Corrupt System Hive

[Corey Burnett]

I have a Windows XP Home Edition computer that was reporting a corrupt
system hive: \winnt\system32\config\system. I did a little research
and found some articles online that suggested that I could replace
that file with an old version from the \winnt\repair folder. So I
booted off of the XP CD and got into the Repair Console and I renamed
the existing system file to system.old and I copied the old system
file into the \winnt\system32\config\ folder. Then I rebooted the
system and I got past the place where it had been bombing before.
However I got some new error about password problems.

So I did a little more research and found that I should have actually
copied over all 5 registry files from the repair folder (not just the
system file). My guess is that because I only copied one file that XP
is confused about passwords or something.

So now when I try to go back and boot off of the CD and boot into the
Repair Console it is asking me for an administrator password. But
there is no administrator password so no matter what I try I can not
get by this prompt and I can not get to a Repair Console command
prompt so that I can copy over the other 4 files. Any ideas? I
really, really don't want to re-install Windows XP Home.

Thanks in advance,
Corey

 

[Kelly]

Hi Corey,

To fix the "windows\system32\config\system file is mising or corrupt" where
Xp wont boot:

Go to Recovery Console and type:

cd system32\config
ren system system.old
ren system.alt systemalt.old
copy c:\windows\repair\system
copy c:\windows\repair\regback\system
exit

Recover from a Corrupted Registry Preventing Win XP from Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307545

Recovery Console Fix for XP SP1 (Line 58)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Workaround:

Copy the "spcmdcon.sys" file from the temporary disk based fix to the
c:\cmdcons directory. Then boot into the Recovery Console.

The Password Is Not Valid Error Message Appears When You Log On to Recovery
Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q308402&

After you do this, you can start Recovery Console and successfully log on to
make repairs. After repairs are made and you can boot Windows XP, preinstall
the Recovery Console, then apply the hotfix.

 

[Corey Burnett]

Kelly,

Thanks for the tips but they don't seem to work. The
problem is that I can't get into the Recovery Console. It
keeps asking me for an administrator password. So the
first fix that you listed won't work.

Not sure about the second thing that you listed
referencing line 58 on your XP Tweaks site. It looked
like you wanted me to download a reg file but I couldn't
see how that would help because I can't get into Windows
to double click on it.

The third thing that you mentioned had to do with
spcmdcon.sys. This really was confusing. I have no idea
what you meant by the "temporary disk based fix". And the
machine does not seem to have a C:\cmdcons directory. Not
sure what to do with this one?

The last thing that you mentioned referenced a Q article
that had me download and create 6 diskettes for Windows XP
Home setup. The Q article seemed to say that if I booted
from these diskettes and then went in to the Recovery
Console that I wouldn't have the password problem. Well
booting from those diskettes didn't do the trick. It was
still prompting me for an administrator password.

So I seem to have no way of getting in to the Recovery
Console. I think that the problem has to do with the fact
that I originally was able to get in to the Recovery
Console and unfortunately I only copied over an old
version of the SYSTEM file from the Repair folder, NOT all
five registry files (SYSTEM, DEFAULT, SOFTWARE, SAM,
SECURITY). So I am thinking that maybe the system is
really confused when I boot in to Recovery Console.

Any ideas? I think that if I can somehow get those other
4 files copied over into the config folder then I would be
good to go. I tried booting into a Windows 98 startup
disk but that was no help because Win98 can't read or
write to an NTFS disk.

Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Corey