Hello, it looks like it is a common problem that people don't like to read commit messages :-)
So I post here - starting from the introduction of cmlib patch into our tree, the binary hives became compatible with Windows XP binary hives, BUT incompatible to ReactOS binary hives made with the previous versions of ReactOS (this includes the current 0.3 release).
In order to overcome this problem, simply reinstall your reactos with formatting the harddrive partition during setup. Or manually delete the contents of \system32\config directory, issue a "make install_registry" command, and don't forget to upgrade your freeldr.sys too (in case you install all that manually without bootcd).
WBR, Aleksey Bragin.