What to do with a horribly corrupted registry key?

Factual Questions
1

So I have this registry key that I have determined is corrupted (because regedit says it cannot be read). I need to delete it so that I can install drivers for my new graphics card. The only problem is, not only can I not read it, I can’t delete it. I’ve tried changing the permissions on it, and windows can’t even tell me what the permissions on it are. Presumably, it can’t do this because the key is so badly corrupted. How can I get rid of this key? Is there any way?

2

Hmm, I’m a mostly a Mac guy, but I think the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility might be an appropriate tool for you to use for your problem.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301

"WHAT IS THE WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEAN UP UTILITY?
You can use the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to remove Windows Installer
settings from your computer if a problem occurs. Although Windows Installer is
designed to be very robust, Windows Installer can become damaged if any of the
following issues occurs:

  • Your computer’s registry becomes corrupted.

  • You or someone else inadvertently changes a registry setting that is
    used by Windows Installer and that causes a problem.

  • The installation of a program that uses Windows Installer (for
    example, Microsoft Office 2000) is interrupted.

  • There are multiple instances of Setup running at the same time, or
    an instance of Setup is “blocked.”"

3

Can you rename it? That would be just as good. Can you do anything to it at all?

4

Nope, can’t do anything to it.

5

Just one key that you can’t read or delete, right?

I’m assuming you’ve already tried booting to safe mode, where you might have some luck at finding the problem in the registry and fixing it. Or, try RegCleaner – an older program, but one which I like and trust for basic housecleaning of the registry. There are some third-party registry editors which might do the trick, but I only ever use regedit.

This is assuming you don’t have a backup of the registry (for example, Spybot S&D gives the option of backing up the registry when you first install it), or can’t perform a system restore (assuming you’re running XP). And you’ve probably tried stopping all non-critical services, on the off chance that there’s a file-permission error (?), which doesn’t make sense, but I suspect you’ll be trying and trying just about everything before you’re done.

6

Can you create a registry entry with the same name? Could you import an entry with the same name?

7

If you’re running Win2k, have you tried using regedt32 instead? I’m not sure it would help, but it’s worth a try. Also, how about exporting the branch, removing the key, then reimporting it? However, that might be a mess, and I would do some serious backups before I messed with any of it.