[tidbits]

I was going through the registry manually to get rid of something and I accidentally deleted one of the software folders and not having expected such a mistake, made no backup.

I deleted either:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
Or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software

Is what I think I deleted. I do realize that there are more software keys deeper in the register but those are my two guesses.

As you can see from this link, I no longer have a keyboard tab in the region window.
http://imgur.com/eG1RaPT

Attempted solutions:
Use the Windows 8 Refresh
http://www.geekstogo...dpost__p__34377 (Sadly this is an XP fix but it gave me a lot of hope)
Other solutions in that thread
Grabbing CCleaner and having it scan the registry for issues

Additional Info:
When I booted up Steam and another game not related to steam, they both asked for a 5 digit confirmation code sent to my e-mail saying I was logging in from a different computer and needed to make sure it was I on the account (happened before the refresh).

Mainly what I am looking for is a language bar fix.

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System restore to before you did this should fix it as one of the things System Restore does is backup the registry.

[Ztruker]

System restore to before you did this should fix it as one of the things System Restore does is backup the registry.

[tidbits]

This laptop is actually rather new and I didn't have any restore points up yet at that time.

[Ztruker]

Best thing to do then is backup your data and restore to factory state.

[admin]

You could try a Windows 8 refresh:

1. Windows Key + C to open charms bar
2. Click Settings
3. Click Change PC settings at the bottom
4. Click the General tab
5. Click Get Started under "Refresh your PC without affecting your files"
6. Let it run

[tidbits]

@Ztruker, darn, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that. At the moment, I don't know if I want to move all my stuff to my external because I had already transferred a lot of my files from my old laptop over so perhaps I might just have to try to find a 3rd party program or something.

@Admin, I already tried that, thanks though.

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

You could try to create a new user account and see if at least the Windows options are back to normal, this will not solve the problem with program registrations and so but you will know if the problem is deeper inside windows or not.

[Anarchy]

As stated above, a system restore before this could easily fix the issue

[tidbits]

Sorry for the late reply I've been busy the past week.

@Sleepydude, I have yet to try that, I will try that soon

@Anarchy, I know, sadly like I said I didn't have any backups prior

[Ztruker]

One other possibility, give Shadow Explorer a try.

A quick look at what you can do is here: Recover Files with Shadow Copies on Any Version of Windows Vista (Says Vista but works on Win 7 or 8 as well).

You could try copying an older copy of the the registry file you nuked from C:\windows\system32\config using Shadow Explorer or probably a better solution, copy them to a work area then use regedit and Load hive to find just the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software keys. Export them then exit regedit then start it again and import the ones you exported into the current registry.

Be sure you backup your registry first. The easiest way is to create a System Restore point.

Edit: Another thought, check C:\windows\system32\config\RegBack, see if there is an older copy of the registry there. If so you could copy it to C:\windows\system32\config from the Command Prompt of a booted Win 8 install DVD or flash drive.