Windows repair?

[bleiner]

My computer was shutdown improperly due to my clusmyness and now when i go to turn it on it will not boot. Instead it gives me the following message.."Windows could not boot because the following file is missing or corrupt.....\WINDOWS\system32\config\system"

Im just wondering if there is a way to repair or replace that file somehow or do i have to scrap it and start over? Any advice would be MUCH appreciated, thanks.

[nanosani]

Hey bleiner welcome to daniweb !!
This link will guide you to your windows repair ..
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=319011

[bleiner]

Will that process work for XP pro?

[nanosani]

Let me search for an xp version of the solution ...

[nanosani]

Do the Windows 2000 emergency repair process ... it should work fine on windows xp ..

[bleiner]

heh...now im just starting to feel helpless here..i usually know how to fix things but this one just has got me. OK, so far i have done most of those steps and i can get to the Windows repair console, from there i do not know which command to choose, hopefully you know what i am talking about, if not let me know and i can type out all the commands that are listed. thanks again..so far i love you :mrgreen:

[dlh6213]

You can try an in-place upgrade (aka repair installation) for XP; instructions can be found here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341&Product=winxp

[Saarch]

Have you tried to simply "repair" the os?

Boot from the cd and the installation will run.
It will then offer you an option to repair....don't there will be a repair option again after that. Select the the repair option the (when it shows you the partitions). It will run and repair the win installation and not touch any other files. But be warned that it resets the registry so you migh thave to reinstall some apps, but it will keeps your docs intact.

Hope this helps

[Kintak]

If you go into the repair console if using an XP installation disk, log into your active partition first. If you havn't set an administrative password, then the password is blank.
Either "c:\WINDOWS>" or "c:\WINNT>" should come up (if the installation drive is the C: drive). Type "help" into the console, and a list of commands should pop up. Try the one that says something like "fixboot", which should rewrite the necessary files for a boot up into safe mode. From their you should be able to correct whatever problem caused it if you know what it is.

I'm sorry if the web page posted said what I just did. I didn't read through it.
If worse comes to worse, you may have to reinstall Windows. FIXBOOT should work though. It may even let you start up XP in normal fasion.

[saka_of_willow]

If you go into the repair console if using an XP installation disk, _snip_ Type "help" into the console, and a list of commands should pop up. Try the one that says something like "fixboot", which should rewrite the necessary files for a boot up into safe mode. From their you should be able to correct whatever problem caused it if you know what it is.

Had a similar problem and tried the above (FIXBOOT and FIXMBR). However, the disk was seen as a FAT disk in stead of an NTFS... this means I don't have access to my data anymore. any idea if I still can get the data from the HD?