Desktop
by curlergirl
If I understand your question, you want to manually edit the registry of a user who has a profile on the workstation, while you are logged in on the workstation with a login that has local administrator rights.
The HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive is stored in the main folder of the user's profile in a file called "ntuser.dat." You can edit this registry hive directly as follows:
1. Log on with administrative rights on the workstation.
2. Go to Start/Run/Regedit.
***BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER!!!*****
3. Click once on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive to open it. Actually, you can use any of the hives, but HKLM is convenient.
4. Right click, and click New/Key. Name the new key with something to remind you what it is, such as the user's login name or initials.
5. Click once on the new key you added to open it.
6. Click File/Import.
7. Navigate to the user's profile folder in Documents and Settings and choose the ntuser.dat file to import.
8. The user's HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive is imported into the folder you just created. You can edit it from there.
9. When done, export it again to the same ntuser.dat file that you imported it from.
10. Once you've exported your changes, you can click on the top level of the key you created and delete it. Just be sure you don't delete anything but the key you created and the information in it, or you could corrupt your entire registry.
DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFUL AND KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO DO THIS SUCCESSFULLY. BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST!!! BE SURE YOU IMPORT THE NTUSER.DAT FILE ONLY INTO THE NEW KEY YOU CREATED, BE SURE YOU EXPORT ONLY THAT INFORMATION BACK TO THE NTUSER.DAT FILE, AND BE SURE YOU DELETE ONLY THAT INFORMATION FROM THE REGISTRY AFTER FINISHING. IF YOU MESS IT UP, AND YOU DIDN'T BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE YOU STARTED, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!
Hope this helps!
by cmiller5400
This discussion is closed to new replies.
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