missing or corrupt files \winnt\system32\config\system.sav

[Guest]

Hi,
As I was re-installing windows 2000 the computer froze on me in a certain
area. So I rebooted it. Big mistake. The computer now comes up with an error
message that says windows 2000 could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt \winnt\system32\config\system.sav
So I attempted to repair the file with the 4 floppy disks. I was unable to
repair successfully even though it went through the whole process. So then I
chose c for complete windows recovery and now I get asked for an
administrative password which I don't know.


What I am trying to avoid is having not to erase everything that I have on
my computer.

Any suggestions?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,
As I was re-installing windows 2000 the computer froze on me in a certain
area. So I rebooted it. Big mistake. The computer now comes up with an error
message that says windows 2000 could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt \winnt\system32\config\system.sav
So I attempted to repair the file with the 4 floppy disks. I was unable to
repair successfully even though it went through the whole process. So then I
chose c for complete windows recovery and now I get asked for an
administrative password which I don't know.


What I am trying to avoid is having not to erase everything that I have on
my computer.

Any suggestions?

Your best bet is probably to do a parallel installation of
Win2000, e.g. into "c:\Windows" rather than "C:\WinNT".
Later on you can delete the botched installation folder.
Unless you allow the installation process to format your
disk, it won't erase your data files.

This might be an opportunity to think about the iron rule
of computing: All important files must be backed up
to an independent medium every week. Many people
ignore this rule until they suffer a major diaster. Some
will even install a new operating system without first
backing up their important files.