Windows won't start because file missing or corrupt

Dempsey

\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM missing or corrupt


I went into the recovery console and I ran a chkdsk /r /p

Failed at 75% saying that some things were unrecoverable

I turned off the PC because I had to go somewhere and when I came back I was going to do this step by step

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=307545

But now I cant access the Recovery Console

I'm getting the BSOD

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

Restarted the PC, no joy

Could I run the Recovery Console from a Windows XP CD to to recover the corrupt registry or is it time to recover data and format?

Its not the PC described in my signature its a old Packhard Bell.

Thanks in advance

RoadKillTs

Ok well usually a chkdsk /r will repair the UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error.

Could I run the Recovery Console from a Windows XP CD to to recover the corrupt registry or is it time to recover data and format?

Yes. Boot up from the XP cd and hit R to start the RC.
Once your at the command prompt type "chkdsk /r" without the quotes.


As for this error \windows\system32\config\SYSTEM missing or corrupt, you would have to repair the registry.
You could use the guide here.

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Ok well usually a chkdsk /r will repair the UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error.


Yes. Boot up from the XP cd and hit R to start the RC


As for this error \windows\system32\config\SYSTEM missing or corrupt, you would have to repair the registry.
You could use the guide here.

I have a OEM Win XP Media Centre CD & a Dell Win XP reinstallation CD?

I already linked that guide

I see there was a warning about using OEM's so I shouldn't use those to get the recovery console going?

There seems to be a couple of versions of Hiren's boot cd where I'm looking, just get the latest?

Thanks for your help, much appreciated as I'm in uncharted waters

RoadKillTs

Did you try going into the recovery console using the XP cd?

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Did you try going into the recovery console using the XP cd?

Not yet because of the warning on the Microsoft site

Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.

shaner

I've found you can generally ignore that warning if you're using a non-vendor specific XP install disc. If you can lay your hands on an XP Corporate edition disc the recovery console will work fine on most other flavours of Windows.

RoadKillTs

Not yet because of the warning on the Microsoft site

I'd chance it.

Dempsey

shaner wrote: »

I've found you can generally ignore that warning if you're using a non-vendor specific XP install disc. If you can lay your hands on an XP Corporate edition disc the recovery console will work fine on most other flavours of Windows.

So dont use the Dell one or the media centre edition ones

RoadKillTs wrote: »

I'd chance it.

I have the recovery console off the Dell XP cd loaded but it didnt ask me what installation of windows do I want to work on, its just sitting on C:\> at the moment whilst I plan my next move.

The important thing is that the other data outside of the windows install doesn't get ****ed

RoadKillTs

It wont don't worry.

Well run chkdsk /r at the prompt.

Dempsey

Right the repair console is working again without any CD

I tried to run

md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

If you have access to another computer, to save time, you can copy the text in step five, and then create a text file called "Regcopy1.txt" (for example). To use this file, run the following command when you start in Recovery Console:
batch regcopy1.txt

I ran Batch A:\regcopy1.txt and I got errors for the following i think

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

System could not find the specified file etc message x 4 on screen

Cos I tried to run it again and the system cannot find anything now so it must have stopped after the delete part.

How do I find out the proper directories for the copy part?

RoadKillTs

md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

Did you get any errors whens you typed these commands?

Also I take it you have the regcopy1.txt file on a floppy disk?
when you ran the command batch regcopy1.txt did you hear the floppy working?

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Did you get any errors whens you types these commands?

Also I take it you have the regcopy1.txt file on a floppy disk?
when you ran the command batch regcopy1.txt did you hear the floppy working?

Ya, the temporary directory was created and there is some files in it.

I dunno who to check whats in it. I just know that the floppy did work, some files were backed up, some were deleted but I think the repair didnt work.

Basically on screen there was 5 of the same messages about files successfully copied

then about 10 lines down the prompt i got about 4 of the same messages saying that it couldnt find the files.

When I ran it again, it told me that the temporary folder already exists then I got about 10 messages about not being able to find the files specified.

Why cant anything be simple!! :mad:

RoadKillTs

Ah well it could be worse.

Ok at the command prompt type "cd c:\windows\repair" without quotes.

Then type the following commands. Let me know if you get any errors.

copy system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy default c:\windows\system32\config\default

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Ah well it could be worse.

Ok at the command prompt type "cd c:\windows\repair" without quotes.

Then type the following commands. Let me know if you get any errors.

Did

cd c:\windows\repair

that worked

then did

copy system c:\windows\system32\config\system

The system cannot find the file specified

RoadKillTs

Ok did you run the chkdsk /r command successfully?

Within that repair folder your should have the five files that you need to copy.
If there not there then theres something wrong.

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Ok did you run the chkdsk /r command successfully?

Within that repair folder your should have the five files that you need to copy.
If there not there then theres something wrong.

I ran it earlier and it fixed a problem, thats how I'm able to use the recovery console without any cd.

Should I try using the a Windows XP CD recovery console?

RoadKillTs

I doubt its going to make any difference which way you use the RC.
The files that you need to copy should be present in the c:\windows\repair folder.

I don't know of another location that they might be at.

You could try doing a Repair install.

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

I doubt its going to make any difference which way you use the RC.
The files that you need to copy should be present in the c:\windows\repair folder.

I don't know of another location that they might be at.

You could try doing a Repair install.

Nothing is ever straight forward for me when it comes to computers!

All going well this should repair the windows setup, no data lost and whatever programs installed are fine??

RoadKillTs

Yes. This will only alter system files and leave personal files intact.

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Yes. This will only alter system files and leave personal files intact.

Great, I'll give that bash later on tonight and I'll let you know if i'm jumping for joy or still banging my head off the wall! :pac:

Thanks for all your help today

RoadKillTs

No problem

Dempsey

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

When I get to step 5, I dont have the repair option for any of the partitions, just to delete/create partitions and install a copy of windows.

Is this down to the copy of windows on the cd?

RoadKillTs

Is this down to the copy of windows on the cd?

Probably. Do you have another one you can try?

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Probably. Do you have another one you can try?

Only an OEM copy of Media Centre Edition 2005

I'll try to get my hands on a proper copy of XP Home and try again

RoadKillTs

Yes if you have XP home installed then you will need an XP home cd to enable the repair option.

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Yes if you have XP home installed then you will need an XP home cd to enable the repair option.

Do Dell have their own version of xp home or something

RoadKillTs

Well im open to correction here but what I mean is if you have XP home installed and you put in an XP Professional cd you wont get the option to repair and vice a versa. The CD must correspond the OS installed.

I might be wrong though.

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Well im open to correction here but what I mean is if you have XP home installed and you put in an XP Professional cd you wont get the option to repair and vice a versa. The CD must correspond the OS installed.

I might be wrong though.

Home Edition installed and used a Dell OEM Home Edition CD (from another machine) but no repair option like described in that link

RoadKillTs

Most likely you need a Retail home edition cd.

Dempsey

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Most likely you need a Retail home edition cd.

Hmmm tried a another windows image and didnt get an option to repair the install

There is a D partition with about 2Gb of space, is there anything on that to save me from this nightmare!!

RoadKillTs

Doubt it. I think you need to bite the bullet.
You can either take the hard drive out and slave it with another computer and the copy your files off it or use a boot cd to copy the files off.
It's format time!!