Solved Dell laptop wont boot to windows after regedit mistake W8

tech9

New Member
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14
Hi everyone, this is my 1st post. I've been lurking for a few months for answer to general tech support issues and it seems if anyone can help with this issue they can definitely be found on this forum.
So I decided to get a little too confident and tried to fix an issue with bluetooth on my Dell Inspiron 15 3521 (windows 8) by changing the object name of the RPC service in regedit in order to try to get it to log on with [FONT=&quot] NT AUTHORITY\Network Service [/FONT] instead of local.

I did that here ---> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\RpcSs\

Being the genius that I am I did not backup the registry prior to this, don't have the original windows disc (bought computer used) and never created a backup disk either

CURRENT STATUS: When I turn on the computer I see the Dell logo, than windows logo as if it is booting the system and after I get a black screen and a lonely mouse cursor.

On the 1st screen with the Dell logo has 2 options I can choose: F2 for setup & F12 for boot options

In setup (F2) I can only view information and add/change HDD password

In boot options F12 it says:

Boot mode is set to: Legacy: Secure boot: Off

LEGACY BOOT: (allows me to choose the options below)
Network
Hard Drive
CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
Diagnostics (I ran the full diagnostics it gives no errors)
Enter Setup (takes me to F2 menu)
Peripheral Device setting OPROM setting
Change Boot Mode Setting
- This menu lets me choose UEFI Boot Mode, Secure Boot OFF & UEFI Boot Mode, Secure Boot On

WHAT I'VE TRIED:
-Tried both UEFI boot modes but obviously that isn't going to help
-Attempting to boot in safe mode I tried good old F8 and than Shift + F8 going on at least 15,000 times, no dice.
-A friend told me to try to power off the system just as the Dell logo screen finishes loading 3 times in a row and on the 4th boot it will go to automatic recovery mode. Sounds like an old Contra code for Nintendo to me but that didn't do anything
-Called Dell support but product is not under warranty so they treated me like the ugly girl at the club

I appreciate any advice or support on this issue. The laptop has always given me issues so I'm going to get something new, most important thing at this point is recovering data at least if I cant get it to boot

Thank you! :geek:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
I assume you don't have a Windows recovery disk so if you wish, you can copy the registry from the backup.

  1. Download the ISO (160MB) :Slacko Puppy Linux . Click one of the link shown on screen shot #1 item #1.
  2. Create a bootable USB Using Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way
  3. Boot from USB, the screen should look like the screen shot. From the bottom left of screenshot #1 item #2. The HDs mounted as sda1, sda2 ... and one of these is your C: Drive.
  4. Open 2 instants of your C drive as shown in screenshot #2:
    - Manouver to /mnt/sda#/Windows/System32/config/regback on the 1st Windows
    - Manouver to /mnt/sda#/Windows/System32/config on 2nd Windows
  5. Select everything in regback folder, drag & drop to config folder ->Copy, answer Yes to confirm
  6. Reboot your PC

NOTE: since you made modifications in the BIOS, you need to set back to the way it was.

a.png

Screenshot_2014-08-18_174740.png

Good luck !!!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Thank you for this, I will try tomorrow and update the thread. I have a USB jump drive but I think its under 1gb should I grab something larger?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
Thank you for this, I will try tomorrow and update the thread. I have a USB jump drive but I think its under 1gb should I grab something larger?
As you can see from screen shot #1, it only takes 160MB so you are OK.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
You could also download a Windows PE iso and edit the registry directly back to whatever you changed it from...providing of course you remembered what it was. A Windows PE bootable usb will allow you to do the copy of the back config/reg folder as topgundcp suggest as well.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASRock 990FX Killer
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    ASRock 990 FX Killer
    Memory
    32gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 750i
    Sound Card
    Realtek (Stock on MB)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 27 HD Monitor & a 37" LCD HD TV Screen (For movies)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 250 GB SS hard drive for OS
    1 1TB hard drive for data / mirrored to a second 1 TB hd.
    PSU
    650W
    Case
    No name tower
    Cooling
    Enermax Liqtech 240
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    Dnload 10.48 Upload .48
    Browser
    IE 11 and Chrome when IE doesn't work
    Antivirus
    F-PROT
Sorry if my post made me sound like I'm more knowledgeable about this stuff than I really am :D I have zero computer programming background and don't completely understand the terminology being used. I'm just a seeker of knowledge and enjoy learning new things so whatever I know is what I've picked up along my journey

@topgun I've never used or created a bootable usb but I'm reading through the links of the iso file and rufus program that you sent me to understand as much as I can without having to ask you to hold my hand through the process. I think I'm getting a better understanding of how to do it but any quick info you can provide to point me in the right direction will be appreciated. I'm about to give it a shot here shortly

@play2me If I need to do this option how exactly will I end up to where I can change the registry? I changed the object name of this folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\RpcSs\ to NT AUTHORITY\Network Service so I guess it would be whatever the default is there. Is that something common to most windows 8 devices? If not I probably wont risk it because I dont remember 100% what it was
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
And now that I think of it, in boot options on the computer that wont boot there was no option for boot from USB, just cd/dvd. What do I choose? I hope Im not frustrating anyone here, sorry....

A little browsing and I figured this part out, that is unless there's a better option
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
Just did topgun's method and I really thought it was going to work but it didn't. It very well may be because I did something incorrectly along the way so I'm hoping to try again once I hear from him again and maybe get directed better on things to make sure to do or avoid.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
After you download the iso, plug in the USB stick then run Rufus and follow the screen to create the bootable USB:
a.png

Next, reboot your PC and keep tapping on F12 to get the Boot Menu displayed. Fron the list, select your USB to boot from.
Follow the steps in my previous post.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
I did everything you said. Keep in mind I can not access the OS on the Dell computer so Im creating the bootable drive from a different computer. After that im booting the program from the computer wont load OS
I went all the way through exactly as shown in the post, copy and pasted the files. I exited and clicked yes each time. The letters for some reason were all very blurry and I couldnt see what I was reading so I assumed yes meant confirming the paste of the copied folders. Chose reboot and same problem. Thank you for helping I really do appreciate it

Im thinking if I can access the command prompt than maybe I can reverse my registry mistake from there. Tell me if you think this will work please....
I can get a iso of windows 8 32 which matches the OS on the broken Dell. I can boot from that USB it will bring up widows automatic repair where I can choose command prompt. I just dont know what to do from there

I understand system restore would be a better option but Ive never been able to do system restore even when the machine was operating normally. I always got an error about the restore faiing when trying to scan drive E, which I guess is where my OS runs from.

Your thoughts?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
Just saw this thread. I guess you have tried the "restore to factory settings" option. Most dell computers have it. I run a couple or so dells, and it works for me. Unfortunately, you may have already destroyed the hidden and locked partitions.

In case:
As the computer starts, press <F8> on the keyboard until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears on the screen.
Note: You must press <F8> before the Windows logo appears on the screen. If you press <F8> after the Windows logo appears on the screen, the Advanced Boot Options menu will not appear on the screen. If you do not see the Advanced Boot Options menu, restart the computer, and then repeat this step until you see the menu on the screen.
3 Press the <Down Arrow> on the keyboard to select Repair Your Computer on the Advanced Boot Options menu, and then press <Enter>.
4 Specify the language settings that you want, and then click Next.
5 Log in as a user who has administrative credentials, and then click OK.
6 Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
7 In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.
8 Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.
9 Click Next.
The computer is restored to the default factory configuration.
10 When the restore operation is completed, click Finish to restart the computer.
The software is now installed as it was when the computer was first received.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
Thanks Dave but 1st, F8 or shift+F8 has never worked for me that is why if you notice my last post, I needed to create a bootable USB file with an iso file of windows 8 32GB. I did this so it will boot and allow me to get into advanced recovery mode on windows from there.
I can wipe everything now using the system reset option and lose all the data but considering I can access command prompt and the hard drive is not corrupt (I can see all my files in the E: drive which is where the OS is) I want to figure out how to simply reverse the registry edit that I made. I figure, I have another laptop to use and my most important files are on OneDrive so Im not in a big rush where I need it to be functioning right away and I also want to gain the experience of possibly fixing the issue. If anything this problem has already opened my eyes to a lot I didnt know so its worth it for me to try different solutions from experts like yourself.
It would be great if you can give me an idea of how to just restore the registry to default settings or reset it to the last backup (regback, I think?) from the command prompt and than how to make sure the PC reboots in the proper method afterwards. If you need any info I'd be happy to provide it. Not sure if this makes a difference but I ran bcdedit.exe and it shows windows boot manager, device partition =C: and windows boot loader, device partition =E: and osdevice on partition =E:
Thank you!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
@Davehc
I am not sure if F8 or SHIFT+F8 will work, Here's a list of functions key used by different manufacturers and if you look in the list, for Dell, it's F2 to enter BIOS, F12 for Boot Menu. No mention about F8.
Boot Menu - USB Flash Drive

@tech9
What we've done so far, we've already replaced the registry with the backup copy so there's no need to get into command prompt. The reason I suggested using slacko so you can use drag & drop instead of having to type DOS command to copy.
Now, if the system won't boot then there's something else and you did mention changing settings in the BIOS in your initial post. Depending on what style (Legacy or UEFI) the Windows was installed, you must set your BIOS accordingly.


Keep in mind I can not access the OS on the Dell computer so Im creating the bootable drive from a different computer
Is this PC also running Windows 8 ? if so, you can create a recovery USB disk from it and try to boot up with your broken PC. From there then you can run startup repair.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
@Topgun just want to show you how the program looks on my screen so I'm pretty sure there more to why it didnt work

20140819_054017[1].jpg

Also it seems the error Im getting is saying read only system? What does that mean?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
I can hardly read anything from the screenshot.
Can you create a USB recovery from the working PC ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
@topgun Thanks for getting back to me. So regarding the screen shot that is exactly how the display is showing up on the display so I cant read any errors or prompt messages clearly. What I seemed to get out of it was something about being in read only mode so it actually wasnt copying over the files like I thought it was.
The PC im using is 8.1 x64 the Dell is 8 x32. If that will work I can give that a shot instead. I wasnt sure it was ok to be the same so instead was downloading a windows 8 iso and using rufus to put that on the usb instead.

With that its gotten me in to advanced recovery mode by booting via the usb and choosing repair your computer on startup rather than install. I tried doing refresh your pc option 1st but it asks for a windows installation or recovery media, system restore showed an available restore point from a week ago but it gave me an error as well. I was able to get in to different folders and setting via cmd but didnt mess with anything

The only way I was able to get slako or the win8 iso to boot with the usb by the way was to make the boot settings UEFI mode unsecure and than I had to change the peripheral device setting to "UEFI boot mode, legacy option rom on" so does that mean it is the correct method for this OS? How do you recommend I go forward?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
UEFI style only works with Windows 8 X64. Since you have Windows 8 x32, you must use legacy mode. You need to set your BIOS to MBR style and boot from USB using MBR style.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Ok so moving forward should I do the slako option again, windows 8 iso or from the 8.1 x64 pc? and once i boot in dell pc where do i go from there?:)
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 3521
SO how would I choose that option on the dell boot menu?
Normally from the Boot Menu, you would have 2 choices: Boot using MBR or Boot using UEFI.
Here's an example:
a.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
@Davehc
I am not sure if F8 or SHIFT+F8 will work, Here's a list of functions key used by different manufacturers and if you look in the list, for Dell, it's F2 to enter BIOS, F12 for Boot Menu. No mention about F8.
Boot Menu - USB Flash Drive "

Thanks, Topgun. I may be at cross puprose there. I am not referring to access of the USB, but returning the whole computer back to factory settings. This allows you on a dell, to reinstall the original OS from the hidden partition (if it is still there) See part 3 here:
Restoring Your Computer´s Software to the Factory Settings | Dell US
But, in any case. the op has discarded that method, as he states in post #12
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
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