Corrupt registry in an OEM version of XP

[Mike Hyndman]

I've been given a computer that will not load Windows due to the following;
"Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM"

I have tried to use the solution explained in the KB article 307545 but
cannot log into the Recovery console. I assume that this is due the the OS
being an OEM version. When I try I get the massage "no hard drives can be
found". I am using a WXPPro CD to try and affect the repair.

Any suggestions on how I can resolve this.
TIA
Mike H
--

 

[John John]

No hard drive can be found most likely = press F6 at the beginning of
the setup routine and load the "Mass Device" or SATA drivers.

John

 

[Mike Hyndman]

No hard drive can be found most likely = press F6 at the beginning of the
setup routine and load the "Mass Device" or SATA drivers.

John

John,

The harddrive is an IDE.

Many thanks

Mike H

 

[NewScience]

When you put the Windows XP CD in the drive AND modify the BIOS to look for
CD drive first when booting, does Windows XP Setup start at all?

 

[Mike Hyndman]

John,

The harddrive is an IDE.

Many thanks

Mike H

When you put the Windows XP CD in the drive AND modify the BIOS to look for
CD drive first when booting, does Windows XP Setup start at all?

Yes, selecting R for recovery console give me the h/d error message.

Many thnks

Mike H

 

[John John]

John,

The harddrive is an IDE.

Many thanks

Make sure the drive is properly recognized in the BIOS, check cables for
loose connections. Run chkdsk /r on the disk in question. If you still
get the error do these two commands:

fixmbr
fixboot

John

 

[Mike Hyndman]

Make sure the drive is properly recognized in the BIOS, check cables for
loose connections. Run chkdsk /r on the disk in question. If you still
get the error do these two commands:

fixmbr
fixboot

John,

From where? I can't get into safe mode command prompt or otherwise and
hitting R on the Windows set up screen just puts me into the "can't find HD
loop". Cables and BIOS ok.
I'm tempted to slave the drive into a nother PC and see if I can recover any
"work" from it, then try and do a clean reinstall.
Regards

Mike H

 

[John John]

John,

From where? I can't get into safe mode command prompt or otherwise and
hitting R on the Windows set up screen just puts me into the "can't find HD
loop". Cables and BIOS ok.
I'm tempted to slave the drive into a nother PC and see if I can recover any
"work" from it, then try and do a clean reinstall.

If you can't get to the Recovery Console then it appears to me that the
Windows setup program cannot figure out the drive controller. Mounting
the disk in another computer might be a good idea, at least you will
find out if the drive is sound and if the data on it is (somewhat)
intact. From another Windows XP installation you will also be able to
run chkdsk on the drive if need be. If you mount the disk in another
machine and it checks out ok then you will have to consider hardware
problems as the cause of the problem. Is the disk connected to the
motherboard's IDE controller or to a PCI IDE controller? If the later
you will need to do the F6 thing.

John

 

[Mike Hyndman]

If you can't get to the Recovery Console then it appears to me that the
Windows setup program cannot figure out the drive controller. Mounting
the disk in another computer might be a good idea, at least you will find
out if the drive is sound and if the data on it is (somewhat) intact.
From another Windows XP installation you will also be able to run chkdsk
on the drive if need be. If you mount the disk in another machine and it
checks out ok then you will have to consider hardware problems as the
cause of the problem. Is the disk connected to the motherboard's IDE
controller or to a PCI IDE controller? If the later you will need to do
the F6 thing.

John
My only concern is with not being able to access any work etc., on the
slaved drive due to account permissions etc.,
I haven't tried to re install Windows into a different folder on the HD for
similar reasons.
I still think that this problem is due to the fact the OS is an OEM version
and the way it "treats! its hives is different to the way a retail version
does.
Regards

Mike H

 

[John John]

John
My only concern is with not being able to access any work etc., on the
slaved drive due to account permissions etc.,
I haven't tried to re install Windows into a different folder on the HD for
similar reasons.
I still think that this problem is due to the fact the OS is an OEM version
and the way it "treats! its hives is different to the way a retail version
does.

Is this your computer or are you fixing it for someone else? The
permissions problem is no big deal, all you have to do while logged on
as an Administrator is take ownership of the files. The original owner
can again later on, provided he/she has administrative privileges,
retake ownership of the files.

The idea that an OEM version would not allow you to use the Recovery
Console is generally news to me, but what I don't know would make up a
big book. In any case, the error seems to happen before the setup
program even knows what, if even any Windows version is on the disk.
Read here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315403/ and see if anything
there might apply. Is the Windows cd that you are trying to use a full
retail cd? What happens if instead of pressing R for the repair
options, you press <Enter> for the setup options? Don't worry, you can
back out of the setup at anytime until the very last minute. If the cd
is a retail version and the setup program reports that no disk is
available then you have some sort of hardware problem, or a controller
issue. I think your idea of mounting the disk in another computer is a
very good one, it may answer a few questions and shed some light on the
problem.

John

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Mike

If you do have problems accessing the data when you slave the drive, you can simply take ownership of the files on that drive.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

 

[Mike Hyndman]

Is this your computer or are you fixing it for someone else? The
permissions problem is no big deal, all you have to do while logged on as
an Administrator is take ownership of the files. The original owner can
again later on, provided he/she has administrative privileges, retake
ownership of the files.

The idea that an OEM version would not allow you to use the Recovery
Console is generally news to me, but what I don't know would make up a big
book. In any case, the error seems to happen before the setup program
even knows what, if even any Windows version is on the disk. Read here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315403/ and see if anything there might
apply. Is the Windows cd that you are trying to use a full retail cd?
What happens if instead of pressing R for the repair options, you press
<Enter> for the setup options? Don't worry, you can back out of the setup
at anytime until the very last minute. If the cd is a retail version and
the setup program reports that no disk is available then you have some
sort of hardware problem, or a controller issue. I think your idea of
mounting the disk in another computer is a very good one, it may answer a
few questions and shed some light on the problem.

John,

Many thanks, the OEM problem is mentioned in the warning paragraph in KB
article 307545. below.

"Warning
Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your
computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM
installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist
previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you
may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the
original registry hives."

Full retail version CD and pressing R at setup gives me the HD missing etc.,
error message.
The annoying thing is is that I had a similar problem with a PC last year
and fixed it, but can't remember how. ;(
It isn't my PC and I am now going to insert the HD as a slave in my my and
sweep it for viruses, run a few utilities and then see if I can relocate the
files mentioned in the KB article manually.
PC's, don't you just love'em?

Regards

Mike H

 

[Mike Hyndman]

Mike

If you do have problems accessing the data when you slave the drive, you can
simply take ownership of the files on that drive.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

My only concern is with not being able to access any work etc., on the
slaved drive due to account permissions etc.,
I haven't tried to re install Windows into a different folder on the
HD for similar reasons.
I still think that this problem is due to the fact the OS is an OEM
version and the way it "treats! its hives is different to the way a
retail version does.
Regards

Mike H

Many thanks Ron, I hope it won't come to this ;(

Regards

Mike H

 

[John John]

John,

Many thanks, the OEM problem is mentioned in the warning paragraph in KB
article 307545. below.

"Warning
Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your
computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM
installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist
previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you
may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the
original registry hives."

Full retail version CD and pressing R at setup gives me the HD missing etc.,
error message.
The annoying thing is is that I had a similar problem with a PC last year
and fixed it, but can't remember how. ;(
It isn't my PC and I am now going to insert the HD as a slave in my my and
sweep it for viruses, run a few utilities and then see if I can relocate the
files mentioned in the KB article manually.
PC's, don't you just love'em?

Regards

Mike H

Hi Mike,

I'm aware of the problem that you describe about OEM installations and
passwords/user accounts but that is a different thing and it doesn't
happen all that often. That problem is that some OEM's might use non
standard or different SID's and the logon for the Recovery Console isn't
aware of these different SID's and thus cannot logon to the
installation. The registry hives themselves are not really different.
Your problem is that you are not even reaching the Recovery Console
logon stage, it says that there are no hard drives present and at this
early stage it wouldn't even know anything about the SID's and
passwords, it first has to find a hard drive before it can find a
Windows installation to attempt to logon to. To me it means that the
hard drive is dead, improperly connected or that Windows cannot
communicate with the drive controller. What happens if you try or
pretend that you want to install Windows and press <Enter> instead of R,
does it give you the same message?

John

 

[Mike Hyndman]

Hi Mike,

I'm aware of the problem that you describe about OEM installations and
passwords/user accounts but that is a different thing and it doesn't
happen all that often. That problem is that some OEM's might use non
standard or different SID's and the logon for the Recovery Console isn't
aware of these different SID's and thus cannot logon to the installation.
The registry hives themselves are not really different. Your problem is
that you are not even reaching the Recovery Console logon stage, it says
that there are no hard drives present and at this early stage it wouldn't
even know anything about the SID's and passwords, it first has to find a
hard drive before it can find a Windows installation to attempt to logon
to. To me it means that the hard drive is dead, improperly connected or
that Windows cannot communicate with the drive controller. What happens
if you try or pretend that you want to install Windows and press <Enter>
instead of R, does it give you the same message?

John,

It is being scanned as a slave as we speak. I have read the disk in
Windows Explorer and copied the My Docs folder and subs to my HD.
When I select the Windows folder, the left hand pane shows all the folders
with their names, yet the right hand pane only shows folder and file icons
without names. It has just found and dealt with two trojans of the Exploit
and Clicker variety.
Will reassemble and get back on the above.

Regards

Mike H

 

[Mike Hyndman]

Hi Mike,

I'm aware of the problem that you describe about OEM installations and
passwords/user accounts but that is a different thing and it doesn't
happen all that often. That problem is that some OEM's might use non
standard or different SID's and the logon for the Recovery Console isn't
aware of these different SID's and thus cannot logon to the installation.
The registry hives themselves are not really different. Your problem is
that you are not even reaching the Recovery Console logon stage, it says
that there are no hard drives present and at this early stage it wouldn't
even know anything about the SID's and passwords, it first has to find a
hard drive before it can find a Windows installation to attempt to logon
to. To me it means that the hard drive is dead, improperly connected or
that Windows cannot communicate with the drive controller. What happens
if you try or pretend that you want to install Windows and press <Enter>
instead of R, does it give you the same message?

John
update,

Whilst the drive was slaved, I took the following files out of the
system32\config folder; Sytem, Software, Sam, Security, Default and replaced
them with the ones from the Repair folder. KB 307545
I then reinstalled the drive as master and it booted up and went into chdsk,
this ran, exited and the PC booted into Windows OK, just an error message
saying a modem couldn't start.
I then plugged a network cable in with the intention of going on line to get
updates etc, but there was no activity from the socket.
I checked in Network connections and was told that the service hadn't
started, which I did, it was set to manual.
Control Panel >System said that a lancard was present as did the BIOS. I
tried uninstalling it and it was found at startup as new hardware, but still
the Network Connections folder remained empty.
Then I started getting an error message saying that "Generic Host for Win32
Services has encountered a problem etc.," accepting this message then
brought up another error message, the dreaded "Sytem Shutdown Initiated by
NTAuthority System, RPC Terminated etc.,"
Restarts OK but Control Panel can become unresponsive and closing it down
via Task Manager results in the dissapearance of all the desktop icons and
taskbar.
I slaved it back into my PC, turned off system restore on the drive and
scanned for viruses and spyware in safemode without finding anything.
Replacing the drive as master shows no improvement. Neither can I run it as
master in my PC in normal or safe modes, it loads MUP? and then shakes the
monitor and then reboots itself ad infinitum.

Off to bed

Regards

Mike H

 

[John John]

John
update,

Whilst the drive was slaved, I took the following files out of the
system32\config folder; Sytem, Software, Sam, Security, Default and replaced
them with the ones from the Repair folder. KB 307545
I then reinstalled the drive as master and it booted up and went into chdsk,
this ran, exited and the PC booted into Windows OK, just an error message
saying a modem couldn't start.
I then plugged a network cable in with the intention of going on line to get
updates etc, but there was no activity from the socket.
I checked in Network connections and was told that the service hadn't
started, which I did, it was set to manual.
Control Panel >System said that a lancard was present as did the BIOS. I
tried uninstalling it and it was found at startup as new hardware, but still
the Network Connections folder remained empty.
Then I started getting an error message saying that "Generic Host for Win32
Services has encountered a problem etc.," accepting this message then
brought up another error message, the dreaded "Sytem Shutdown Initiated by
NTAuthority System, RPC Terminated etc.,"
Restarts OK but Control Panel can become unresponsive and closing it down
via Task Manager results in the dissapearance of all the desktop icons and
taskbar.
I slaved it back into my PC, turned off system restore on the drive and
scanned for viruses and spyware in safemode without finding anything.
Replacing the drive as master shows no improvement. Neither can I run it as
master in my PC in normal or safe modes, it loads MUP? and then shakes the
monitor and then reboots itself ad infinitum.

Off to bed

After you replaced the hives (as per kb307545) and the computer
rebooted, did you then again replace these hives with the ones from the
System Restore Snapshot folder as described in the same article? It's
quite understandable that although the hives from the %Windir%\Repair
folder permitted you to regain the installation and boot successfully
that many things would not work properly, the hives in the Repair
folders are (copies of) the hives that were created when you installed
Windows! Nothing of what you installed after the first boot at time of
installation is recorded in those "ancient" hives! You can look at the
dates on the hives and you will see how old they are.

With the disk mounted in another computer you can or could have bypassed
that first step and proceeded directly to copying the newer hive from
the Snapshot folder to the config folder. The other steps in the
article are there because you cannot access the Snapshot folder from the
Recovery Console, so you have to use the long method to get to the final
goal, which is replacing the damaged hives with the most recent ones
available, the ones that were last backed up by System Restore. Follow
the article through to the end and the results of your repair efforts
will be much more encouraging.

John

 

[Mike Hyndman]

After you replaced the hives (as per kb307545) and the computer rebooted,
did you then again replace these hives with the ones from the System
Restore Snapshot folder as described in the same article? It's quite
understandable that although the hives from the %Windir%\Repair folder
permitted you to regain the installation and boot successfully that many
things would not work properly, the hives in the Repair folders are
(copies of) the hives that were created when you installed Windows!
Nothing of what you installed after the first boot at time of installation
is recorded in those "ancient" hives! You can look at the dates on the
hives and you will see how old they are.

With the disk mounted in another computer you can or could have bypassed
that first step and proceeded directly to copying the newer hive from the
Snapshot folder to the config folder. The other steps in the article are
there because you cannot access the Snapshot folder from the Recovery
Console, so you have to use the long method to get to the final goal,
which is replacing the damaged hives with the most recent ones available,
the ones that were last backed up by System Restore. Follow the article
through to the end and the results of your repair efforts will be much
more encouraging.

John,

I should have done that before I switced off system restore on this drive to
do a virus check. Luckily I had copied the whole hard drive to my removable
drive, so I was able to get the necessary files from there.
The Network connections folder is now populated and the PC is in the process
of downloading and installing updates (hope there are no problems with IE7).
Many thanks to you and all who contributed to the resolving of this problem,
it has been a most worthwile and "interesting" learning experience.

Regards

Mike H

 

[John John]

John,

I should have done that before I switced off system restore on this drive to
do a virus check. Luckily I had copied the whole hard drive to my removable
drive, so I was able to get the necessary files from there.
The Network connections folder is now populated and the PC is in the process
of downloading and installing updates (hope there are no problems with IE7).
Many thanks to you and all who contributed to the resolving of this problem,
it has been a most worthwile and "interesting" learning experience.

You're welcome, glad to see that you got it fixed.

John

 

[Guest]

Mike, et al,
Please excuse my stupidity but what is an "OEM" version of XP?
Someone referred to my computer as an OEM because it is a Sony (Sony VAIO
RXA842), but I don'y know what OEM stands for.
Thanks, AnnieO