Chapter 11: Troubleshooting Common Problems

Overview

"Anything that can go wrong, will."

Murphy's Law

Now that we have discussed nearly all aspects of the registry, it is time to consider some problems that frequently arise when working with Windows NT/2000/XP and that can be eliminated using the registry.

Where shall we start? Obviously, it would be logical to begin with the startup problems and the problems that prevent you from logging onto the system. Why? Because if the system stops immediately after rebooting, it will be impossible to do any other work. Just imagine the situation: your work is urgent and you need to do it right away. (By the way, how many times will it take you to troubleshoot this problem?).

Detailed instructions on backing up and recovering the Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP registry were provided in Chapter 2. In this chapter, we'll concentrate on several additional and rarely used procedures that may help you get the system up and running after boot failures.