Windows Registry Hacking Experts Anywhere?

[homerpez]

Does anyone know of a "better-than-best" place to go to find out hacks to the Windows Registry?

One specific topic I can find no information on, is regarding the "build" number in Windows'es... can it be changed? Certain programs are bugging me about it, and are checking a "build" number which I am sure has been corrputed, but I have no idea which keys I can modify, and which I can't.

End result would be (as a for instance, though I still need to research what I need to do specifically), if the build number is "2600" for Windows XP, the change of registry keys can make the number "2565", or whatever I want. Can it be done?

Conventional "registry hack" sites are proving worthless. Thanks.

[homerpez]

bump...

Anyone at all? Not even a link to somewhere?...

[homerpez]

OK... maybe this will help me along my way...

Can someone with Windows XP Pro (Corporate)? go into their registry, and look under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Currentversion

And tell me what it says for "CurrentBuild" and "Currentbuildnumber"? Mine is supposed to say 2600... something... but it's screwed up and Windows Update won't let me install any updates... I think only a number is off somewhere...

Brings up "You need build 2600" message... but I supposedly have it...

I found this is the only "build"-related value I can't change (it resets on startup).

[sommersby]

did you try and restore back to an earlier date?

you can also try running regeditw and see if that fixes it.

I have the corperate version but have not installed it on anything, I have the regular home version on a notebook, and the regular pro version on my desktop. If that would help, let me know.

[SanitizeME]

yes I have checked the values in the registry and it says 2600 for CurrentBuildNumber

Also there's a Buildlab key that says "2600.xpclient.010817-1148"

and a CurrentBuild keyt that says "1.511.1 () (Obsolete data - do not use)"

maybe that'll help, see if you have those same values

also there could be a virus that changes the value every time the system boots up no matter how much u change.

i suggest you cahnge the values to 2600 then refresh the registry, after that try to install those programs, if it stills says it needs the 2600 build then the problem is not in those sections of the registry

also this, make a back up of your registry just in case , you can do search for the values of what the CurrentBuildNumber is, say for your computer it says "2454" do a search for that number from the beginning of the registry beginning with My Computer, change EVERY value that you see to 2600, then refresh, see what happens next

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SanitizeME on 2001-12-30 20:53:10 ]</font>

[homerpez]

This is getting really absurd... (thanks everyone so far for helping me)...

I have had nothing but problems with this since I installed it, I'm even having to visit the forum on another PC while I install the %^#$@%^$ OS over again...

I've installed it maybe 4 times, and each time I get more errors. First 2 times I got the "0x80070002" error when first booting, now I get it installed and the build number is screwed up...

before I try regeditw... what does it do differently? I don't want to further screw it up more than I've already done so far...

I wish someone knew the magical name of the key that Windows Update checks for build number... maybe I could download a fix for this then

[SanitizeME]

like you said homerpez you've installed 4 times already, what's another time gonna do, go ahead and try to fix, i screwed my computer numerous times and only through that did i learn how to troubleshoot and fix it...i've screwed up even when i knew i was going to screw but i had a feeling that it might work when in my mind i knew it had a 90 percent chance of failing...i still tried for that 10 percent...even though i messed up i was happy that i tried, you can't be afraid to mess up, only when you know the cause will you able to determine the remedy, just make sure you back up your data

[sommersby]

regeditw attemps to repair the registry automatically for you by going back to a known good registry, I used it a couple of times when I was running windows ME and it worked great, Haven't tried it in XP but I know it is available but if you never had a working registry then it may not work.

[sommersby]

I would use fdisk and clean the mbr before you try and install it again, sounds like may be something there that is infecting every install, and even a reformat will not clean the mbr. (master boot directory)

[homerpez]

Looks like I'll have to do just that... I can't imagine a virus infecting it during install, but either way it seems to be corrupt...

I guess I have to go back to my RC2 disk I have (someplace)... instead of the work-issued Pro disk... UGH!

There is definitely something in Windows resetting the main registry values to whatever build number it's "supposed" to be, which is in my case, sorrupted somehow...

Thanks anyway folks...