Hello. I have the following issue: 1) my PC crashed to ground and I have a poor backup unfortunately to make a restore 2) however I can restore a complete program folder which contains add-ons (programs working with the main one) 3) I setup a new Windows 10 like the original one and copied there that folder 4) the point is that the add-ons (point 2) don't work fine because their keys are missing in the new PC registry 4) however I have the the original HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software hive (from the crashed PC) 5) the idea is to extract the whole Software keys from the hive at point 4 and merge them to new PC registry 6) then by means of ccleaner cleaning up the garbage keys Am I crazy? Where do you suggest to post the above and get hints. Thanks for all!
I know and I have already restored them. Let's keep the focus on the registry keys as my initial post. Thanks
Just don't import blindly everything, or you will overwrite the profile list settings and other account related security features. perhaps many customizations are per users and are stored in the user profile. You can import a old one easily using forensit, but it's fairly easy to do that by hand
Generally speaking, it depends on the program(s). There are programs that store their settings not only as Registry entries, but also as files everywhere on the disk, and some that also install services and/or drivers. If your program stores its settings in "HKLM/SOFTWARE" key only and if you are able to exactly identify which ones are related to it then you will achieve a complete success. However, my view is that since you describe your scenario as an extrema ratio - because your premise is that you don't want to reinstall the program(s) - you have no alternative and therefore you just have to do it (carefully and in a targeted way). But if after doing so your program(s) continues not to work as expected you will have no alternatives, once again. Sorry, but I don't have the expertise to be able to comment on this.
No, is not what I said, you need to carefully export and import selected branches from the software branch. Importing everything will lead to a system where you can't logon, in the best scenario.
Please note that if you were not able to exactly identify which ones are related to it (can we know what program it is?) you can use an application like REVO Uninstaller or Total Uninstall to easily track down what your program adds to the Registry when you install an add-on and then possibly extend your actual knowledge to additional add-ons as well.