URGENT: corrupt system file

[krrajan]

Hello All,


I received the following problem when attempting to start my XP Pro machine

Windows Could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt \windows\system32\config\system"


I tried to both reinstall windows and use the recovery console. While doing the former the machine is unable to find the previous version of Windows XP Pro. With the former I select 1 for c:\Windows but it gets stuck there.

I live in the NY area. I would be very very obliged to you if you have any ideas on how to solve it.

[Thrax]

It sounds like your hard drive may be going bad. There is no practical reason why your install of windows should not be recognized. Please follow this (http://icrontic.com/articles/hard_drive_diagnostics) guide to test your drive before we continue.

Either your drive is bad or we're going to completely reformat it and start over. This issue can not be fixed without one of these two solutions if a repair install or the recovery from the Windows console can not be conducted. In both cases, there's a strong chance we can still back up most of the data before sending it or its information to pasture.

[krrajan]

Thanks for the note. I could not do the HDS test as the machine isn't booting. But when I try to start the machine, I don't hear any grinding or clicking noises -- I have had a drive failure before and do recollect the painful noise it would make. Thank you!

[krrajan]

I ran the HD diagnostics from the Boot Device Menu. The software (provided by WDC) ran diagnostics on Drive 0 (a WDC drive) giving it a "Pass" verdict.

[krrajan]

I am sorry that I omitted that I have a WDD SATA drive. Is it possible that the XP Pro disc does not have the require SATA driver. Thank you very much in advance

[Thrax]

It's very possible. This (http://icrontic.com/articles/slipstream_windows_xp) article informs you how to get SATA drivers embedded into a new Windows XP disc.

Given that your drive is okay but the system hangs when accessing your installation at the Windows Recovery Console, I'd say your copy of Windows is simply broken beyond repair. To back up your data, you can start with the easy guide (http://icrontic.com/articles/easy_data_recovery) and then move to the advanced guide (http://icrontic.com/articles/advanced_data_recovery) if that fails. Once that's done, you can follow the article I linked at the beginning of my post to get SATA drivers on your Windows CD, then you'll have to reformat and reinstall (http://icrontic.com/articles/repair_install_windows_xp).

[krrajan]

Thank you! I will follow the advice and report the outcome.

If I connect an external SATA drive enclosure to another XP Pro machine, will I have to install a SATA driver? The article did not mention the need to install a driver so I am assuming one isn't required!

[Thrax]

Correct.

[krrajan]

Made good progress in terms of recovering my data. I used an external enclosure -- it was very easy.

I got stumped with re-installing XP Pro SP2 on a machine with a SATA drive. Perhaps SP3 has SATA drivers. I will attempt the slipstreaming idea tomorrow.

[Thrax]

SP3 does not have SATA drivers. You must follow my guide to put them on the disc. :)

[RichD]

Hi Thrax,

When ever I have installed XP I have always put the SATA drivers onto a floppy disk then when the XP installer starts you get a blue screen with a load of text at the bottom. It comes up with something like to install third party SATA devices press F6. You then Pres F6 it carries on its merry way. Once it gets to the next stage it asks you for the location of the driver and you can point it to the floppy disk.

Is this not still possible?

[Thrax]

It's possible, but the probability of someone actually having a floppy drive is astronomically low now.

[RichD]

I always keep a floppy drive... plus the disk make great coasters!!! ;)

[Hawk]

Repair - \windows\system32\ config\system
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system

This is a nasty little greeting that has appeared on my Windows XP machine a couple of time recently.

Thankfully, it has a fairly simple solution that has worked for me..

The Solution

1. Turn your computer off

2. Insert your Windows XP CD and reboot from the CD drive

To boot from CD, press DEL on startup and enter into the system BIOS setup and select your CD drive as the first boot drive, press F10 to save your settings and exit

Your computer will reboot from the XP disc

3. Press 'R' when offered the option of using the Windows Recovery Console

(Note: there are lots of articles telling you NOT to do it this way, but from my recent experience this is the quickest and easiest way.)

4. The Recovery Console

At the prompt type the following:

C:\WINDOWS >cd system32\

this changes the current directory to C:\Windows\System32 ren config configold

This renames the config folder to configold

mkdir config

this makes a new directory called config

cd config

changes the current directory to c:\Windows\System32\Config

then type the following lines pressing enter after each one

copy c:\windows\repair\system

copy c:\windows\repair\software

copy c:\windows\repair\sam

copy c:\windows\repair\security

copy c:windows\repair\default

after each line it should say:

1 file copied

type:exit

5. Reboot

(You will have to go back into the BIOS setup and change the boot drive back from CD to your primary Hard Disk)

When your computer boots, it will probably run CHKDSK and show lots of orphaned files which it will automatically repair

Windows should boot normally and everything should be fine!

[Thrax]

^ You can try this solution, but most installs of Windows no longer make regular registry backups. The only ones on the system are the worthless ones from initial installation.