Missing or Corrupt file

[Guest]

I am getting a error on startup saying that there is a missing or corrupt
system file \windows\system32\config\system . I have had a hunt around the
forums and supports pages and I always seem to end up being pointed at
article 307545. which would be great oother than I have an OEM version
installed and it says not to use the procedure in that case.

Any help would be welcome.

PS: I don't want to do anything which will result in lost of user data.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

The sad truth is that the OEM installation is not recoverable in the same
fashion as a retail version due to the changes the OEM makes to the
operating system, and this is why the warning is there. The only way out of
the corrupt registry is the way described in the article. Otherwise you will
need to do a repair installation or a parallel installation, and these may
or may not be provided for in the OEM system recovery disks. If they are
not, then try the procedure in the article, as it may be the only chance you
have. OEM's limit their support time by reverting to the "format & install
clean" theory rather than spending time fixing problems. If you don't have a
disk capable of generating the Recovery Console, try the boot floppies.

Using the WinXP Boot floppy set:
http://www.rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Boot floppy

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. The setup disk gives me three options. 1) "...setup
windows XP...." 2) repair using the recovery console 3) quit. Not sure about
the first one. Bit wary to try its as it may proceed to do a clean install
and may not give me the option of a reapir install, or does it? At least if I
can't find any other way I can try the procedure in the article.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Try option #2, as if it loads the Recovery Console you should simply be able
to follow the steps outlined in the KB article.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I have investigated a bit further about the repair install. There is a
warning in article 312369 about possibly loosing data. One of the options to
prevent this is to download the latest SP. The PC is already running SP2 so
will this be o.k. or should I delete the Undo_guimode.txt file anyway. If I
do delete it what effect will it have once this problem is resolved?

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Found an article which seems to suggest I will get the option for a repair
install once I initiate "setup Windows XP" (i.e. option 1). Decisions,
decisions - which way to go! --- option 1 and potentially wipe my data or
option 2 and potentially lock my user access out :-(

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Options given under #1 will be to repair the existing installation (a
"repair" install or "in place upgrade"). While this may repair the damaged
registry, it will also revert the system back to the original installed
service pack level and you will need to redo all of the windows updates
since its release. Installed software may need to be reinstalled as well.
Option #2, if it's giving you the Recovery Console, is the way to go as this
is simply a manner of replacing the damaged registry files with a recent
backup.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Everything you do with a system carries with it the potential of losing
data, the warning is simply there as a reminder of this.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Tried starting in safe mode with netowrk to see if I could transfer data to
sanother PC on my network before I started. It went into some disk checking
routine, produce a number of error during including an "unexpected error and
promptly restarted. Since then The original problem (missing or corrupt file"
dooes not occur, instead it come up with the Windows XP window you get
normally during startup but after a few seconds flashes though a blue screen
with test on it. I cannot make out the text as the machine restarts
immediately.
If I restart with the setup CD in and go to repair option I end up with a
C:\ prompt. Thats about it though as a DIR command gives "An error occured
during directory enumeration" chkdsk says afer about 25% that there are one
or more unrecoverable errors. All sounds very horrible and a seriously
corrupted disk. Any ideas, or am I stuffed?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

No, that's not good. I would remove the drive from the system and slave it
in a working machine immediately. Then try copying any critical data from it
to make a backup. Chances are either the drive is bad, or the partition is
corrupt. For the former, it would need replacing, the latter may be
recoverable using something like testdisk from cgsecurity.org. In either
case, you want to preserve data first, before you mess with anything else.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org