Updating windows registry without installing programs

[nicku]

I recently reinstalled windows onto partition c: which has limited space (12gb) on partition d: are documents and e: are programs that i installed before i reinstalled windows.

Just wondering if its possible to update my registry with programs that I have on e: or do I have to manually reinstall each one to update my registry?

Realised it might be a problem in the future as windows cannot detect the version of each individual installed programs, so brings about problems of updating them.

Any help ?

 

[Nukey]

Unfortunately when the system was reinstalled the registry would have been cleared and there will be alot of keys and data that will be missing for the programs to run. The only option is to reinstall the programs Im afraid.

 

[Nodsu]

Not to say it's impossible, just run regedit and type away

But seriously.. This can be humanly done for some programs (done it myself), not needed at all for others (some programs just fill in the defaults when the registry keys are missing), and plain impossible for the rest (too many things needed and no recovery procedures).

You are better off just reinstalling everything.

(Don't you just love the Windows registry - one huge messy point of failure that almost everything depends on?)

 

[nicku]

Why is it necessary for windows to have a list of all the keys in the registry? What is the actual need for the registry itself?

 

[alphnumeric]

What is the windows registry?

If you install the programs to the same directory as you did the first time, you may be able to save any custom settings you had for that program and retrieve any files saved by that program. Some installers are smart enough to see that the program is already there and only update the missing settings. You might even get a repair option that will save you time.