hello, few months ago i started up my computer and I got an error which said, "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt \WINDOWS\SYSTEMS32\CONFIG\SYSTEM". I didnt know what to do for ages I was searching for a fix then I found some instructions on Microsoft help and other sites but the problem is when I get into the recovery console it doesn't prompt me to enter a Administration password then i carry on with the instructions but when i type them and press enter it says access is denied and I cannot do anything. Can someone please help me?
Does anyone know how to use the CD drive in recovery console, I mean for example F: is to access floppy i think and what is the letter to acces to CD?
The real way to answer that question would be to tell you not to worry about it. D is the most common cd drive letter, but this depends on your systems configuration, especially considering a person can change their drive letters if they want or need. If you have your windows cd in the drive, and your system is set to "boot off the cd" then it should give you the option of reinstalling windows, or using the recovery system to repair windows. Personally I've not seen very good results out of windows repairing itself in this manner. If your computer doesn't do anything as a result of the windows cd being in the drive while you boot up, you should go into bios and look for the boot order, in your case place the optical drive as the first priority. If that is what you are really asking, it should help. If you have something like a dell/sony or whatever, I'm sure the process to run your "restoration" cd is to actually wipe the contents of your drive, and image the contents back to the manufacturer installed default.
ty for the help for the CD drive i can get into recovery console successfuly but it says access denied when i try to copy files or do anything or even access folders. So now i am trying to boot into safe mode but unfortunately i do not know how to boot nto safe mode.
unfortunately i have just tryed to boot into safe mode but i cant even boot into safe mode so i really do not know what to do now because it says access is denied in recovery console when i try to do something, the way to resolve the access denied problem is to boot into windows in safe mode and share some files or folders but i cannot even do that. So pleasse does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of the error "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" on how to get rid of it or solve this problem please anyone?
Im sure reinstalling windows wont erase your data. It just replaces windows. Now if yu were to reformat/wipe your drive then yes you will loose your data. I dont know about everyone else but my Main HDD (OS) is actually I not C, just the way windows went on.
Cirkustanz gave you the answer a few posts ago: if you use the Repair option on your Windows XP CD, you shouldn't lose any data. Boot off it and you should get the choice of installing fresh or repairing an existing installation. You'll need to reinstall all Windows Updates and possibly drivers, but your data will be intact.
oh okay ty guys so ill try that out ill bot of cd then click setup windows then try repair thnx again.
I would mean to ask you exactly what data is it that is important that you not lose? Don't take this the wrong way, but the responses you have given in this thread would lead me to believe you're not very comfortable with computers, is that right? The safer, long term piece of advice, as opposed to reinstalling windows on top of your current installation, is to find a way to back up the data that is important to you, and then format the windows partition, and do a clean install. You can back up your existing data pretty easily if you have access to another computer where you can hook up your current hard drive either internally or externally. Your scenario is one that I've encountered a numerous amount of times, and while very few of them took my advice, I would always say this is a good point to consider some system of doing backups. If it's just data such as documents, pictures, music that you need to backup, you might want to establish either an automatic system of backup, or doing it manually on a regular basis. If it's your entire windows system that you want to backup, one of the more popular methods of this is Norton Ghost. Ghost is best used by allowing the windows partition (the logical hard disk, not the real one) to be kinda small, no more than 10-20gigs. Install things such as games onto another logical partition or a secondary hard drive if you have one, and put your large files such as music/movies onto another one. This way you can make a complete restoration method that will fit onto one or two blank dvd's. You'll be able to completely recover from even something as catastrophic as a complete hard disc failure up to the point of your last backup. I personally have also found it tobe very handy, since it allows you to browse for specific files or folders, and restore those if that is all you want. If this is something that interests you, you'll want to look into some software that can partition your main hard disk such as partition magic, as well as norton ghost. By the way, to get into safe mode, usually this is done by pressing the F8 key when the system is booting up, sometimes it is delete. You don't have to hold it in, just keep tapping it. I'm guessing that you have not changed the windows default option for restore points, so selecting the option of "last known good configuration" might very well allow you to get into windows with all functions operating normally. Cheers.
Here is the ultimate fix to the \WINDOWS\SYSTEMS32\CONFIG\SYSTEM error. I have used it on three or four computers, and it works every time. First, you’re going to need to either a second computer or a second hard drive to boot windows onto, and have the hard drive that’s giving you an error as a secondary drive. Step 1: Boot into windows on the working hard drive, then on the broken (now secondary drive) go to the C:\WINDOWS\system32\config folder (It'll be like E:\ or D:\ now). Copy the whole folder and back it up some where. It doesn't really matter where. Also, take note of all the user accounts in C:\Documents and Settings. Step 2: Then delete everything in C:\WINDOWS\system32\config. Go to C:\WINDOWS\repair, copy everything in that folder to the C:\WINDOWS\system32\config folder. You should now be able to restart and boot into the previously broken hard drive. Step 3: Once you boot in successfully, turn the computer off and put in your other hard drive and boot off that (so that the previously broken hard drive is a secondary drive again). Delete the stuff in C:\WINDOWS\system32\config (this is the default \repair folder stuff now), and paste your system32\config folder from step 1 into it. Take note again of the accounts in C:\Documents and Settings. You’ll probably have new folders like administrator.000 or Username.001 or something in there. Delete all the new folders. You have to do all of this with the drive as a secondary drive again, because if your running off of windows why you try and delete/paste the stuff in \config and \docs and settings, you'll get the "bla bla bla is being used by another program" error and it wont let you do anything. Step 4: Reboot into the previously broken, now fixed hard drive. The system should be like the error never happened. Make sure you take note of the user account thing though, because if you don’t, you’ll make new user accounts on the drive and you’ll keep booting into the new account and wont be able to access the old ones (you’ll be able to access the files and such on the drive, but you wont be able to log into those accounts with your Windows profile, which means most programs will not run).
wow, ty cirkustanz and ty xunlimited i think i will try what you said unimited but I have RAID 0 running on my PC with 2 HD will that make any difference or can I still do what you said normally?
I'm going to go out on a limb, and assume that you just installed something. uninstal;led something, or generally just did one of the million things that make windows loose it's way when starting up. All you need to do is to boot off of the windows CD, Bring up the recovery console. Then when you've logged in type "fixmbr" , hit enter, Wait for it to finish, "Fixboot" , hit enter, Wait for it to finish, and then "exit". Fix MBR replaces the Master boot record with the windows default one. Chances are right arround 49.4% that this is what's pooched. FIXBOOT fixes boot.ini and a few other options, so that windows knows where all of it's files are at. the other 49.4% of the time, it's the fact that windows has "misplaced" a file it needs at boot up, rather than the fact that they're damaged (Ie, they're still all there, it's just that the file that tells windows where they are is pooched) The other 1.2% of the time, something's actually broken.. in which case you'll need to go with the "repair" install option. (boot of CD, Say you want to install windows, then when it says that there's allready a copy of windows on the drive, say that you want to do the repair install. All you need to do is to remember what the computer was called, and what all of the usernames on it were called... and then make sure that if asked you PICK SOMETHING DIFFERENT. this way no usernames get deleted.
Why have you got raid on your machine if you have no idea about it at all? And, frankly, if you have raid 0 , you shouldn't have too much of a worry about losing your data, right?
Wireframe, he's a bit of a newby, so he probably doesnt know about it. For now, forget about raid - especially RAID 0. it does you no good, and you dont know what its for; you dont need it, trust me
