Hi,

I turned my computer on yesterday (a SHARP laptop with Win XP on it) and it showed this message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\Windows\System32\Config\System

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup cd-rom. Select 'r' at the first screen to repair.

Only I didn't get a 'setup' cd with mine, I got a SHARP recovery CD which when I boot from it, gives me 3 options, but all of them include re-formatting the C drive!

I don't know what to do, I've got loads of photos and files on my computer that weren't backed up, so re-formatting can't be an option! Do I need a 'startup' disk?

try a search with www.google.com ,with this in the search line .

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\Windows\System32\Config\System

Thanks but I've been doing that and that's how I found this site.

I have found a few things that might work but i'm at work all of today so I can't try them yet!
The thing is that all of the solutions invole DOS and I have no knowledge of that, I'll just have to follow the instructions parrot fashion.