2000 Recovery/Repair? HELP!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Davidg35
  • Start date Start date
D

Davidg35

My 2000 will not load and I get the error message
"Windows could not start because the following is missing or corrupt:
\WINNT\System32\config\system"
I tried to repair it from the CD by using the "recovery console" but do not
know what commands to use on the dos prompt. When I try to use the "repair"
option I don't have an emergency repair disk and when I use the command "L"
in lieu of it I get the message "Setup cannot find a windows 2000
installation to repair"
Anyone have any suggestions on a fix? I can't reload 2000 over itself
without destroying my data.
Thanks,
David
 
Davidg35 said:
My 2000 will not load and I get the error message
"Windows could not start because the following is missing or corrupt:
\WINNT\System32\config\system"
I tried to repair it from the CD by using the "recovery console" but do not
know what commands to use on the dos prompt. When I try to use the "repair"
option I don't have an emergency repair disk and when I use the command "L"
in lieu of it I get the message "Setup cannot find a windows 2000
installation to repair"
Anyone have any suggestions on a fix? I can't reload 2000 over itself
without destroying my data.
Thanks,
David
Click to expand...


normally a repair installtion would fix things but if "a windows 2000
installtion" was not found... you have a major problem of disc
corruption on your hands.

i;d try slaving the drive to another machine and seeing if there's any
data on it you can recover
 
You can try to replace the System Hive with the one in the Repair folder.
Here is a good KB that references this for a Windows XP machine,
just keep in mind as you go through this article that your Windows 2000 installation is installed to C:\Winnt, not C:\Windows.

How to recover from a corrupt registry that prevents Windows XP from starting:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307545



==========================================================================

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Franklin Huang

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The views and opinions expressed here are purely personal and do not necessarily express the views and/or opinions of Microsoft.

==========================================================================
--------------------
| From: "Davidg35" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups: alt.os.windows2000,microsoft.public.win2000,microsoft.public.win2000.general
| Subject: 2000 Recovery/Repair? HELP!
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| My 2000 will not load and I get the error message
| "Windows could not start because the following is missing or corrupt:
| \WINNT\System32\config\system"
| I tried to repair it from the CD by using the "recovery console" but do not
| know what commands to use on the dos prompt. When I try to use the "repair"
| option I don't have an emergency repair disk and when I use the command "L"
| in lieu of it I get the message "Setup cannot find a windows 2000
| installation to repair"
| Anyone have any suggestions on a fix? I can't reload 2000 over itself
| without destroying my data.
| Thanks,
| David
|
|
|
 
~Sniped~>
normally a repair installtion would fix things but if "a windows 2000
installtion" was not found... you have a major problem of disc
corruption on your hands.

i;d try slaving the drive to another machine and seeing if there's any
data on it you can recover
Click to expand...
The hdd is a month old and I loaded XP on another part of the hdd that was
partioned before I loaded 2000, I can access everything from the other
partition but eventually need to use the 2000 since its on a larger part of
the hdd, the XP partition is only 10 GIG.
 
Davidg35 said:
~Sniped~>


The hdd is a month old and I loaded XP on another part of the hdd that was
partioned before I loaded 2000, I can access everything from the other
partition but eventually need to use the 2000 since its on a larger part of
the hdd, the XP partition is only 10 GIG.
Click to expand...


well you could just totally forget about the win2k and just use that
partition for storing your data etc

btw: were you using some 3rd party boot manager...
that may account for the win2k installtion not being seen
 
If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG, It may be
possible to rename the system hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

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. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. 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

:
| My 2000 will not load and I get the error message
| "Windows could not start because the following is missing or corrupt:
| \WINNT\System32\config\system"
| I tried to repair it from the CD by using the "recovery console" but do
not
| know what commands to use on the dos prompt. When I try to use the
"repair"
| option I don't have an emergency repair disk and when I use the command
"L"
| in lieu of it I get the message "Setup cannot find a windows 2000
| installation to repair"
| Anyone have any suggestions on a fix? I can't reload 2000 over itself
| without destroying my data.
| Thanks,
| David
|
|
 
| My 2000 will not load and I get the error message
| "Windows could not start because the following is missing or
corrupt:
| \WINNT\System32\config\system"
| I tried to repair it from the CD by using the "recovery console" but
do not
| know what commands to use on the dos prompt. When I try to use the
"repair"
| option I don't have an emergency repair disk and when I use the
command "L"
| in lieu of it I get the message "Setup cannot find a windows 2000
| installation to repair"
| Anyone have any suggestions on a fix? I can't reload 2000 over
itself
| without destroying my data.
| Thanks,
| David
|
|

I just experienced this malady last week. Can you boot win2k in safe
mode?

Can you boot xp and check the win2k winnt\system32\config\system file
size? If it is too large, win2k (Nt) cannot boot. Also, if this file
gets corrupted a normal boot will fail.

For some odd reason, my "system" file bloated to over 11 meg in size
from it's normal ~4 meg and my system would not boot. This is a known
problem with win2k as at boot time there is only 16 meg of memory
available to the bootloader, and if the system file is too large, the
boot fails.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;151247&Product=win2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;269075&Product=win2000
(this is the error I was seeing)

The system driver setup info is contained in this "system hive" file,
and perhaps other info (just a guess). Drivers that write settings to
the registry may improperly store info in the "system" file. In my
case, I suspect a program or driver went haywire and wrote thousands
of settings to the file bloating its size (I viewed my corrupted
"system" file with a hex viewer and saw page after page of similar
gibberish data).

The Win2k installer will not find a previous install if there are
certain files that are corrupted, and perhaps the "system" file is one
of them. I've seen this phenomenon before.

There is a backup copy of the "system" file that is dropped in
winnt\repair, you might be able to use it, but note that any driver
updates/changes since the win2k install will be lost. In the
winnt\system32\config folder there is a backup of the system file
named "system.alt", which may be renamed to "system" sometimes to fix
the problem (rename the old "system" file to "system.old" first). In
my case, the "alt" file was also corrupt. These steps can be
performed by booting win2k in safe mode or when running XP.
 
Davidg35 said:
My 2000 will not load and I get the error message
"Windows could not start because the following is missing or corrupt:
\WINNT\System32\config\system"
I tried to repair it from the CD by using the "recovery console" but do not
know what commands to use on the dos prompt. When I try to use the "repair"
option I don't have an emergency repair disk and when I use the command "L"
in lieu of it I get the message "Setup cannot find a windows 2000
installation to repair"
Anyone have any suggestions on a fix? I can't reload 2000 over itself
without destroying my data.
Thanks,
David
Click to expand...

I ran into this exact situation a few months ago; I "fixed" it
by running Recovery Console from CD and copying the system registry
hive from the \WINNT\Repair folder; but that version is from when
Windows 2000 was first installed, or you last used NTBackup to
save the system state. I know of no way to repair your existing
system hive and get your system back exactly the way it was.

(Incidentally, the best way to do a repair install from the CD
is NOT to choose "repair" the first time it's offered; start
installing as if from scratch and if possible on the next set
of screens Setup will find your Windows folder and offer to
repair that one ... with "R", not "L".)

No cure here, but a bit of future prevention: ALWAYS, on any
2K or XP machine, install the Recovery Console into your working
Windows install as a boot option; then, no CD is required to boot
into Recovery Console if needed. (You'll introduce a 30-second
delay while you're offered a boot choice, but that can be fixed;
I always set mine to 4 secs.)

The other bit of future prevention, and the one that would have
allowed you to recover from your problem in about 30 seconds:

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/

ERUNT will save all your registry hives into a date-stamped folder
from which you can access them in Recovery Console, and provides an
easy-to-use batch file that will restore them to their proper places.
I have it set to run every week, so I'm never more than a week
out of date. Best of all, ERUNT is freeware!
 
<snip>
| No cure here, but a bit of future prevention: ALWAYS, on any
| 2K or XP machine, install the Recovery Console into your working
| Windows install as a boot option; then, no CD is required to boot
| into Recovery Console if needed. (You'll introduce a 30-second
| delay while you're offered a boot choice, but that can be fixed;
| I always set mine to 4 secs.)

Excellent advice, no doubt, but how ?
Can anyone provide, or give a link to, good detailled instructions for
exactly how to install the Recovery Console.
What instructions I've so far seen make too many assumptions about the
user's knowledge.
What I think we need is a 'Dummies Guide' to installing the Recovery
Console. Anyone ?
Kevin.
 
Create the integrated install then from the run box;

D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons

http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...ws_2000_integrated_with_the_service_pack_rpmd

--
Regards,

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

"Kevin Lawton"wrote:
| Excellent advice, no doubt, but how ?
| Can anyone provide, or give a link to, good detailled instructions for
| exactly how to install the Recovery Console.
| What instructions I've so far seen make too many assumptions about the
| user's knowledge.
| What I think we need is a 'Dummies Guide' to installing the Recovery
| Console. Anyone ?
| Kevin.
|
|
|
 
Thanks - excellent !
That single instructions - run 'winnt32.exe' (the setup program) from the
install directory with the (all important) '/cmdcons' switch was the one
thing nobody else had previously mentioned.
Given that I keep a copy of the install CD in a partition on my hard drive
this was quick and easy. No need to download anything first !
Thanks again, Kevin.

| Create the integrated install then from the run box;
|
| D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
|
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/sp4/spdeploy.htm
#scenario_1_installing_windows_2000_integrated_with_the_service_pack_rpmd
|
|
| "Kevin Lawton"wrote:
|| Excellent advice, no doubt, but how ?
|| Can anyone provide, or give a link to, good detailled instructions
|| for
|| exactly how to install the Recovery Console.
|| What instructions I've so far seen make too many assumptions about
|| the
|| user's knowledge.
|| What I think we need is a 'Dummies Guide' to installing the Recovery
|| Console. Anyone ?
|| Kevin.
 
You're welcome.

--
Regards,

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

:
| Thanks - excellent !
| That single instructions - run 'winnt32.exe' (the setup program) from the
| install directory with the (all important) '/cmdcons' switch was the one
| thing nobody else had previously mentioned.
| Given that I keep a copy of the install CD in a partition on my hard drive
| this was quick and easy. No need to download anything first !
| Thanks again, Kevin.
|
|| Create the integrated install then from the run box;
||
|| D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
||
|
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/sp4/spdeploy.htm
| #scenario_1_installing_windows_2000_integrated_with_the_service_pack_rpmd
||
||
|| "Kevin Lawton"wrote:
||| Excellent advice, no doubt, but how ?
||| Can anyone provide, or give a link to, good detailled instructions
||| for
||| exactly how to install the Recovery Console.
||| What instructions I've so far seen make too many assumptions about
||| the
||| user's knowledge.
||| What I think we need is a 'Dummies Guide' to installing the Recovery
||| Console. Anyone ?
||| Kevin.
|
|
 
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