Cannot Boot - Help

[ferg]

G'Day All,
My sole Win2k Server is giving me this error when booting:

Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows2000 setup using the
original setup floppy disk or CD ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

How can I get this WIN2K Server to run ok again without loosing anything?
I use it home and have no backups.

Thanks

 

[Dave Patrick]

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

:
| G'Day All,
| My sole Win2k Server is giving me this error when booting:
|
| Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or
| corrupt:
| \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.
|
| You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows2000 setup using
the
| original setup floppy disk or CD ROM.
| Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.
|
| How can I get this WIN2K Server to run ok again without loosing anything?
| I use it home and have no backups.
|
| Thanks
|
|

 

[ferg]

Dave Thanks much for your indepth reply.
I appreciate it. I will dig into it. First though, what is LKG?

Thanks

 

[Dave Patrick]

LKG=Last known good

Choosing last known good boots the system with the control set that last
successfully booted your system. Control sets contain system configuration
information such as device drivers and services.

--
Regards,

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

:
| Dave Thanks much for your indepth reply.
| I appreciate it. I will dig into it. First though, what is LKG?
|
| Thanks

 

[ferg]

Thanks again.
I made a little progress after copying the system file from the
\WINNT\repair\ folder.
Now I get another missing file: \WINNT\SYSTEM32\l_intl.nls.

Any thoughts?

 

[Dave Patrick]

You can also replace the file from the recovery console.

From a command prompt you can expand the file. An example;

expand E:\I386\l_intl.nl_ %windir%\system32\l_intl.nls

would expand a new copy to the \system32 directory.

Also you'll want to use the correct version for the service pack level
you're at. So you may need to extract the file from a service pack.

To extract the service pack files without installing them, execute
J:\W2kSP4\W2KSP4.exe /x
Then when prompted, specify a directory to hold the extracted files.

Did system.alt not work?

--
Regards,

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

:
|
| Thanks again.
| I made a little progress after copying the system file from the
| \WINNT\repair\ folder.
| Now I get another missing file: \WINNT\SYSTEM32\l_intl.nls.
|
| Any thoughts?

 

[ferg]

Dave;
Once again, thanks very much for your help.
I think I am getting there.
Now I will try this.

No system.alt did not work. After I copied from \repair\system I made some
progress but am getting a "blue screen"

Thanks much