STOP C0000216 [Registry file failure]

[Paul Pedersen]

A friend gets this on her laptop on bootup:

=============
STOP C0000216 [Registry file failure]
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\systemroot\system32\config\software or itslog or alternate. It is corrupt,
absent, or not writeable.
=============

Sounds to me likely to be a disk failure. Is this computer or any of its
data salvageable?

 

[Dave Patrick]

If the software hive is corrupt, it may be possible to rename the software
hive found in;
%windir%\system32\config\software
to software.old
then copy the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback
as
%windir%\system32\config\software

If that fails you can copy/ use the file
%windir%\repair\software
This file is an image of the hive at the time the OS was installed, so you'd
have to reinstall all software. This being the case you might just as well
blow it away and start a new install. (note: this would at least allow you
to start the OS to make any necessary backups prior to wiping the drive.)

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Once the password has been
validated, you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access
to the hard disk. You can only access the following folders on your
computer: %systemroot% and %windir%

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| A friend gets this on her laptop on bootup:
|
| =============
| STOP C0000216 [Registry file failure]
| The registry cannot load the hive (file):
| \systemroot\system32\config\software or itslog or alternate. It is
corrupt,
| absent, or not writeable.
| =============
|
| Sounds to me likely to be a disk failure. Is this computer or any of its
| data salvageable?
|
|
|
|
|
|

 

[Paul Pedersen]

Thanks for the assistance.

There was no registry backup, and MS's chkreg utility took a lot of work to
set up and accomplished nothing. But your suggestion to get the old copy
from repair\ did allow me to at least start the computer and back up a few
gigs of data to the network. I'll guess I'll reinstall everything now... if
I can find it all.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Probably the best solution.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| Thanks for the assistance.
|
| There was no registry backup, and MS's chkreg utility took a lot of work
to
| set up and accomplished nothing. But your suggestion to get the old copy
| from repair\ did allow me to at least start the computer and back up a few
| gigs of data to the network. I'll guess I'll reinstall everything now...
if
| I can find it all.

 

[Paul Pedersen]

Thanks again.

Now's my opportunity to convert this laptop drive to NTFS...