Last week my family's computer decided to no longer boot. I am assuming it
was because of a botched Windows Update that forced the computer to restart
early in the morning.

The error I get is:
Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

This happens no matter how I try to boot the system (safe mode included)

I found a solution on Microsoft's website for my exact problem at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us

And tried following Part One, which did not work. I assumed that the backup
files in the repair folder were also corrupted somehow, so I copied the files
from another computer that was working. This did not work either.

At this point the only thing I can think of doing is doing a fresh
re-install of Windows. I have a big enough hard drive that I can split the
drive into 2 partitions and install on the new partition so I don't lose my
files, but I'd like to avoid this if at all possible.

If anyone has any solutions they could offer it would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

It could also have been as a result of a hd problem

"DanHerbert" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:7D7569CF-3AAD-444A-928E-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Last week my family's computer decided to no longer boot. I am assuming it
> was because of a botched Windows Update that forced the computer to
> restart
> early in the morning.
>
> The error I get is:
> Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or
> corrupt:
> \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
>
> This happens no matter how I try to boot the system (safe mode included)
>
> I found a solution on Microsoft's website for my exact problem at
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us
>
> And tried following Part One, which did not work. I assumed that the
> backup
> files in the repair folder were also corrupted somehow, so I copied the
> files
> from another computer that was working. This did not work either.
>
> At this point the only thing I can think of doing is doing a fresh
> re-install of Windows. I have a big enough hard drive that I can split the
> drive into 2 partitions and install on the new partition so I don't lose
> my
> files, but I'd like to avoid this if at all possible.
>
> If anyone has any solutions they could offer it would be greatly
> appreciated.

DanHerbert wrote:

> Last week my family's computer decided to no longer boot. I am assuming it
> was because of a botched Windows Update that forced the computer to restart
> early in the morning.
>
> The error I get is:
> Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
> \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
>
> This happens no matter how I try to boot the system (safe mode included)
>
> I found a solution on Microsoft's website for my exact problem at
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us
>
> And tried following Part One, which did not work. I assumed that the backup
> files in the repair folder were also corrupted somehow, so I copied the files
> from another computer that was working. This did not work either.
>
> At this point the only thing I can think of doing is doing a fresh
> re-install of Windows. I have a big enough hard drive that I can split the
> drive into 2 partitions and install on the new partition so I don't lose my
> files, but I'd like to avoid this if at all possible.
>
> If anyone has any solutions they could offer it would be greatly appreciated.

Try mounting the disk in another Windows 2000/XP computer and try to
copy your files off the disk before you try anything else! If the files
are unaccessible (access denied) take ownership of the files. If the
disk is corrupt run a chkdsk on the disk. Instead of doing a parallel
installation try a repair install.

John

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:50:00 -0700, DanHerbert wrote:

> Last week my family's computer decided to no longer boot. I am assuming
> it was because of a botched Windows Update that forced the computer to
> restart early in the morning.
>
> The error I get is:
> Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or
> corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
>
> This happens no matter how I try to boot the system (safe mode included)
>
> I found a solution on Microsoft's website for my exact problem at
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us
>
> And tried following Part One, which did not work. I assumed that the
> backup files in the repair folder were also corrupted somehow, so I
> copied the files from another computer that was working. This did not
> work either.
>
> At this point the only thing I can think of doing is doing a fresh
> re-install of Windows. I have a big enough hard drive that I can split
> the drive into 2 partitions and install on the new partition so I don't
> lose my files, but I'd like to avoid this if at all possible.
>
> If anyone has any solutions they could offer it would be greatly
> appreciated.

Dan:
I would try a cmd > sfc /scannow
Read up on it (notice how I didn't say google--use Copernic instead) and have your original install disks
handy.
Write back.