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Edit the OS registry in WinPE

If the operating system does not boot due to registry errors, you need to access the registry and fix the error.

  1. Boot the server in WinPE recovery and diagnostic mode.

  2. Open cmd.

  3. Open Registry Editor. It displays the state of the WinPE boot environment registry:

    regedit

  4. In the list on the left, select HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE.

  5. In the File menu, select Load hive.

  6. In the dialog box, navigate to the directory where the system and registry files are located; this is usually C:\Windows\System32\config.

  7. Select a file named system or software.

  8. Enter the name of the hive under which it will be mounted to the HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE section, for example MountedSYSTEM. The hive name must not match existing hives in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

  9. Click Open. The registry hive will appear in the section.

  10. Find and edit the required parameter.

  11. Click File and select Unload hive. The changes will be saved to the registry.

  12. Restore the previous server boot template or reboot the server from the OS. When rebooting the server from the OS, the boot template will automatically change to the one that was set before changing the server boot template.