HELP!!! - Repairing Windows 2000 - "registry hives missing"

[AnitaPeterson]

Hi there,

My Windows 2000 Pro died suddenly a few days ago, while installing a new HD, and I've been locked out of it for a few days.

I succeeded (don't ask!) to get an application called "ERD Commander", which succeded to boot up the system.

It shows Win2k as the only OS installed, but when I click "repair", I get the following error message:


The following Registry hives of the selected installation are corrupt or missing:

SYSTEM

What the...? I looked on the net, but all I did was get even more confused - all the instructions on various websites are cross-referenced and written in a manner that I find obscure...

Can you please tell me what I need to do?


*edit* I found that there is a folder - in the Windows directory - called "repair", and within it there's another folder called "Backup", dated October 17, 2002. There's approximately 17 MB of data in that folder. Can this data be of any help?

 

[Booter]

boot into safe mode and try The Last Known Good Configuration Boot Option.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

won't work...

It's actually weird - If I try to boot the last good known configuration, it finds TWO Windows 2000 installations (undoubtedly from my previous attempts to make a repair using the floppy disks...
Choosing the first leads me to an error message according to which the HD cannot be found (it's on a controller card).
Choosing the second gives me an error message that something is missing somewhere in C:\Windows...

dead end...

 

[mboy]

Thats a tough one to fix. You rbest bet is do do a win2k fresh install on a seperate HD or parition, then u can access the HD and back off any files you need, then do a fresh format and install to your original drive.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I'm trying to leave this as a last resort

 

[Booter]

dead end...

Well...the real fun starts now j/k

Ok try this.

copy the content of the backup folder that you found into %Systemroot%\System32\Config

but first you will have to expand the files (they are compressed) with the expand command.

type the following at a command prompt:

SYSTEM._SYSTEM

from recovery console copy the uncompressed files into %Systemroot%\System32\Config (owerwrite any files if 2k asks any questions)

 

[AnitaPeterson]

OK, let's see if this works...

I'll be right back...