XP error after bootup

R

rage4order

Gawd
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
785
Ok, this has happened to me before and I wound up reformatting and reinstalling XP, but I'd much rather see if you guys know an easier way. After my computer goes thru it's boot sequence, I get the following error message:
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\windows\system32\config\system "
What's the easiest way to fix this? I've tried booting up w/ my XP disk to run "Repair" but haven't had any luck. Please help.
 
You could run a repair install. Not the first 'r' repair, that gives you the console.

Tell it to install, and then when it asks if you want to install a fresh copy or repair an existing, press 'r' for repair.

If that doesn't do it, you may need to do a fresh install. Sorry I'm not too familiar with that exact error.
 
The easiest way to me to fix that is to go into the Recovery Console (which EVERYONE should have installed) and run chkdsk. If that fixes it, it will be much easier and faster than a repair install. It takes about 2 minutes.
 
You can also restore from the backup hive, made by setup. It's in the %windir%\repair directory. You will probably have to reinstall drivers and stuff.

Was this on an Gold, SP1 or SP2 system?
 
I did it. I stumbled across this in another post and it worked like a charm: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/3546

I knew there was some way to just go in and write the "config" file. Thanks anyways guys! I do have one small problem now. When I ran recovery just a while ago, I guess I created another boot log or bootcfg. Now when I boot up, it gives a list of which I want to start, the one I just created(which I called "bad") or Windows XP. How can I get rid of the "Bad" boot up?
 
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