I'm having major issues with my laptop's C: drive, and I think it's all my fault. I'm not very tech-savvy and English isn't my first language, so I hope I explain this well. The problems started after I tried to modify the registry at **HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion** in an attempt to move an application that would only install on the C: drive to another drive. Now, I really regret that decision because I'm facing a ton of problems: My desktop often becomes unresponsive after logging in, I get errors when opening .exe files saying 'The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect,' and I can't open any applications or files on the C: drive at all. However, everything works fine on my D: drive. I also seem to have messed up my permissions, as I can't run any apps as admin or save files to the C: drive anymore. I even tried creating new user accounts, but the problems seem to affect the entire system. I attempted some repairs like sfc /scannow and DISM commands, but they either didn't work or I received 'Access denied' messages. I'm considering reinstalling Windows with a USB, but I'm hoping there might be some other options before I go that route.
2 Answers
It’s rough learning the hard way about registry changes! You should always back up your registry before making changes. Check this path: C:WindowsSystem32configRegBack; sometimes Windows makes a backup there. After you check, in the future, consider storing important registry files on a flash drive to avoid issues. One wrong entry can really mess things up!
Have you thought about doing a system restore? It might help get things back to how they were before you changed anything.
I would, but I actually don’t have any system restore points from before all this started.
Unfortunately, the RegBack folder is empty. Seems like I’m out of luck there. At least I know what to avoid in the future!