folders you deleted. Might be worth setting up a virtual machine and try to reproduce what you did, if really want to know. – chrki – 2014-01-26T10:58:00.327

I just remembered it wasn't hibernating(omg). I literally just pressed the del button on it and it returned an error saying it wasn't possible to del some of the registries, i checked to see everything was there(but I didn't know what WAS there), after that I just continued using my pc as usual and it was working pretty well, dispute the fact I couldn't install any program or save any pics from the internet. I then turned it off and the morning after someone pushed that power source cable I tried to boot it again and I had this error. – Hyztname – 2014-01-26T11:10:41.927

There's no problem with disconnecting the power when hibernating. Sleeping would be a different matter. The Registry key contains the settings for 32 bit programs. Deleting it would cause problems. – David Marshall – 2014-01-26T11:11:05.030

And what are the chances of repairing it? David Marshall – Hyztname – 2014-01-26T11:15:26.243

Thank you, but it's still not working. The first result is "last known configuration", which sent me to the same weird screen. The second is the repair screen that appears but won't recognize any of my Microsoft keyboards(3 tested)... And I can't use the mouse either as it's on the recovery menu. Any thoughts? – Hyztname – 2014-01-27T12:52:16.710

So you can look into c:\windows\system32\config\regback if there is a backup from before when it worked. Then boot from something else then your system on the c drive (win7 cd with command prompt or BartPE with some file manager) and copy the SOFTWARE file to the folder above that. This should restore the HKLM\software registry – Vitas – 2014-01-27T14:05:15.637

The problem is, I don't have another computer(bootable HDD) atm. I'll try it out and let you know ASAP though. Thanks. – Hyztname – 2014-01-27T14:18:31.653

I just got it booting in windows startup repair and unfortunately it shows there are no problems with the software... Btw I was able to restore the system. It's restoring right now. I'll keep you posted, it maybe was a HDD failure after all. – Hyztname – 2014-01-27T14:50:58.813

Thanks to your "Advanced boot" answer I was able to restore my system. It's working now. Thx :) – Hyztname – 2014-01-27T14:59:46.523

Windows 7 x64 not booting properly

Answers