Ok, i have a friend that has come to me for help with her comp and i have no idea how to solve this one. When she starts her computer (laptop w/ Windows XP) a dos-looking screen comes up after a short wait and says that the file "C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system" is missing or corrupt. Has any one ever heard of this? If you have, what causes it?

I would run chkdsk myself

Use the Windows Setup floppy disks or the Windows CD-ROM to start your computer. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press 'R" to repair.

Select recovery console, and at the dos prompt, run the following

chkdsk /r

GL, Dave

The big problem with the whole thing is that you can't do anything... that includes anything in DOS. A black screen comes up that just says that the file is missing or corrupt. We let it sit for a minute to see if it would go to DOS but it just restarted and got the same error.

Thanks for your help, they just told me that they got it fixed. Something to do with a partion...

Thanks for your help, they just told me that they got it fixed. Something to do with a partion...

WAIT! Can you please tell me how this was fixed? I have the exact same problem, it just happened this morning and I have no idea how to fix it. Please help! I'm not sure if this site emails when someone replies so if you get this please email me at luttrell321@gmail.com THANK YOU!!!

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For an explanation of, and fix for, the C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system error, please see this thread.
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