Registry Editor Problem

Good, Gerdi. Keep me posted on your progress as I will be here to help until the case is resolved.

Thank you again. I'm actually looking forward to learning and working through your suggestions and hopefully resolve my problem.

... I only made a 1 word, 5 letter change ...

You can lock yourself out with a single tick mark, if it's in the wrong place. And, frankly, we don't know what state your computer was in before you made this change.

This is another situation where backing up can be a life-saver. If you had a backup to restore, you could be back at work in minutes like nothing happened, even if Windows is completely pooched.

Do you not have another user account on the computer? Every Windows PC needs to have at least two user accounts: One is the Administrator account, which you only use in situations where you need elevated privileges. The other is a Standard account, which is what you use for your day-to-day computing and where you store your personal files.

With no other user account and no backup to restore, I'm afraid to say that you're like a trapeze artist working without a net. The next best thing to do is to show your PC to a professional (vs. Best Buy) who can work on your computer and try to get you back in. If all else fails, they will backup your personal files (using methods I'm not allowed to write about) and do a clean install.

For now, I think your first priority should be to protect your personal files. Don't lose those. Then you can decide whether you want a professional to see your PC, or to keep soldiering on yourself.

It's only complicated because your PC cannot start due to this known issue, which has fixes I have been giving out for years that are quite advanced, so I include other easier options.

Just to explain something so complicated is not that easy, it's taken ten years to whittle the steps down so they are still as thorough. Most people on the web would just tell you to reinstall, not even bother with how to rescue your files. I gave you every possible option and off-ramp to have available, based on helping with this issue hundreds of times.

Keep me posted on your progress as I will be here to help until the case is resolved.

Thank you Greg. That all sounds somewhat complicated. I was surprised that a one, 5 letter word change in my Registry would cause such havoc, but it's a good reminder why to stay out of it unless one knows exactly what they're doing. As I mentioned, I was able to get to the Troubleshoot\Advanced Options and bring up Command Prompt, but that required my password to work with it. I will work through each of your suggestions and hope for a desired result. Thank you again. Steph G.