c0000218 {Registry File Failure}

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Muugokszhiion

n00b
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Jul 22, 2005
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Windows XP fails to boot, instead going to a blue screen that says,

"Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate"

I have put the Windows XP Pro SP2 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, booted from it, entered the Recovery Console, and attempted to perform the steps located at: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545 as I realize this should solve my problem.

HOWEVER, when I attempt to do...:
"copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system"

...as it instructs me to do on the Microsoft website, it creates an error that says something like, "the file could not be found."

How can this be? Why doesn't c:\windows\repair\system exist? I need it in order to restore the registry. Is there any way around this?

All the rest of the copy commands (i.e. software, sam, security, default) copied successfully. But it couldn't find "system" and it won't let me boot the computer without it (when I try to boot up in Safe Mode, it mentions that it can't find that System file).

Any help would be hugely appreciated!
 
STOP c0000218 =You are trying to install XP on an outdated HDD or a corrupted one. Even if you could install it crashes would be eminent. Either reformat or get a new HDD. This info is coming from my PC Errors book from Smart Computing. Hope this helps...this book has saved my a55 many times.


Have you tried "last known good config" ? or repair ?
 
Last known good config did not work. It requires that "system" file I think.

What do you mean by "repair"?
 
you can do a repair "re-install" .. go thru re-install steps .. you get offered to do a "repair" .. skip that one and after you agree to the eula you will be given option to do a repair again .. say yes to that one



[F]old|[H]
 
After I hit F8 to agree to the EULA, it goes to a page showing the partitions and does not give an option to perform a repair. Also, if I attempt to install Windows XP onto an existing partition, it will not let me.
 
must not be using same install disc (or type) that was originally used then ...darn

my advice wont work for you then unless you get same flavor of xp home (oem , retail ..etc) ..or same flavor of xp pro (oem , retail ..etc ..sp2 installed ..blah blah).. :(



[F]old|[H]
 
I'm using a friend's XP Pro disk at the moment... maybe you're right and that's the reason. I'll find the original install disks and give it a shot.
 
Here's what I've done:

1. Inserted the XP disk that came with the computer

2. Booted from the disk (with F12).

3. It gave the option to "R" repair the installation with Recovery Console, or hit ENTER to set up windows. I hit ENTER.

4. Hit F8 to agree to EULA, and it took me to a page with the disk partitions, with the options to set up windows on a partition.

5. Hit ENTER on the partition on which Windows is set up, assuming that the option to repair the installation would be on the next page.

Instead, it said:
"Windows XP cannot recognize the partition you selected. Setup cannot install Windows XP on this partition. However, you can go back to the previous screen, delete the partition, and then select the... bla bla bla"

Am I doing the right thing? Does anyone have any advice for how I should proceed, with the Windows XP disk in hand now?
 
Right here is what ya need.

http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=307545

Basicaly what happened is your registry is gone or corrupt. To sum it up, you will copy the default Windows config while in the recovery console and then boot to windows using that. Then you will gain control to one of your system restores and copy a recent hive out of it and reboot to the recovery console and put that hive in place. Once you are back in windows, you will do a system restore to a recent restore and you will be back online.

I had this exact problem a while back several times on the same install, finally tracked it down to installing Windows on a Logical Partition...how in the hell I managed to do that I don't know, but eventually after a few days of having the system running continuosly, it would end up with a corrupt registry. I must have reinstalled Windows five or six times before I noticed on the last time that my Windows partition was a logical partition instead of a primary. Fixed that and have not had an issue since.

Follow the instructions about making a text file with the commands and put them on a floppy disk and batch execute them. Makes the whole process alot easier.
 
I had been trying to follow those steps (see first post), but a big problem was that it couldn't find the file C:\windows\repair\system, so I couldn't copy it to C:\windows\system32\config\system, and I don't believe it's possible to go on without that file. I don't know where I can just find a backup "system" file. Or maybe there's another way to do this, or something I'm not seeing.
 
My bad, didn't catch that part.

The defualt config is the same on all windows installs. Try copying it off another machine to the borked machine.
 
after the step 4 you listed ..that is when you would get option to do a repair install if you were using same flavor of xp home disc , or same flavor of xp pro disc

 
Muugokszhiion said:
Sounds like a good idea. But how can I go about doing that? Will it really fit on a floppy disk?
Click to expand...

I do not believe so. I think the hive on my machine at home was 20MB if I remember correctly. Copy a default config to a CD-R. The recovery console has CD-ROM support. You will have to change the paths in the commands listed in the first part of the article.

Change these to point to your CD-ROM drive:

Code: 
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
to something like
Code: 
copy e:\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy e:\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy e:\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy e:\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy e:\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
where e:\ is your CD-ROM drive.

(I have no idea why when I formatted the text in this post with the code tag it put spaces in the last words of each of those commands)
 
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