How to edit the Windows Registry without booting into Windows

A friend of mine ran into a issue recently after making changes to the Windows Registry. The computer would not boot anymore and since there was no System Restore or backup available to restore the system to a previous state, another solution had to be found.
While re-installing the same operating system would have worked, it is often not an efficient solution.
Before you consider doing that, you may want to try other options first. You may use various tools for instance to edit the Windows Registry without loading Windows first.
You'd boot the computer using a special bootable solution, either on CD/DVD or USB Flash drive to use the Registry tools provided to fix the issue on the affected system.
One program that you can use for that task is Hiren's Boot CD ISO. Download the most recent version of the Boot CD, at the time of writing 15.2, from the developer website. It comes as a zip package that you need to extract to your system. Once done, execute the BurnToCD.cmd file to launch the burn wizard.
Insert a blank CD or DVD into the DVD writer and hit the start button to burn the boot environment to the disc.
Boot the affected computer using the disc to load a Windows XP environment and a special set of troubleshooting tools.
Please note that you may need to change the boot priority in the BIOS/UEFI so that the system boots from the optical drive and not from hard drive.
Right-click on the Hiren's Boot CD icon afterwards in the Windows System Tray and select Registry from the menu that comes up when you do.
You find several tools listed under Registry, for instance tools to backup or restore it, or to repair it. Start the program Registry Editor PE by selecting it from the listing.
You are then asked to pick the main Windows directory (which is c:\Windows usually), and then confirm the loading of several Registry hives (SAM,Security, Software and System). All you need to do when the file prompts appear is to hit enter as default values are selected automatically.
Then you are asked if you want user hives as well. If you need to do that, you need to navigate to each user folder and select the ntuser.dat file to do so. You may load none, one or multiple user hives this way.
All loaded hives are listed under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE with the prefix _REMOTE_. Navigate to the keys you want to modify and make the changes as you see fit.
The hives are unloaded automatically once you close the Registry editor. Remove the CD or DVD from the drive and use the system like you have done before.
Closing Words
Hiren's Boot CD is not the only solution to edit the Registry of a machine running Windows without booting the operating system. An alternative that you may want to try is Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition. It is a free program that ships with an option to create a recovery environment and burn it to CD/DVD or copy it to USB.
Among the tools provided is a Registry Editor that you can use to load Registry information from another Windows system.

What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help