Windows XP Pro - Need Help Please!

[RShick]

Went to boot up my machine and got an error as follows:

"Windows could not start because the follwoing file is missing or corrupted
\Windows\System32\Config\System"

The it procedes to tell me to try and repair the file. I throw in the windows installation disk and go into the repair options, but from there, I have no idea what I am doing. Can anyone help me out? I really don't want to reinstall windows and lose all my files.

Thanks,
RShick

 

[RShick]

Anyone? Please help me out

 

[sparky853]

Put the Windows XP CD in your comp, and boot from the CD. You should get a choice to install or repair.

It will look for the original installation, then repair files as necessary.

All your documents, etc should be safe.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: RShick
Went to boot up my machine and got an error as follows:

"Windows could not start because the follwoing file is missing or corrupted
\Windows\System32\Config\System"

The it procedes to tell me to try and repair the file. I throw in the windows installation disk and go into the repair options, but from there, I have no idea what I am doing. Can anyone help me out? I really don't want to reinstall windows and lose all my files.

Thanks,
RShick

Your registry is corrupt. To resolve this, tell me this: Do you have a way to get to the Windows disk, aside from using the recovery console?

If you do (ie Bart's PE Boot Disk) just change the permissions on the System Volume Information folder in C:, go in there, copy the most recent System Recovery save of the registry files (sam, software, system, security) from that folder to the c:\windows\system32\config folder (make a backup of the files in c:\windows\system32\config first), and reboot, and your problem will be resolved.

If you do not (ie you only have your XP Pro CD) then boot into the recovery console. Make a backup of the sam|software|system|security files in c:\windows\system32\config. Copy those same four files from c:\windows\repair to c:\windows\system32\config. Boot your system in safe mode. Do a system restore back to a known good date. Your problem will be resolved.

You can also get chkreg (Checkreg) from Microsoft's website, which can do similar things. 822705 How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues http://support.microsoft.com/?id=822705

Let me know if you have any questions. I suggest grabbing/making a copy of Bart's PE boot CD. Google "bart pe boot disk" for more info on that.

 

[RShick]

Thanks for the responses....

sparky853, do you mean for me to choose install or repair? When I chose to repair it loads the repair consol but nothing really happens. If I chose to install, what will happen?

dclive, I don't have the Barts PE Boot Disk (but I will after I get back up and running).
I do have a question about the second method you described. What is the syntax for actually making a backup copy and then copying over the repair files. I am not very DOS savvy and really don't want to screw this up.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: RShick
Thanks for the responses....

sparky853, do you mean for me to choose install or repair? When I chose to repair it loads the repair consol but nothing really happens. If I chose to install, what will happen?

dclive, I don't have the Barts PE Boot Disk (but I will after I get back up and running).
I do have a question about the second method you described. What is the syntax for actually making a backup copy and then copying over the repair files. I am not very DOS savvy and really don't want to screw this up.

Thanks again for the help!

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=32&threadid=1359897&enterthread=y

It's in there. Search for "How do we do this" and you'll see more details.