Michael
I'm suffering the same fate, have been unable to boot, boot safe or run Recovery Console, system always reports "stop x024 ntfs.sys missing or corrupt"
I have found
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;228888 which correct the same problem on Win2K. I have tried their suggestion for 'Using Recovery Console on a Single Drive Computer', dnloaded the 4 boot images for Win2K and was able to boot, but when I try to get to Recovery Console, the system prompts for the Win2K CD, which of course I don't have.
I have attempted the same trick with WinXP boot floppies, but the Txtsetup.si_ file is compressed or encoded so I can't comment out ntfs.sys.
Is there any equvalent to #228888 fr XP users?
Thanks
C>
----- Michael Solomon (MS-MVP Windows Shell/Us wrote: -----
Here's a few things to try.
Boot the system and start pressing F8, this should bring up a menu, select
"Last Known Good Configuration"
If that doesn't work, try the recovery console, assuming you
have a retail version or full OEM version of XP as opposed to the
manufacturer's recovery disks that don't have this option though they might
offer their own recover
scenario.
Be sure your system is set to boot from the CD. If you are not sure, when
the system first boots you usually see message about how to enter setup or
something similar and tells you to hit a key, sometimes it's del, sometimes
it's esc, just hit the key. This takes you to the system bios, you need to
navigate to where the boot sequence is set, put the CD-ROM drive first in
line.
Place the XP CD in the drive, save your settings and exit. The system will
reboot and should boot from the CD. If you see a message to hit any key in
order to boot from the CD, do so, otherwise, assuming your system supports
it, the system should boot from the CD on its own as it can't find
an OS on the hard drive.
XP Setup will begin by examining your system, don't worry, just let it run,
it's just copying some files to a temp folder. Ultimately, you'll be
brought to a menu. Choose, "Repair a Windows XP installation using the
Recovery Console, press R.
You will be asked for an administrators password. This is not any of the
accounts you've created for XP. It's a hidden system account for which
users are asked only to create a password during setup. Most leave this
blank. If you left it blank, when asked for a password, just leave blank
and press enter.
