Corrupt /Windows/System32/Config., please help!!!

J

jhego

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
1,448
My gf has a Sony desktop VGC-RA716GY and running WIndows Media Center. She restarted her PC and this message came up on the boot screen,
"\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM is corrupt or missing. Insert the boot cd and press R to repair it" First of all, this system did not come with any recovery disk so i had to borrow Windows MCE 2005. As soon as it loaded, there were only 2 options. To either delete or create a partition. So what happened to the "repair" option? Should i use a different cd, maybe a regular XP? Would that make a difference? I wouldn't want to do a fresh format since she has a lot of saved files on the HD. If you come across this problem or have an idea on how to fix it, then i need your help desperately. Thanks.
 
I think that error is for corrupt registry..

sometimes you can repair it by replacing the current registry files with the default ones from original installation (to allow you to boot up) then using system restore to go back to a more recent registry. There's a microsoft support article that explains how to do this.

you should be able to use other versions of windows to boot up into the recovery console.


I would take the hard drive out though and connect it to another system to back up the data first...
 
After the BIOS screen loads, right before the Windows Logo is supposed to appear, continuously press the F8 key -- it should bring up the menu where you can select Safe Mode, Normal Mode, etc. Look for "Last Known Good Configuration" and choose that. If it works than you are a lucky man, if not then try a Recovery Console based system restore as stated above.
 
I hate that error :(

I've only run into it once or twice (out of thousands of PCs since I've been using XP). But I've never been able to recover from it.

The best I've been able to boot to a knoppix disk (or throw the hard drive in another WinXP system) and copy the backed up config file (config.old? I think it's a hidden file too) over the corrupt config file.

Of course, the backed up file was created when you initially installed Windows, so you will have to reinstall EVERYTHING. And at that point, you might as well reinstall Windows to ensure you have a clean slate.

I don't know of a quick fix. Both times I've run into this error, the "last known good config" option did not work and WinXP repair installations did not help.
 
Unfortunately, F8 doesnt give me an option to choose "Last Known Good Configuration" But when i used the XP disk, i managed to get into the Recovery Console which is the MS DOS. So what command should i choose? As of now, i chose "chkdsk" and performing additional checking or recovery. So what command do i type?
 
Ok, i went to the microsoft article and realized that it's not corrupt. It's actually missing

THis is how i figured it out. I tried to do this on the recovery console

md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

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

For some reason, it could not copy or find this file:
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak

but everything else copied fine. Then when i came down to the last steps after the deletes, none of it works.



Please tell me that i can still recover it. Like is there a way where i can extract the date from the cd and just overwrite it on the desktop.
 
ChingChang said:
try this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

I've successfully recovered using that method several times. I've also seen it not work and wouldn't let you copy/replace the old files though :(
Click to expand...


Thats exaqctly what i did and it did not work. I guess theres no other way huh? I was thinking of unhooking the HD and hooking it up to another PC and pull the files from there. Will that work?
 
jhego said:
Thats exaqctly what i did and it did not work. I guess theres no other way huh? I was thinking of unhooking the HD and hooking it up to another PC and pull the files from there. Will that work?
Click to expand...
have you tried copying the files from windows\repair\ to windows\system32\config\ ?
If that doesn't work I'm not sure what else you can do.

If you connect it to another computer you might be able to skip the first step and search through "system volume information" folder for the correct registry files, then copy them over to windows\system32\config\
But I've never done this, not sure if it will work.

And yes, as long as the file system isn't screwed up you should be able to access the hard drive in another computer.
 
Best thing to do is take out that hdd and backup all the important files. If you have like more than 2 partition drives(c,d) hopefully you can just copy the whole C onto D if you have room. Make sure to format C drive after backing it up.

After that that best thing is reinstall a new OS onto C drive.
 
I have another PC but its SATA connections only ( i think). I have a A8N SLI motherboard. I think hers run in IDE still. I havent had a chance to check. So there's no other way to recover it without disconnecting the HD?
 
So i guess i'm stuck in reformatting huh? Any other way to restore it?
 
Ok, i just connected her HD to my computer and i can access all her files:) But my question is, will be able to restore whatever file she needs in order for her HD to start working again? It would save me the hassle to transfer all her files and reformatting the HD.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top