Restart registry without rebooting

If Windows informs you that a reboot is required after a registry change - you can sometimes get round it by restarting the registry.

To do that:-

  1. Open Task Manager (ctrl-shift-esc)
  2. click on the processes tab
  3. find ‘explorer.exe’
  4. right click on explorer and choose ‘end process’ - click ‘yes’ to confirm
  5. ** Don’t worry about the taskbar disappearing - that’s normal! **
  6. now click ‘File - New Task (Run…)’
  7. type in ‘explorer.exe’ without the quotes and click ok

This procedure should restart your registry, without rebooting.

For other ways of accessing task manager, click here.


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