Corrupt or missing boot file

[John]

During bootup on a formerly well-performing Windows XP
system, got the following message---

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

Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt:

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows
with the original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

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

So, I tried it (after resetting my BIOS to boot from a CD).
After choosing 'r' for repair at the first screen, I was
required to select which Windows installation to log into.
I selected the only choice, and was placed in a primitive
DOS environment. How tho make the necessary repair eludes me.

I also tried running setup, but cancelled since this would
completely re-install XP, overwriting files that I would
rather not lose.

Is there some way to extract the corrupt file from the
setup disk and copy it?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for any help

 

[Chris Lanier]

Greetings

Error Message: Windows Could Not Start Because the
C:\windows\system32\config\system File is Missing or Corrupt
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;823614

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi John,

See this:

How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry [Q307545]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[S.Sengupta]

Hi!
please look here:-

"How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

regards/
ssg MS-MVP
pronetworks.org

 

[karlo]

Hello,

The described problem has happened to me. For what reasons would this
problem occur?

Regards,
karlo

 

[francesco]

Hi! I've had the same problem when I added new RAM. I've chanhed the new
slot with another slot (identical to the slot present on PC) and all works
fine. France

 

[karlo]

Hello,

I followed the instructions today, Nov 24. At step 2, I found no
restore points or snapshots predating today. The problem occured last
week. What happened? What to do now?

karlo