I recently upgraded to Windows 10. Since then searches in the Registry Editor do not work any more (the app consumes 20% CPU, but the search never finishes. Canceling the search crashes the registry editor.
Hi, a problem for some but not all. Please
Registry Editor crashing - Windows 10 blog
- get regedit from build 10240
or
- use a 3rd party reg editor for now.
or use regscanner from here to do the search which will use regedit to edit..
RegScanner: Alternative to RegEdit find/search/scan of Windows
Made a Restore Point. Saved the entire Registry. Started with an arbitrary search word from HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG, that is from the bottom. If the "search" completed successfully, made new searh from HKEY_USERS and so on till a HangUp occured. Then I made searches from subkeys always starting from bottom upwards. Found an endless loop. Deleted topmost entry. Now Registry Search worksI recently upgraded to Windows 10. Since then searches in the Registry Editor do not work any more (the app consumes 20% CPU, but the search never finishes. Canceling the search crashes the registry editor.
Admire your persistence.. did you note the registry entry that you deleted?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/Setup/Upgrade/Pnp/CurrentControlSet/Control/DevMig/Devices/SWD/WPDBUSENUM/_??_USBSTOR#DISK&VEN_GENERIC-&PROD_SM#XD-PICTURE..... Some of the subkeys.Admire your persistence.. did you note the registry entry that you deleted?
@hjim: Thanks for the hint!
I followed your scheme and I actually have found TWO such entries by now (there might still be more).
The first one I could simply delete, but the second yields an exception in the Registry Editor when trying to delete:
The key is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001ControlDeviceClasses{7f108a28-9833-4b3b-b780-2c6b5fa5c062}##?#STORAGE#Volume#_??_USBSTOR#Disk&Ven_SanDisk&Prod_Sandisk_Ultra&Rev_PMAP#A20054256F 62A237&0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}#{7f108a28-9833-4b3b-b780-2c6b5fa5c062}
and exhibits an endless "#" subtree:
It is in the DeviceClasses subtree (so a bit touchy to delete things here) but the offending entry should be harmless to delete - it describes a memory card, so in the worst case my system would not recognize that SD card any more.
Any idea anyone, how to delete such an "undeletable" key nonetheless?
You should really only delete/modify the registry if
a. there's no alternative
b. you know precisely what the effect will be
c. you have adequate backups
Modifying the registry in an ad hoc manner can cause you endless pain.
Simply use a 3rd party registry editor (there are some good ones with the handy equivalent of an address bar) probably avoids this hopefully temporary search bug as previously posted.
Thanks for the caveat, but I am an old Windows warhorse. I think I know what risks I can take and which not. And - yes - I *do* have made backups of my registry before attempting such "surgery".You should really only delete/modify the registry if ...
Coming back to my question: is there a tool that allows to remove obviously recursive or "endless" registry entries without itself crashing while doing so?
I've fixed it without a tool. I had the same problem (endless #) with same key, except a different Sandisk USB. Would not let me delete it. Any search in regedit would die when it hit this key. So it's not just a useless key problem but makes searching in regedit almost impossible. So I got a brainstorm and renamed the top level # key to temp. And them, voila, I could delete the whole mess. I suspect the cause of the problem was I unsafely removed the USB drive a few days ago.Thanks for the caveat, but I am an old Windows warhorse. I think I know what risks I can take and which not. And - yes - I *do* have made backups of my registry before attempting such "surgery".
Coming back to my question: is there a tool that allows to remove obviously recursive or "endless" registry entries without itself crashing while doing so?
